Many newspapers I read in February published articles in honor of Black History Month. In contrast to those who now so stridently advocate more government (i.e., more coercion) as the “solution” to social problems facing blacks, one article about George Washington Carver stood out to me as a sharp contrast. His creative scientific efforts
On April 21, the Supreme Court heard arguments in U.S. Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen (yes, that’s Nader’s group). Its ruling is expected in June, and it could eliminate the last legal barrier against giving Mexican trucks full access to American highways, by overturning a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California.
For two years, we have been innudated with denunciations of “corporate greed” that has supposedly created scandal and led to prosecutions of CEOs. The greed of the fatcats is nicely contrasted with the “need” of the middle class and the poor. And so with these two little words we recreate a Marxian-style drama of class conflict based on human
At Thanksgiving, Americans reflect on their blessings and hope for uplifting family gatherings of togetherness and unity, with the Pilgrims used as examples of peace, harmony, and thankfulness. However, while the Pilgrims’ 1623 “way of thanksgiving” represents what we wish to infuse in Thanksgiving, Plymouth Colony before 1623 was closer to a
Few Americans consider themselves at significant risk from ugly or misshapen tomatoes. But the Florida Tomato Commission (FTC) “protects” those of us outside the state against any of their winter tomato growers who want to put “product of Florida” on any fruit (yes, tomatoes are fruit) not up to standard in size, shape, skin quality or color. As a
March 3 marks the 185 th anniversary of economist and philosopher Gustave de Molinari’s birth in Belgium. It is a date worth commemorating, because according to David Hart, ”He was the leading representative of the laissez-faire school of classical liberalism in France in the second half of the 19 th century.” As Wikipedia put it,
This year is the bicentennial of the birth of Alexis de Tocqueville, one of the most famous political commentators about America. Although not always a consistent thinker, he stands squarely in the classical liberal tradition of understanding the capacity of society to self organize in the absence of a controlling central state. Charles Eliot
Americans are bombarded with so much information that it is hard not to realize how little we know about all that is going on in the world. This awareness is valuable, because it means we can avoid some major mistakes, triggered by the presumption that we know what is necessary to make certain choices, when we do not. However, it also leads to a
Much of what we know is by analogy, because, as Jacob Bronowski put it, “at the basis of human thought lies the judgment of what is like and what is unlike.” Analogies are so important in extending understanding and expressing ideas that William James said, “A native talent for perceiving analogies is reckoned . . . as the leading fact in
Starting this year, every educational institution receiving federal aid must teach about the U.S. Constitution on the September 17 anniversary of its signing (September 16 in 2005, as the 17th is a Saturday). The requirement is ironic, given that it came from the Senate’s leading Constitutional scholar, yet clearly conflicts with the Constitution,
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.