[A selection from Liberalism.]

[A selection from Education: Free and Compulsory.]

The Reverend George Harris described the effects of compulsory education in imposing uniformity and enforced equality (soon after the establishment of compulsion):

If one were to come up with a word cloud for the year 2020, among the largest words, such as “awful” and “disaster” one would most assuredly find the word “lonely.” Thanks to the convenient excuse of covid, numerous state governments instituted a regime of veritable house arrest for their citizens. Streets were deserted, stores empty, churches closed by government decree.

In an August editorial, the New York Times called for an investigation into the attack on Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny, who was recently transported to Germany in a coma after apparently being poisoned.

No one knows who did the poisoning, but the Times has strong suspicions:

In the wake of the economically disastrous covid-19 shutdowns, the political class has desperately tried to save the failing euro system. On July 21 European leaders agreed on what they called a “historic” deal. It was nothing more than a multitrillion euro stimulus package. However, it is more probable that the “recovery fund” will delay any chance of a much-needed economic restructuring taking place.

James Tift Champlin (1811–82) was born in Colchester, Connecticut. He enrolled at Brown University in 1830, where the president, Francis Wayland, greatly impressed him.

Wayland was a staunch defender of private property, the free market, and classical liberalism. His book The Elements of Political Economy (1837) is based on sound and insightful economic principles with an emphasis on human action.

The Federal Reserve has potentially had the most memorable year in its more than a century–long history.

[Review of Stephen Kinzer, Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2019)]