No More Statism by Jacob G. Hornberger April 14, 2011 Not surprisingly, liberals are calling for tax hikes on the rich as their way to pay for the ever-burgeoning costs of the welfare-warfare state. Conservatives pretend to oppose tax hikes. Their preferred method of funding the welfare-warfare state is through the Federal Reserve, whose job is to provide the money and credit needed to fund excess federal spending without the need to raise income taxes. That’s what passes for philosophical debate between liberals and conservatives. The fight isn’t over the legitimacy of the welfare-warfare state way of life. They both agree on that. The fight is over how to fund it (and, of course, which side gets to run it). The controversy perfectly reflects how different we libertarians are from statists. We libertarians don’t argue over whether the welfare-warfare state should be funded by income taxation or inflation. Our position is: Immediately repeal all welfare-state programs (beginning with the crown jewels of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid), repeal all interventionist and regulatory ...
The Absurdity of Trusting Foreign-Policy Makers by James Bovard April 13, 2011 The United States is attacking Libya on the basis of vague hopes that peace will triumph after the Allied bombing ceases. There are plenty of reasons to doubt whether a few hundred cruise missiles will beget harmony in the Libyan desert. But one of the biggest mistakes would be to assume that U.S. government policymakers understand what they are doing. The American media have already uncorked “surprises,” such as the facts that the Libyan opposition is more of a ragtag mob than an army and that Qaddafi’s opponents include some organizations officially labeled as terrorists by the U.S. government. One gets the impression that the Obama administration’s masterminds did not notice those details prior to charging into this civil war. The latest follies are part of a long bipartisan tradition. In the decades since John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, foreign-policy makers have become Washington’s leading con men. Even though Whiz Kids and Dream Teams have dragged America into one debacle after another, ...
Freedom Daily – 2010 by Future of Freedom Foundation April 11, 2011 January 2010 The Libertal Assault on the Poor, Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger The Phony Radicalism of Michael Moore by Sheldon Richman The Bush Secrecy Legacy by James Bovard How a Rich and Proud Nation Went Broke by Jim Powell A Lesson in the (Re)distribution of Wealth by Edmund Contoski New Deal Charades by George C. Leef To receive your personal copy of Freedom Daily, subscribe to our print version ($25 per year) or our email version ($15 per year). February 2010 The CIA and the Assassination of John Kennedy, Part 1 by Jacob G. Hornberger The Political Economy of Health Care by Sheldon Richman The Feds Post9/11 Airport-Worker Purge by James Bovard From Safe Republic to Unsafe Empire by Bruce Fein The Rule of Law, Part 1 by Ridgway K. Foley Jr. The Illogic of Gun Controllers by Benedict D. LaRosa Bursting the Myths of the Great Depression by George C. Leef To receive your personal copy of Freedom Daily, subscribe to our print version ...
The Forgotten Failures of the Peace Corps by James Bovard April 1, 2011 This is the fiftieth anniversary year for the Peace Corps. Prior to the creation of AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps took the cake as the most arrogant and overrated government program in Washington. At a time when the agency is being hailed for idealism and almost saving the world, it is worthwhile to consider its early record of debacles and ...
Hornberger’s Blog, April 2011 by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2011 Friday, April 29, 2011 Nutrition and the Nanny State Even while bombing and killing people overseas, the federal government hasn’t forgotten its important role of being a daddy for the American people. According to an article in today’s New York Times, the Food and Drug Administration is issuing rules directed to food companies that target children in their advertising. Since child obesity is ...
Obama’s Imperial Adventure by Sheldon Richman March 25, 2011 President Obama’s entry into Libya’s civil war can be criticized on many levels: The mission as explained is incoherent; Congress was not asked for a declaration of war as the Constitution requires; events in Libya do not affect the security of the American people; bombing another oil-rich Muslim country aggravates the conditions that create anti-American terrorism; killing innocent civilians ...
Afghanistan: A War of Choice, Not Necessity by Sheldon Richman March 25, 2011 In December Barack Obama received his awaited assessment of the war in Afghanistan, then reported to the American people that the mission is “on track” and troops would begin to withdraw next July. But the semi-upbeat assessment was less than persuasive because, as the Washington Post reported, “The overview of the long-awaited report contained no specifics or data to ...
Auberon Herbert, Part 2 by Wendy McElroy March 20, 2011 Part 1 | Part 2 On other issues, Auberon Herbert predictably sided with working people. In 1869, he acted as one of the presidents of the first national Cooperative Congress. As its name suggests, the Cooperative movement focused on establishing cooperative societies and arrangements, such as mutual insurance agencies. When Herbert’s Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State first ...
The Story Behind the Permanent War by Anthony Gregory March 18, 2011 Washington Rules: Americas Path to Permanent War by Andrew J. Bacevich (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010), 286 pages. During the last decade, left-liberals accused the controversial Bush administration of a wickedness, arrogance, and incompetence that supposedly set that presidency apart from others in American history. Bush was an especially bad warmonger who broke with the traditional and venerable principles that had ...
Condolences Yes, Assistance No by Laurence M. Vance March 15, 2011 Thanks to the tremendous technological advances in communications that have taken place over the past few years, the whole world has now heard of and seen the destruction wrought by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. With thousands already confirmed dead, and many thousands more missing and presumed dead, the thoughts and prayers from people of every nation ...
Blame the Empire, Not Muslims by Jacob G. Hornberger March 9, 2011 Yesterday, I appeared on the Glenn Beck Show (at 27:40), with Judge Andrew Napolitano as substitute host, to discuss U.S. Rep. Peter King’s upcoming congressional hearings on the “radicalization of Muslims.” Let me tell you what’s going on here. If U.S. statists can convince Americans that the terrorist problem lies with Muslims and Islam — in other words, a religious problem, ...
