Lew Rockwell, founder and president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and proprietor of LewRockwell.com, and Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation, discuss the fraudulent case for war with Iraq, the longstanding policy of regime change there, the horrible sanctions, the deliberate conflation of nukes and mustard gas into “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” the hopefully receding danger of war with Iran and Pakistan due to the collapse of the American economy, McCain and Obama’s plans for “National Service” conscription and the great success of the Restoring the Republic conference.
MP3 here. (12:37)
Check out more of Lew’s show here.
Lew Rockwell is the founder and President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, Vice President of the Center for Libertarian Studies in Burlingame, California, and publisher of the political Web site LewRockwell.com. He served as Ron Paul’s congressional chief of staff between 1978 and 1982. Check out his new podcast show here.
Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at The Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, publisher of The Freeman and Freedom Daily. Fluent in Spanish and conversant in Italian, he has delivered speeches and engaged in debates and discussions about free-market principles with groups all over the United States, as well as Canada, England, Europe, and Latin America, including Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Argentina. He has also advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on FOX New’s Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows. His editorials have appeared in the Washington Post, Charlotte Observer, La Prensa San Diego, El Nuevo Miami Herald, and many others, both in the United States and in Latin America. He is a co-editor or contributor to the eight books that have been published by the Foundation.
I know you all have to sing for your suppers, but a time is approaching when you will have to choose whether to support what will reveal itself as a right-wing, authoritarian, hard-money based, isolationist, capitalist ‘american fascism’, and a neo-keynesian ‘new world order’, of the sort Alex Jones always tries to frighten you about. There is no third option.
Let me expand on that term “neo-keynesian” if I may. We all agree that “military keynesianism” works, do we not? It keeps the economy growing, especially the politically vital high-tech sector – but within the confines of the right-wing, “anti-communist” mind-set, the only reason that the sinful liaison between the state and private industry can be justified is “military necessity”. This is entirely unique to right-wing ideology. Keynes understood that the state can sponsor other industries than “defense”. In the UK, at any rate, he was not regarded as a “communist” at all.
As a matter of fact we don’t agree that military Keynesianism “works,” at least if you define “works” the way normal people do. A shame that so much of the left bought into this, since it feeds into the idea that we can’t reduce military spending because our economy will be harmed. That someone could fall for such an elementary fallacy never ceases to amaze me.
Here are some of the wonders of military Keynesianism: http://mises.org/journals/scholar/woods2.pdf
Mr. Berkeley,
Those state-sponsored industries in UK ended up being a bad idea. Whenever you have a state-sponsored industry you take away its profit motive and also expose it to being used as political tool. The end result is industry that is so inefficient that it cannot support itself and it winds up being nothing more than a government employment program. Why not have brigades of window breakers and window fixers to generate economic activity? You’ll get the same net result. “neo-keynesianâ€? Is there a such thing? Sounds like the same ‘ol government populist approach to economics that consists of the government throwing funny money all over the place.
“There is no third option.”
Yes there is.
I will choose a life of freedom, even if 99.9% of “society” is against it.
http://www.campaignforliberty.com
It’s easy enough for the establishment to feed
the killing complex with new wars, the new trick
however will be to find ways to supply fresh meat
in the face of dwindling saps, er, volunteers.
The govt. is running out of willing macho dimwits.
Even American citizenship for aliens is now
a diminishing return.
I can’t wait to read the pledge that will be written
up for National Service conscripts to forcibly recite.
Even more interesting will be the salute they will
use while reciting it. Will it be the Boy Scout salute?
The hand over heart baloney salute? Palm out honesty salute?
Get the sun out of my eyes military “I’ll kill ya!” salute?
How ’bout they all just grab onto their genitals as a
gesture of obesiance and farewell address to their manhood?
Actually, any gesticulation of groveling will do just fine.
If and when mandatory national service becomes part of
American childhood that will be the day I will no longer
consider myself an American but a Confederate.