Two Brothers in Search of Monsters to Destroy by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2014 In celebration of the Fourth of July, 1821, John Quincy Adams delivered a speech before Congress that is famously titled, “In Search of Monsters to Destroy.” Adams used the occasion to describe the foreign policy of the United States: Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. Needless to say, America abandoned that foreign policy long ago in favor of one based on going abroad in search of foreign leaders to destroy or replace. Central to that fundamental shift in U.S. foreign policy has been the Central Intelligence Agency. A recently published book details the role the CIA played in regime-change operations from its origin in 1947 through the early 1960s: The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, ...
Common Sense versus Obama’s Next War by James Bovard January 1, 2014 The Obama administration tottered on the edge of launching a cruise missile attack on Syria this past August and September. Obama hesitated and decided to seek congressional approval before blowing up many targets on the Syrian landscape. After Americans made it loud and clear that they did not want another war, congressional opposition helped curb his bellicosity. But he came close to plunging the United States into another war, and the episode provides warnings for the next foreign-policy brouhaha. After it accused the Syrian regime of launching a chemical-weapons attack that killed masses of civilians, the administration harangued Americans to support going to war on the basis of blind faith in the president’s character and wisdom. On August 28, a front-page Washington Post headline blared, “Proof Against Assad at Hand.” But that hand remained hidden. On a Sunday talk show on September 8, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough admitted that the administration lacked evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” ...
Fighting to Win: A Message from Jacob Hornberger by Jacob G. Hornberger December 31, 2013 Imagine how despondent statists must have been in the late 1800s. The vast majority of Americans were continuing to embrace the fundamental principle proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence: that everyone has been endowed with inherent, natural, God-given rights which no government can legitimately infringe. Our American ancestors were living in a society that was, indeed, unique and exceptional in the history of the world. Imagine: no welfare state and no warfare state. It was the most amazing society in history, one characterized by an ever-increasing standard of living and ever-growing levels of voluntary charity. Nevertheless, the socialists and interventionists didn’t give up and turned our country into a vast welfare-warfare state, one in which we have all been born and raised and which operates under the false rubric of “freedom and free enterprise.” Just as they defeated the advocates of liberty in their time, we can defeat the advocates of statism in our time. It just takes perseverance and determination and ...
Egypt’s National-Security State Rears Its Ugly Head by Jacob G. Hornberger December 30, 2013 Of all the ironies, the Egyptian people today are experiencing the wisdom of an American military man who served as president more than 50 years ago. That president was Dwight Eisenhower, who, before being elected president, had served as the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War II. In his 1961 Farewell Address, Ike delivered one of the ...
The Sordid Roots of the National-Security State by Jacob G. Hornberger December 19, 2013 Given that most all of us living today have been born and raised under a national-security state apparatus, we’ve all been inculcated with the notion that the enormous military empire, CIA, and NSA are a necessary and permanent part of our lives. We’ve all been taught that our very freedom and well-being depend on the existence of these agencies. ...
Does Obama Want an Agreement with Iran or Not? by Sheldon Richman December 18, 2013 What are President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry up to with Iran? First they boasted of a historic interim agreement with Iran regarding its civilian nuclear program — an agreement which demonstrates that the Islamic Republic won’t be making nuclear weapons — something it has shown no inclination to do anyway. Then they prevailed on the ...
Unilaterally and Immediately Lift the Cuban Embargo by Jacob G. Hornberger December 13, 2013 Much ado is being made about President Obama’s decision to shake hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. People are wondering whether the handshake could be the start of a thaw in the fifty-year state of hostility between Cuba and the United States. To no one’s surprise, Cold War anti-communist dead-enders are objecting to Obama’s handshake, ...
TGIF: Crime and Punishment in a Free Society by Sheldon Richman December 6, 2013 Would a free society be a crime-free society? We have good reason to anticipate it. Don’t accuse me of utopianism. I don’t foresee a future of new human beings who consistently respect the rights of others. Rather, I’m drawing attention to the distinction between crime and tort — between offenses against the state (or society) and offenses against individual persons ...
The Origins of America’s Warfare State by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2013 Given that most Americans living today were born and raised under a massive military establishment, the CIA, and the NSA, a large number of Americans very likely believe that the United States has always had this type of government. Not so, as Michael Swanson shows in a new book, The War State. Swanson points out that America’s warfare state didn’t ...
Roger Williams: The Separation of Conscience and State by Wendy McElroy December 1, 2013 There was a whole country in America ... to be set on fire by the rapid motion of a windmill in the head of one particular man ... one Mr. Roger Williams. — Cotton Mather, New England Puritan minister Roger Williams (c. 1603–1683), founder of Rhode Island, was a key figure in forging the distinctive American character. The American was ...
Iran: It’s Not about Nuclear Weapons by Sheldon Richman November 26, 2013 If you want to understand the U.S.-Iran controversy, know this: It is not about nuclear weapons. You’re thinking: Of course it’s about nuclear weapons. Everyone says so. Well, not everyone does. But it isn’t a numbers game. As William O. Beeman points out in the Huffington Post, There is a strange irony in President ...
Speaking the Unspeakable by Jacob G. Hornberger November 22, 2013 On today, November, 22, 2013, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, we are certain to hear the same old pabulum that we have heard for the past five decades: “We will just really never know what happened to President Kennedy on that fateful day.” What a crock. Oh sure, we might not ever know the names ...
