Where are Open Borders in the Presidential Race? by Jacob G. Hornberger October 8, 2020 Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, immigration is not a big burning issue in the presidential race. There is a simple reason for that: Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden believe in America’s system of immigration controls. Their only difference between them is over the enforcement measures that come with that system. Alas, needless to say, that is also the position of the mainstream media. That’s why there has been no pushback on immigration in the presidential race. Don’t expect any, especially in the remaining presidential debates. There is a simple reason for America’s decades-long crisis in immigration. America’s system of immigration controls is based on the socialist principle of central planning. As everyone in socialist countries will attest, central planning produces crises. A good term for such crises is the one that Ludwig von Mises applied to the results of central planning: “planned chaos.” What better term to describe America’s decades-long, ongoing, never-ending immigration crisis?
Socialism, American Style, Part 6 by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2020 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 I grew up on a farm on the Rio Grande just outside Laredo, Texas, a city that is situated on the U.S.-Mexico border. I lived practically half my life in Texas. Throughout that time, I witnessed an immigration crisis, one that is still ongoing today. There is a simple reason for this never-ending crisis: America’s system of immigration controls is a socialist system, and socialism always produces crises. America’s immigration system is based on the socialist principle of central planning. The government plans in a top-down, command-and-control fashion the movements of millions of people. It decides how many total immigrants will be permitted to enter the United States and how many immigrants may come from each foreign country. It also decides the qualifications and credentials for people wishing to immigrate to the United States. It determines how many immigrants are ...
What is a “Libertarian-Conservative”? Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger September 24, 2020 In my blog post yesterday, I referred to a New York Times op-ed by Steven Calabresi, who refers to himself as a hyphenated conservative, specifically a “libertarian-conservative.” A big problem, as I pointed out, is that neither Calabresi nor the Times defines what a “libertarian-conservative” is. I pointed out how the big influx of disenchanted conservatives into the libertarian movement has adversely affected the movement, especially by inducing libertarians to adopt the reform-oriented mindset of conservatives. That’s why so many libertarians have abandoned any hope of a genuinely free society and have made peace with the notion that the welfare-welfare state is here to stay as a permanent feature of American life. Thus the libertarian philosophy has lost its radical brand — one of genuine liberty — and become, in large part, just a libertarian-conservative mush consisting of reform proposals for the welfare-welfare state, all wrapped up in nice “free-market” lingo.
Cryptocurrency and Libertarianism by Wendy McElroy September 8, 2020 “The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson The impact of cryptocurrency on libertarianism has been profound, especially among the younger generation. To many, the appeal is a mystery because they view crypto as a scam or a delusion of the madding crowd. Austrian economists invoke the ...
Gold and Free Banking versus Central Banking by Richard M. Ebeling July 28, 2020 In spite of the officially declared “independence” of the Federal Reserve from the immediate political control of either Congress or the White House, America’s central bank is, nonetheless, a branch of the U.S. government that is responsible for setting monetary policy, overseeing a variety of banking regulations, and influencing market interest rates. As a result, politics is always present ...
“Small Government” is an Empty Republican Mantra by Jacob G. Hornberger July 24, 2020 Favoring “small government” has long been a Republican and conservative mantra. It is also an empty one. It’s a shame that some libertarians have adopted it to describe libertarianism. After all, what does “small government” mean? A smaller IRS? A more streamlined DEA? A fascist Social Security system? A reformed Medicare system? A 10 percent cut ...
Rename the Roosevelt Room to the Gustav Schröder Room by Jacob G. Hornberger July 21, 2020 Last month the University of Southern California announced the removal of the name of former USC president Rufus von KleinSmid from a building on campus. Von KleinSmid served as president of the university from 1921 to 1947. Von KleinSmid’s offense? He was a supporter of the eugenics movement, and he also refused to admit Japanese American ...
Who Hates America? by Jacob G. Hornberger July 6, 2020 Over the weekend, noted conservative Rod Dreher issued a nasty diatribe against NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. In a short article in the American Conservative, Dreher accused Kaepernick of “hating America” and cited a recent tweet that Kaepernick sent out. Kaepernick is the black NFL quarterback who, a couple of years ago, incurred the ire of ...
The Coronavirus Crisis and Restoring the Spirit of Liberty by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 2020 The year 2020 will, most certainly, go down in history as a momentous one. Having started out in January with most people fairly confident that relatively prosperous times were likely to continue at least into 2021, it witnessed within a couple of months entire economies almost everywhere collapsing into one of the most serious economic downturns of the last ...
Free the Liquor Stores! by Laurence M. Vance May 28, 2020 The Fine Wine & Good Spirits liquor stores are slowly beginning to reopen in Pennsylvania after they were all closed on March 17 in response to the spread of the coronavirus. On May 8, 77 stores reopened. On May 15, 155 more stores reopened. On May 22, 50 more stores were opened. During the time when ...
Reform versus Liberty by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2020 Americans alive today have grown up in what libertarians term a welfare-warfare state. It is a system in which the primary purpose of the federal government is to take care of people and keep them safe and secure. This type of governmental system is also sometimes referred to as a paternalistic state, given that the federal government essentially plays ...
Libertarianism Can’t Make Socialism Work by Jacob G. Hornberger March 17, 2020 One of the fascinating phenomena of advancing libertarianism here at The Future of Freedom Foundation for the past 30 years has been seeing how frustrated statists become with the failure of libertarians to come up with solutions on how to make socialism work. Statists, of course, are people who look to government — and the ...
