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Two articles by Jacob Hornberger -

One about conservative hypocrisy and the other about how to achieve security

Conservative Hypocrisy

by Jacob G. Hornberger, president, The Future of Freedom Foundation

Conservatives are fond of preaching the importance of taking "individual
responsibility" for one's actions and beliefs. But when you ask them whether they're willing to take responsibility for the robberies and muggings that their beloved decades-long war on drugs have produced, they always and inevitably respond with, "Oh, no. We don't intend our policies to result in those things and therefore we're not responsible for them. Only robbers and muggers, with their lack of respect for liberty and private property, are responsible for their actions and beliefs." Today, when you ask conservatives whether they're willing to take responsibility for their beloved decades-long foreign-aid program and interventionist foreign policy that have produced so much enmity, hatred, and perverse consequences for our country, their response is, not surprisingly, the same: "Oh, no. We don't intend our policies to result in those things and therefore we're not responsible for them. Only terrorists, with their lack of respect for liberty and private property, are responsible for their actions." Question
for conservatives: With respect to welfare programs, do you still feel that good intentions don't matter and that advocates of the decades-long war on poverty should take responsibility for its destructive consequences, or do you now feel that only the food-stamp mother in the grocery-store line is responsible for her actions and beliefs?


When the Going Gets Tough
by Jacob G. Hornberger

During a crisis such as this, it is easy for the advocate of liberty to become discouraged, especially given the willingness of so many people,
including those in the conservative and libertarian movements, to surrender
their liberty at the hands of their own government in the hope that their
government will bring them safety and security.

Our goal is a free, peaceful, and prosperous society. Most of us understand that such a society is impossible under a socialistic welfare state and regulated society. We understand how such governmental institutions and programs as the war on drugs, public schooling, welfare, the IRS, HUD, gun control, Social Security, and Medicare are inimical to a free society.
That's in fact why our Founders and our American ancestors rejected them
all.

But our Founders understood another principle: that an enormous standing
military force was also inimical to a free society, not only because of the
enormous taxes that are necessary to support such a force and not only
because of all the crises (e.g., wars) it would inevitably get the nation into internationally, but also because throughout history, military forces have been used by governments to ensure "order" domestically during crises.

Our Founders understood that at any given time, there would be conflicts,
war, tyranny, and horrible things happening around the world, but the role they envisioned for America was not to intervene in international disputes, adjudge the guilty, take sides, and embroil itself in the conflict. Under their vision, the United States would instead serve as the model for a free society and would be a beacon for everyone in the world who wished to escape the horrors of those societies that continued subscribing to a vision of statism. Moreover, recognizing that private Americans would be the best diplomats a nation could ever have, our Founders ensured that the American people would be free to travel and trade anywhere in the world without any restriction whatsoever (including passports) from their own government.

Unfortunately, in the 20th century, the welfare-interventionist vision of
American statists prevailed over the vision of liberty and limited government of our Founders and ancestors, both domestically and internationally. Today, the life and income of every American is subject to the control of his own government, including his freedom to trade and travel overseas. Moreover, as a result of the statist welfare-interventionist
foreign policies, the American people (not just U.S. government officials)
are hated and despised all over the world. Our nation is no longer the model -- the beacon -- that our Founders envisioned and that inspired worldwide admiration most of our nation's history.

With crisis comes danger. The biggest danger, of course, is that in the tremendous amount fear a crisis produces people will often rush to be
enveloped by their government in the hope that it will forgive them for questioning or criticizing its ever-growing power over them, and that they will express unconditional willingness to surrender their lives and liberties to government, again in the hope that it will take care of them, protect them, and provide for them.

That, of course, as our Founders understood so well, is the grand illusion
and delusion. Throughout history, people who have surrendered their liberty to their government in the hope of gaining security, have ended up with neither liberty nor security.

The welfare state, of course, has created the mindset that government is our daddy and, as a daddy, will take care of us. Yet the world's sole remaining superpower, with the most powerful army and intelligence apparatus in the history of man, was unable to detect and prevent a massive tragedy inflicted by a conspiracy that obviously involved a great number of people. Can it detect and prevent suicide attacks on every sports event, concert hall, movie theater, and amusement park in America? Don't count on it.

Despite the overwhelming number of people who are unconditionally supporting Congress's vesting of Caesar-like powers in the president to resolve this crisis, many of them are now asking whether U.S. foreign policy has contributed to this crisis. People haven't been this interested in foreign policy in a long time and once the emotional fervor diminishes, they might not be so willing to accept the standard bromides that government officials are providing about the crisis.

With crisis also comes opportunity. In the midst and in the aftermath of crisis, we, the advocates of liberty, have an opportunity to persuade our fellow Americans to reject the immoral and destructive vision of welfare and intervention, both domestically and internationally, of Wilson, the two Roosevelts, Johnson, and Nixon and restore the moral and constructive vision of liberty and republic of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Adams. Who can now doubt that our lives and fortunes -- and those of our countrymen -- depend on our efforts?

Mr. Hornberger is president of The Future of Freedom Foundation (www.fff.org) in Fairfax, Va., and the co-editor of The Failure of America's Foreign Wars.