Henry David Thoreau and the Well-Worn Road to Serfdom

Henry David Thoreau was one of America’s most eloquent and incisive philosophers. His derision of unjust laws in his essay on “Civil Disobedience” is still catnip 175 years later. His summons to individuals to march to the beat of their own drum is a message that will continue to resonate as long as drums and dissonance exist. Thoreau vividly debunked the folly of people squandering their lives stockpiling unnecessary possessions.

African Slavery: The Other Side

Many Americans today mistakenly believe that slavery was invented by America or that it existed only in the context of the transatlantic slave trade. This narrow view—often echoed in modern demands for reparations—paints white societies as uniquely responsible for slavery’s horrors. Yet long before European ships reached Africa’s coasts, Africans were capturing, owning, and exploiting slaves in systems that were brutal and widespread.