In my research into Leonard Read’s writing, I recently came across his “Look to the Miracle!” in the May 1963 Notes from FEE . It struck me that what he had to say almost half a century ago about how his Foundation for Economic Education worked to advance liberty and how it resisted pigeon-holing in traditional ways is at least as relevant today.
Since I am an economist and my school year is not too far along, my classroom discussion of how all of economics traces back to the fact of scarcity (the combination of limited resources, which implies a limited ability to produce, along with wants that always exceed the amount that can be produced) facing everyone was quite recent. That was why
Felix Morley once called federalism “the distinctively American contribution to political art,” because of its potential to limit government’s ability to harm its citizens. Retaining powers not delegated to the federal government in the hands of individuals and states enabled easier escape from abusive government by “voting with their feet” for
It is relatively common that what should be recognized as a warning flag of major trouble is often ignored until things get so bad that it is almost impossible not to notice (unless one is mightily determined not to see them). Leonard Read channeled such thoughts about the damage public policy has caused Americans. He even went so far as to say
Leonard Read, founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, had very clear views about the legitimate role of laws—solely to restrain harms to individuals’ and their rights, since going farther than that “night watchman” role necessarily violated some citizens’ rights. In fact, in his October 1, 1969, “ Read’s Law ” article in The Freeman , he
Many years ago, in his “Unscrambling Socialism” ( Notes from FEE , November 1964), Leonard Read wrote: Any adept student of human action knows that it isn’t enough merely to “drop anchor” in today’s sea of socialism, that is, to stop where we are. The U.S. is already playing host to more parasitic socialism than the economy can sustain [and]
Foundation for Economic Education founder and cornerstone Leonard Read always had an ear out for widely accepted but misleading clichés that served to aggrandize government power and limit liberty. In his 1965 “ A Cliché of Socialism: Under Public Ownership, We the People Own It! ” He focused his attention on the large gap between public ownership
With Associate Justice Stephen Breyer’s impending retirement from the Supreme Court, President Biden jumped at the chance to deliver on his 2020 pledge to nominate its first Female Black Justice. And he defended the seeming affirmative action pick by saying “The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character,
February 15 marks the 1887 birth of Frank Chodorov , who Aaron Steelman described as offering an “unwavering defense of individualism” in the “intellectual war against the omnipotent state.” Born Fishel Chodorowsky, Chodorov was a “ lifelong individualist .” Early in his career, he described his position as “unashamedly accepting the doctrine of
Leonard Read was an important leader in the libertarian movement from the time he started the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 1946 until his death. What primarily put him in that role was his unwavering commitment to liberty. But it was also due to his concern with the fact that not all forms of leadership and education were effective
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.