To

Benjamin A. Rogge

and those others who make their lights as bright as they can be

In every society there are people who have the intelligence to figure out the requirements of liberty and the character to walk in its ways. There is a Remnant! This is a scattered fellowship of individuals bound together by a love of ideas and a hunger to know the plain truth of things. The idea of working with such people is intriguing, but how does one establish contact? The Remnant resists the hard sell, or any other kind of sell; they refuse to be fetched. Any suspicion that they might be the target of someone’s efforts and they vanish.

HOW I MAY HAVE MY OWN WAY

Let him that would save the world first move himself.

—SOCRATES

HUMILITY: THE WAY OF FREEDOM

The spirit of God delights to dwell in the hearts of the humble.

—ERASMUS

THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

Humility, like darkness, reveals the heavenly lights.

—THOREAU

I believe the Third Beatitude has a profound message, perhaps more significant in our time than ever before. Indeed, it may well hold the key to the survival of the human race. If this is so, it behooves us to seek its meaning and to become worthy of its promise.

LIFE STYLES

We live in deeds, not years, in thoughts, not breaths; . . . He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.

—GAMALIEL BAILEY

Some authors are praised more for their style than for the content of their work; others are criticized for the lack of style. According to Longfellow, “With many readers, brilliancy of style passes for affluence of thought; they mistake buttercups in the grass for immeasurable gold mines underground.”

SHOEMAKER, STICK TO YOUR LAST

The structuring of a good society is as much your “last” as any other concern.

Before exploring the propriety of this ancient adage, let us enjoy the comedy of its reputed origin. Galileo tells the story:

THE BLESSINGS OF ADVERSITY

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.

—HORACE

Many devotees of freedom observe the current plunge into socialism—state interventionism, welfarism—and lament the hard times they see ahead. Full of foreboding, they fail to see that this adversity has its value, its blessings.

APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT

Every man should use his intellect . . . as the lighthouse uses its lamps, that those afar off on the sea may see the shining, and learn their way.

—HENRY WARD BEECHER

AWAIT DISCOVERY

How poor are they who have no patience.

—SHAKESPEARE

Two kinds of improvement are required if we are to renew our rapidly waning freedom. First, a far better understanding of the philosophy than any of us has now. We need to develop a high level expertise in making the case for freedom. Second, a radical change in tactics; that is, a viable methodology for advancing freedom in harmony with the philosophy itself.