Imagining Freedom for the 21st Century: A Presidential Candidate’s Press Conference, Part 5 by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2000 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 Insight Magazine: During the last eight years, the American people have witnessed some of the worst political scandals and episodes of presidential misconduct and immorality in our nation’s history. What will be the moral character and tone of your administration, if you are elected president of the United States? The Candidate: The source of practically all of the political scandals, in both the present administration and those in past presidencies, has been the degree to which the federal government regulates and intervenes in the economy and redistributes wealth through the welfare state. When privileges and favors are obtainable by some at the expense of others in society through the political process, it is inevitable that those who desire the favors and privileges will lobby and bribe those from whom they can be acquired. For as long as government has the power to influence relative ...
Book Review: The Invention of the Passport by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2000 The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State by John Torpey (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000); 210 pages; $19.95. One of the most stupendous achievements of 19th-century classical liberalism was the right of freedom of movement. As one indication, between 1840 and the early decades of the 20th century almost 60 million people emigrated from Europe to other parts of the world. Eighteen million came from Great Britain and Ireland; 10 million from Italy; 9.2 million from European Russia; 5.2 million from Austria-Hungary; 4.9 million from Germany; 4.7 million from Spain; 1.8 million from Portugal; 1.2 million from Sweden; 850,000 from Norway; 640,000 from Poland; 520,000 from France; and 390,000 from Denmark. The right to freely leave one's native land required the right to freely settle in another country of choice. And so matching the right of emigration was the right of immigration. During that same period between 1840 and 1914, 34 million Europeans settled in the United States; ...
Let’s Stick with Traditional American Values! by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000 Upon reading Hans-Herman Hoppe’s article “On Free Immigration and Forced Integration,” I couldn’t help but wonder whether he first reached the conclusion that he wanted to reach and then constructed a set of arguments to support that conclusion. Hoppe begins his article by correctly pointing out that from a theoretical standpoint, open immigration does, in fact, increase people’s standard of living. He also correctly observes that those who use the welfare state as an excuse for controlling immigration (as his associate Llewellyn Rockwell does) are “wrongheaded.” Nevertheless, Hoppe ends up concluding that open borders for the United States should be rejected in favor of a government-controlled and government-regulated immigration policy. Let’s examine the chain of reasoning that leads Hoppe to this conclusion. Hoppe first suggests that simply because a government is instituted, especially a ...
Anarcho-Anti-Immigrationism? by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000 For reasons not exactly clear, the immigration issue gives some libertarians trouble. In their efforts to grapple with the issue, it’s made needlessly complicated and some highly odd “solutions” are promulgated. We’ll look at one such solution in this article. Preliminarily, we would expect that when a libertarian examines any ...
A Libertarian Visits Cuba, Part 3 (of 3) by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 When I arrived in Cuba, an El Salvadoran was being tried for terroristic bombing and four Cuban dissidents were being tried for criticizing the Cuban system, and the trials were being shown on national television. Tension was in the air. Nevertheless, even though it is a grave criminal offense to ...
Repatriation: The Ugly Side of Immigration Laws by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1999 Recently, off the shores of Miami, Florida, the American people were exposed to the ugly side of immigration laws-the forcible repatriation of illegal immigrants to their country of origin. Television viewers watched in horror as U.S. Coast Guard officials, using water cannons and pepper spray, attacked Cuban refugees in ...
A Libertarian Visits Cuba, Part 3 by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Even though I knew that it is a serious criminal offense to criticize Cuban socialism, I was determined to deliver a presentation of libertarian principles in the middle of Havana. I got my chance when one of the research centers I visited asked me to explain libertarianism to its staff. I ...
Bill Clinton: World Cop by Sheldon Richman June 1, 1999 In a major foreign-policy address delivered a few months back in San Francisco, President Bill Clinton solemnly affirmed that everything everywhere in the world is the business of the United States. If you ever entertained the thought that we Americans should be free just to live our lives, raise our families, and participate voluntarily in our communities — forget ...
A Libertarian Visits South America by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 1999 Last fall, I was invited to South America by two free-market think tanks — the Instituto de Estudos Empresariais (IEE — Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the Fundación Atlas para una Sociedad Libre (Atlas Foundation for a Free Society) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I thought the readers of Freedom Daily might find my experiences ...
Patriotism along the Southern Border, Part 3 by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In 1910, Mexico celebrated the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war for Mexican independence from Spain. The political climate in Mexico was peaceful and orderly. It would not last. In 1867, Mexican forces had defeated the French occupation army and had captured and executed Hapsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, whom ...
Patriotism along the Southern Border, Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In February 1846, the independent nation of Texas was annexed as a state in the United States of America. The citizens of Texas were now American citizens. However, there was one major glitch. Mexico still considered the Texas territory to be part of Mexico. It threatened war over the annexation ...
Private: Commentaries – 1999 by Future of Freedom Foundation January 1, 1999 January 1999 A Better State of the Union Address by Jacob G. Hornberger Euro is a No-Go by Sheldon Richman Open Borders: A Gift from the Founders by Jacob G. Hornberger Rhinestone Benevolence by Sheldon Richman The Economic Ignorance of Our 'Leaders' by ...
