The Mises Institute dedicates this volume to all of its generous
donors and wishes to thank these Patrons in particular:

Steven R. Berger

Jon Carnes

Michael Collins

Prof. and Mrs. James M. Cox

Dr. Matthew Desmond

Jerry T. Dowell

William Eaton

Charles F. Hanes

Janna Harmon

Shaun E. Herring

Kenneth King

William S. Klocek, Esq.

Randolph D. Love

Nathan Madden

Ralph Martins

John Matthews

To my lovely and tolerant wife, Marcia, who put
up with me with grace during the entire lengthy
process of working on this book.

GARY M. GALLES is a Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University and an adjunct scholar at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He is also a research fellow at the Independent Institute, a member of the Foundation for Economic Education faculty network, and a member of the Heartland Institute Board of Policy Advisors.

Foreword

The best introductory economics book ever written is Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, which was first published in 1946 and is still as popular as ever. Although the title refers to “one lesson,” Hazlitt disproves myriad economic superstitions and educates readers about the superiority of economic freedom to socialist “planning.”

Introduction

1.

Every Person Should Be Free

As the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, Leonard Read was very much a leader of libertarian thought. It will be helpful to first discuss what that philosophy included, especially in an era of so much erroneous and misleading political information.

Read gives a thumbnail sketch of his view of liberty in “In an Ideal America” (Read 1954), published in the November 1954 issue of The Freeman. It consists of things that everyone should be free to do:

Every person should be free

2.

A Confession of Faith

Since all we can change by our actions are the present and the future, attention typically focuses there. But the understanding and insight needed for such choices often requires looking back as well. Many today, too full of hubris to learn from the principles and illustrations given by the past, lead us astray due to their lack of insight. What history can teach us about liberty in particular is often not only ignored but routinely violated.

3.

Twenty Facets of Freedom

In 2015, I published a book titled Lines of Liberty, which features quotes related to liberty from those who had been active and important in promoting it. To this day, one of my favorite quotes in that book is from John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty: “The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it” (Galles 2015).