I can remember when, many years ago, my father saw his first episode of “All in the Family.” As Edith’s theme song reached the verse that said “Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again,” he bolted up from his easy chair, pointed at the TV set, and yelled “We could not.” Unfortunately, my father’s Depression-inspired reaction would
Americans remember Benjamin Franklin as one of our founding fathers. And well they should, as he was not just our most famous citizen at our country’s birth, he was a central part of that birth. As a member of the Second Continental Congress, Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence. As a member of the Constitutional Convention,
Much of what we “know” is by analogy to something else. That is why so much of what is said and written is couched in those terms. But that is also dangerous, because any analogy, however helpful, is misleading if pushed too far or used in the wrong context. As a result, analogies can be abused to mislead as well as inform. And abuse often
On June 3, 1804, Richard Cobden was born. Nicknamed the “Apostle of Free Trade,” he spearheaded the campaign against the protectionist English Corn Laws, leading to their repeal in 1846, which then spread to the liberalization of trade throughout much of Europe. His role was so great that it has been said the free market owes its existence to him.
Thomas Paine is primarily remembered for his fiery rhetoric in favor of American revolution and independence. But in The Rights of Man , in which he tries to “establish a system of principles as a basis on which government ought to be erected,” he shows that commerce, or free trade, is not only deducible from those principles, but interference
In fiscal crises, there are never shortages of proposals to hike taxes (or to change the rules to make it easier to hike taxes) on “the rich” or to keep their taxes from being lowered, in order to support or expand various government programs. These proposals trigger the rebuttal that high income earners are already forced to pay far more than
On Labor Day, Americans honor the often incredible contributions of its working men and women. But that honor is typically hijacked by unions who portray themselves as representing all American workers and claim that they are largely responsible for the gains workers have made. Those assertions are false. In fact, unions have harmed workers as a
On November 5, 1720, the first letter from Cato (pseudonym for John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, honoring Cato the Younger, whose dedication to principles of liberty led him to oppose Julius Caesar) appeared in the London Journal . Many more followed, reflecting the ideas of John Locke, soon making it England’s most influential newspaper, and
[This essay was the basis of a talk that Galles gave at the Karl Hess Club) 2003 was the 80 th anniversary of the birth of Karl Hess, a beloved libertarian and public intellectual who was involved in most of the political debates from the 1960s until his death in 1994. His efforts on behalf of liberty were prolific, whether in over a dozen books
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.