Jacob Hornberger | The Libertarian Institute

End All State Support to Colleges and Universities

by Jacob Hornberger | Jun 17, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

While Democratic Party presidential candidates are stumbling over themselves in offering people free college tuition and other political candy in the hope of buying their votes, I’ve got a better idea. Let’s end all state support of colleges and universities entirely. State support of colleges and universities is part of the mandatory-charity system that we call the welfare state, a system that is supported by both Democrats and Republicans. It is a system in which the state forces people to be good, caring, and responsible by forcibly taking their money from them and giving it to others. In...

Abolish the FBI

by Jacob Hornberger | May 30, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

As a libertarian, let me make my position clear with respect to the FBI: It should be abolished, not reformed or reined in. That’s because in a free society there is no national police force. Criminal justice, along with all the power a criminal-justice system entails, is best left at the state and local level. National police forces are inherent to totalitarian regimes, such as those in Iran, North Korea, and China. Thus, it’s not a coincidence that the Framers did not provide for a FBI in the Constitution, just as it isn’t a coincidence that our American ancestors did not have a FBI for...

Immigration Tyranny and Cruelty Come Home

by Jacob Hornberger | May 15, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

I can’t help but wonder if what has happened to Theresa Todd will cause conservative-leaning libertarians to abandon their support of immigration controls, the system of immigration central planning, cruelty, and tyranny that both conservatives and progressives have unfortunately foisted upon our land. Todd lives in West Texas. One night she was driving down a highway when she was flagged down by three young Central American migrants — Carlos, 22, his brother Francisco 20, and their sister Esmeralda, 18. The three of them had fled El Salvador years ago and had been living with an aunt in...

Trump’s Trade Wars Destroy Our Freedom

by Jacob Hornberger | Apr 29, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

Given President Trump’s trade wars against China and other countries, the natural tendency is to focus on Chinese and American producers and consumers as the victims of Trump’s destructive trade folly. Keep in mind that in every trade, both sides benefit by improving their respective standard of living. That’s because in every trade, both traders give up something they value less for something they value more. Thus, standards of living can rise through the simple act of trade. Thus, Chinese producers are hurt because Trump refuses to permit them to sell to Americans. American producers are...

The Deadly and Destructive Futility of the Drug War

by Jacob Hornberger | Apr 10, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

Ever since President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs in the 1970s, advocates of this government program, both conservative and liberal, have argued that the only reason why the U.S. government has failed to win the drug war is that government officials have failed to fight it sufficiently hard. If U.S. officials would really crack down, the argument goes, the decades-long war could finally — finally! — be declared over and done with. In their unwavering support of this failed government program, however, what these people fail to consider is that as U.S. officials have met with...

Conscription Is Slavery

by Jacob Hornberger | Mar 21, 2019 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice

Last month a federal judge in Texas declared the all-male military draft to be unconstitutional because it applies only to men and not also to women. The decision flies in the face of a decision by the Supreme Court in 1981 that upheld the constitutionality of the draft-registration process. Back then, however, women were not permitted to serve in combat roles, which was the justification for the Court’s ruling. Today, women are permitted to serve in combat roles, a point cited by that Texas federal judge. While the controversy might seem academic given that we haven’t had conscription for...

Donald Trump, America’s Elected Dictator

by Jacob Hornberger | Feb 15, 2019 | Featured Articles, Politics

After losing his battle against Congress to secure funding for his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, President Trump is declaring that that the congressional rebuff is irrelevant anyway. The reason? Trump is declaring an “emergency” under the “National Emergencies Act,” which, he says, authorizes him to spend U.S. taxpayer money on the wall without congressional authorization. He’s going to have the U.S. military, which will dutifully follow his orders, construct his Berlin Wall. Trump’s action is the very essence of dictatorship. Check out other dictators around the world — Maduro in...

Hurtling Toward Bankruptcy

by Jacob Hornberger | Feb 3, 2019 | Economics, Featured Articles

The federal government owes people almost $22 trillion. That means that American taxpayers owe people almost $22 trillion. That’s because the federal government has no money of its own. The money it gets comes entirely from American taxpayers. That’s what the IRS is for — to make certain that everyone sends his required amount of taxes to the federal government to enable it to cover its expenditures. According to usdebtclock.org (which is an Internet spectacle worth looking at), federal tax revenue amounts to around $3.3 trillion. The amount of federal expenditures is over $4.1 trillion....

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