I’m pleased to see that the Mises Institute is carrying The Discovery of Freedom. Rose Wilder Lane (Daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder) was one of the past century’s most ardent proponents of liberty. In particular, The Discovery of Freedom: Man’s Struggle Against Authority (1943) was a seminal work on freedom. It was recognized as such by not only
This last week , the attorney general said that he would consider prosecuting any journalist or newspaper that published classified information that had been leaked. “There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility,” he said. Freedom of the press is in the 1st
William Graham Sumner, whose birthday in 1840 was yesterday, was described by one writer as “The Gilded Age’s most renowned teacher of social science and indefatigable defender of [classical] liberalism.” A follower of Adam Smith and professor of political and social science at Yale for 37 years, he consistently defended the “organic” social
Tomorrow, November 7, Americans go to the polls. But by the time they get there, they have been bombarded by massive campaigns of self-interested obfuscation, misrepresentation and outright lies by those seeking political power. To combat the intentional confusion that results, and the liberties such confusion erodes, we must frequently be
October 14 is a date celebrated in Pennsylvania, but unfortunately not in other states. That is because it marks the 1644 birthday of William Penn—its founder, but also an important contributor to freedom in the US. Before Pennsylvania was founded, Penn defended British rights on which Americans’ rights would be built. Penn joined the Quakers at
As election day nears, America’s get-out-the-vote frenzy is entering high gear, trying to browbeat voters into exercising their franchise with various arguments. Unfortunately, those arguments reflect seriously flawed logic. “If you don’t vote, you don’t have a voice in government.” This is one of many arguments based on the false premise that
As we know from the Mises Calendar , today is the birthday of Benjamin Constant (1767) It is a congressional election year, and beggar thy neighbor policies will be proposed for the government at an even faster rate than usual. As a result, we face a vast array of potential new regulations that will circumscribe individual freedom into an
The just-completed midterm elections giving Democrats control of both houses of Congress are being interpreted as a referendum on Iraq. Yet once the results were in, the same party that opposed the use of American force in Iraq immediately proposed to use more force on Americans. After all, the only way to impose higher tax rates, higher minimum
Early this year, ethics reform topped Congress’ agenda. Eventually, the House and Senate passed different versions, but their differences were never reconciled. As a result, both bills will disappear at the end of the current session, leaving only a legacy of hot air about members’ desire for reform. After campaigning against “the culture of
When people consider the question of how society should be organized, there is a tendency to portray issues in terms of false alternatives. Such is the case with competition or individualism (i.e., market organization) versus cooperation or community (i.e., organization through government). It is often stated, and even more frequently implied,
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.