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Gary Horne
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February 14, 2015
Where Are You, Country?Where are you, country? Why can’t I find you? Why have you gone away? Adapting Cindy Lou’s song about the loss of Christmas spirit in Whoville expresses the sadness for what as been lost in my country. When I was a...
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June 28, 2014
Land of the Free?John M. Horne was born in 1813 in the Land of the Free, an inheritance from several distant uncles who fought against Cornwallis The home of the brave came before the land of the free. Shortly after John and Clarissa Warren married in 1843, ...
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May 25, 2013
The New BarbariansRecent abuses of power are a reminder that the barbarians are still with us, using the power of progressive government to punish anyone who dares oppose them. Barbarians have no regard for others and depend on plunder for their existence, as they hav...
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November 14, 2012
A Traveler's ThoughtsI was on my way back from Asia during the election, having voted by absentee ballot. During the flight, the pilot announced that Obama had won. Two young people in the back cheered. The rest on the 747 were silent. I noticed the man across the ais...
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October 6, 2012
A Society Without RulesA prosperous and free society is possible only when each individual is, by rule of law, protected from force imposed by others, especially those in his own government. The Founders created a nation based on the fundamental principle that the st...
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July 7, 2012
The Other Door Is Wide OpenThe standard procedure when progressives have wanted to mount an attack on constitutional protections has been to knock on the front door and whisper the magic words, "the Commerce Clause," and the guardians of the door (the Supreme Court) would typi...
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May 19, 2012
Progressing toward Moral DarknessA fashionable name for the left these days is "progressive." The use of this word hints that the progressive has already passed the rest of us and is moving on to some place where the normal rules of reality don't apply. Is it the Garden ...
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April 12, 2012
What? The Magic Words Aren't Working!The awful truth is beginning to dawn on the left. The magic words on which they have relied to make government grow may not work anymore. The consequences could be catastrophic for progressives. So it isn't hard to understand why t...
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March 31, 2012
The Values of PericlesPericles is the name I've given the red-tailed hawk we see circling over the empty field behind our house. In Pericles' natural state, his actions are based on what enhances his own life. In Pericles' value system, it is good to be for hi...
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February 25, 2012
A Blind Eye toward AthensAfter Sparta and Athens defeated the Persians in 479 BC, both returned to a peacetime economy. The authoritarian Spartans went back to their stable but stagnant agricultural life. The Athenians deployed their navy as a merchant fleet and ...
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February 5, 2012
A Real Person for PresidentI have recently been reading biographies of some of the Founders: Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, John and Samuel Adams, remarkable men who gave us an enduring gift. Together they were an Atlas raising the world higher. The title "The Gr...
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October 21, 2011
Government against the PeopleIf there is a single feature distinguishing the left from the rest of civil society, it is the willingness to use force. While claiming to be for the people, the statists consistently use force against others. The use of force and d...
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September 25, 2011
How about No Taxes at All?Recent debates about who pays taxes and how much miss the point. Instead, people should be asking why the current system allows unlimited power to tax, restricted only by the "wisdom" of Congress. The taxing power of the federal government wa...
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July 24, 2011
Aunt Lucy Didn't Send the SheriffWhen I was a boy, Mom insisted I go visit Aunt Lucy at her small house near the creek. I went reluctantly since Aunt Lucy liked to talk about family history and always kept her house a comfortable 85 degrees, tempting a young boy to nod off. Au...
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July 2, 2011
Suckered into Social SecurityYou know you are a senior when a company advertises that it has been in business since the year you finished college or when the waiter goes out of his way to suggest the seniors' menu. And you know you are a senior these days when you are call...
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October 3, 2010
Dad, I Owe You OneI owe you, Dad. No, not for taking care of me as a child -- I am paying that debt back by taking care of my own two daughters. My debt is much deeper than that. You see, my generation has made a mess of things. Your generation, steeled by the i...
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November 2, 2009
The Mental Dry-RunWhen I have a job to do around the house, I often do a dry-run in my mind, imagining how the job has to be done and how it will come out. What I have noticed is that many times, after the mental rehearsal, I forget to do the job! The mind generated a...
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October 12, 2009
What planet do they think we are on?The rationale behind the Senate Finance Committee's health care proposal was to reduce the cost of health care. In order to do this, they are levying taxes on health products and insurance companies. What planet do they think we are on?...
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September 24, 2009
Preaching fingersYears ago, I attended a campaign rally for George McGovern. It was a small gathering on a college campus in California. The only thing I remember about the event was McGovern's finger. The whole speech he was waving that finger at e...
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September 6, 2009
The revolt against the eliteThe revolt keeps growing, from tea parties to angry town hall meetings across the country, an uprising against the attempts of an elite to force on us an all-powerful State, about as welcome as grandma's cod-liver oil. Examples of revolt go bey...
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September 1, 2009
Stay off the busThe buses are lined up at the terminal, brand new government vehicles with attractive logos on the side. Free rides are offered to exotic locations. Intelligent-looking PhDs sit in the drivers' seats. Well-made signs advertise the b...
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August 15, 2009
Extort thy neighbor, or how to ruin a nationThe code words used for so-called "health care reform," single-payer, universal coverage, etc. bring images into the minds of many of "free" health care, something for nothing. When I was a boy, I was often puzzled why Dad d...
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May 21, 2009
Obama's Magic HatMany Obama voters now expect the President to pull utopia out of his magician's hat. What will they do when the hat turns out to be empty?In the dream, the magician came on stage amid a robust round of applause. He took the magician's hat off t...
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May 9, 2009
Oh, for a WesternI don't see Westerns playing at the theaters these days. Of course, I don't watch movies much. I find most of today's films to be glorifications of extreme violence or of some degenerate lifestyle, if not outright statist propaganda....