Most Americans say that understanding our founding is very important. However, we actually pay almost no attention to it, leaving us woefully unaware of many critical aspects of our heritage. One of the most important but overlooked Revolutionary era influences were New England ministers. Franklin Cole, editor of They Preached Liberty , described
The 2008 presidential campaign has been going on for months, even though we are far from the end of 2007. But all that really gets discussed are the horserace details — who is ahead, who is raising more money, how badly will a particular scandal or issue hurt a candidate, etc. Unfortunately, that approach, which dominates the media, is a horribly
One of the dangers facing anyone who has come to believe in a certain philosophy or approach is the temptation to ignore or reject useful contributions from those not “pure” enough in their adherence to those principles. Believers in liberty face this particularly starkly with those whose actions contradict their alleged devotion to human freedom.
In a long public life, Ron Paul has always kept faith with the limited defensible role for our federal government. He hasn’t sold out that vision to “buy” goodies extorted from others via government coercion, truly representing those disenchanted with the ballooning size scope of government. As a result, he has been criticized, including by those
Since the 2008 election battles are already well under way, pressures toward protectionism to steal from others to line constituents’ pockets are intensifying. Through their patrons in Washington, industries and unions are pushing even harder for what amounts to delegated government taxing power over their consumers, using the offer of election
James Wilson (9/4/1742–8/28/1798) was one of the most important of America’s founding fathers, but is now one of the least known. He was one of only a half-dozen who signed both the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution , but his influence was felt both before and after those seminal documents, as well. Before the Declaration of
Americans define themselves as principled people of action. That is one reason we revere George Washington, who was essential to our revolution’s success, the creation of our Constitution, and the precedent of how to govern under it, yet voluntarily stepped down from power out of principle (which King George said made him the man of the age). But
May 29 marks John F. Kennedy’s 90th birthday. Given his iconic status, we will hear his most famous line — “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country,” more than a few times. But unfortunately, few will think carefully about it. Kennedy’s speech dramatically changed the meaning from its inspiration — a Kahlil
Since America seems to have entered an era of permanent political campaigning, what H.L. Mencken called politics’ “advance auction of stolen goods” never stops. Those trolling for more power extol liberty in their speeches, while redefining it into something different (e.g., Rudy Giuliani’s version in a 1994 speech: “Freedom is about authority.
With its title of Freedomnomics , some might dismiss John Lott’s latest book as just some slanted ideological rhetoric to be ignored. That would be a mistake. Having known him since graduate school at UCLA, I can attest that he is not an ideologue trying to abuse logic and statistics to confirm prior assumptions. He is someone who does his best to
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.