Hornberger, me, and the pro-war libertarians

Jacob Hornberger has done it again. His article, "The Critical Dilemma Facing Pro-War Libertarians", is brilliant. His article all boils down to libertarianism on domestic policy--individual liberty, free market, private property (i.e., smaller government) and conservatism on foreign policy--strong military, interventionism, troops based in over 100 countries in the world (i.e., bigger government) conflict with themselves.

In 99.9% of the time, Hornberger and I are alike. In fact, we are alike outside of our philosophies. He was a lawyer who quits the practice to become a writer; I am a writer who wants to be a lawyer. He was born and raised in Laredo, TX; I was born and lived my first six years in Corpus Christi, TX, just 150 miles due east of Laredo. And in college, he went to Virgina Military Institute and graduated to become a reserve Army officer; I was a Navel (Marine Corps) ROTC at the University of Oklahoma.

But as for philosophy, we are the same. We both are principled libertarians, and such, we are clear on the direction of our lives. We want limited, self-government on domestic issues, limited, self-government on foreign issues, limited, self-government on economic issues, limited self-government on social issues...limited, self-government, period.

The only thing we disagree is on the income tax. Hornberger thinks the 16th Amendment gives a direct tax without apportionment, and being an uncompromising libertarian, Hornberger wants to repeal the 16th Amendment by adding another amendment (like the 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment). I say that the repealing of the 16th Amendment did the people no good. The Supreme Court decision after the Supreme Court decision after the Supreme Court decision states the same thing; the 16th Amendment gives government no new power of taxation. The only thing the 16th Amendment did was to prohibit the income tax from going into direct taxation, requiring apportionment, and put into indirect taxation, requiring uniformity. Not only I have many Supreme Court cases, but I have the statutes, regulations, as well as the Constitution--i.e., THE LAW. And the law says there is no law for the average American to file a return and pay an income tax. But Hornberger disagrees with me, and he has a right to his opinion.

But for the last paragraph, I agree with Hornberger, including the mixed messages of the pro-war libertarians.