RPI’s Adam Dick Comes to My Defense
As longtime supporters of mine know, I have always held Ron Paul in the highest esteem. In fact, one of the big honors I have received as a libertarian has been to be invited to speak often at the Ron Paul Institute’s annual conference at Dulles Airport in Virginia.
The same holds true for both Dan McAdams and Adam Dick, two of the principals at the Ron Paul Institute. I hold both of them in as high esteem as I hold Ron, especially given their passionate commitment to liberty, peace, and prosperity.
Thus, it is a big personal honor for me that Adam has come to my defense with respect to the unwarranted false and scurrilous attack leveled against me by Libertarian Party national chairperson Angela McCardle during her recent appearance on the Michael Malice Show (around the 30 minute mark). Adam’s defense of me is posted on the website of the Ron Paul Institute: “Defending Jacob Hornberger Against the Libertarian Party Chairman’s Insults.”
Adam joins Mises Institute scholar Bob Murphy in coming to my defense, as I detailed in my recent Substack article, “Bob Murphy Weighs in on the McCardle-Malice Controversy.” I commend them both for their intellectual and moral courage, especially given that by coming to my defense, they have subjected themselves to the risk of the same type of thing being done to them.
I also received the following email from a supporter regarding this controversy:
“I read your column and I listened to the Bob Murphy Show. None of it surprised me. It was all just amusing nonsense to me. Let me simply say there are very few people that understand your true message. I'm not sure how long it took for me to ‘get it.’ It takes work and an open mind. And the reality is that the political environment that exists today will never be in sync with your message , nor do they even want to understand it.
“Your message is filled with self evident truths, but very few people have discovered those truths. Again, it takes work and wanting to understand. Now, in my lifetime I made time to read and study people such, Leonard Read, Frederic Bastiat, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Larry Reed, Walter Block, Judge Napolitano and yourself.
“Now if someone reads from that group, they are likely going to learn about freedom. I mean real freedom. But I would guess most Americans don't know anything about the people I just listed. I even wonder how many people in the Libertarian know most of those names? I bet it's quite small…. Anyway, keep up the good work.”
As I indicated in my response to McCardle, the truth oftentimes does not catch up to the lie, especially given that she has access to a much wider range of outlets given her position as party chairman. This point was driven home to me last week at PorcFest, the annual libertarian conference in New Hampshire, where I gave a talk.
Prior to my talk, I walked into a tent sponsored by the Brownstone Institute, which is run by Jeff Tucker, for whom I have long had the utmost respect and who has done excellent work opposing Covid-related tyranny. The first thing he said to me was, “Jacob, did you really favor the lockdowns?” He told me that he had heard the allegation “third hand.”
I informed Jeff that the allegation was false and that it originated with McCardle’s false and scurrilous accusation on the Michael Malice Show. I told him that I had responded to McCardle’s false and scurrilous accusation with an article on Substack that pointed out that my presidential campaign website specifically stated my position that mandates and lockdowns are the hallmark of a tyrannical society, listed several articles of mine at The Future of Freedom Foundation stating the same thing, and that listed several articles that we linked to in our FFF Daily stating the same thing, including articles by Jeff himself.
Thank you, Bob and Adam. And thank you to my supporter who sent me that email. I am very honored and very appreciative.