Marcus Tullius Cicero was born 2,111 years ago yesterday. According to Anthony Everitt, he was “an unknowing architect of constitutions that still govern our lives.” John Adams said of him, “All ages of the world have not produced a greater statesman and philosopher combined.” Thomas Jefferson said the Declaration of Independence was based on “the
January 29 marks the anniversary of Thomas Paine’s birth in 1737. He is primarily remembered for his fiery rhetoric in support of America’s revolution, and it would be hard to overestimate his role in it. As John Adams once said, “without the pen of Paine, the sword of Washington would have been wielded in vain.” Common Sense , first published in
After a political campaign noted for its divisiveness, President Bush is about to begin his second term. If form holds, his inaugural address will lay claim to a political mandate for what he thinks the government should do and try to portray government under his administration as a source of American unity. Unfortunately, however, those
This morning’s piece by Adam Martin reminds me of the need to get the word out about the great English political philosopher Auberon Herbert (1838-1906). He used the term “ voluntaryism “ to describe the only type of social arrangement that respected people’s self-ownership--voluntary, non-coercive cooperation, which stands in sharp contrast with
A federal trial over a Pennsylvania school that required bringing up the question of “intelligent design” (are there aspects of life not explained by evolution, which might best be explained by the existence of an intelligent “designer”?) has brought the issue to America’s front pages. The core of the argument against intelligent design is that it
March is National Women’s History Month. But despite the heightened attention it brings to the influence women have had in American history, one woman, in particular, continues to get far too little attention-Mercy Otis Warren (178-1814), whom Elizabeth Ellet called “the most remarkable woman who lived in the days of the American Revolution,” and
“Changes in human conditions are brought about by the pioneering of the cleverest and most energetic men. They take the lead and the rest of mankind follows them little by little. The innovation is first a luxury of only a few people, until by degrees it comes into the reach of the many.” So writes Mises in the Anticapitalistic Mentality . It
Defeats in French and Dutch referenda have put the proposed EU Constitution in serious trouble. However, in the resulting political tumult, amazingly little is being said about the Constitution itself. That is unfortunate, since that is the source of the most essential problem--promising what cannot be delivered. In some ways, the EU Constitution
Freakonomics , by economist Steven Levitt and co-author Stephen Dubner, claims it “Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.” If nothing else, that claim, reinforced by “Prepare to be dazzled” and “the most interesting mind in America” on the front and back covers, not to mention lengthy quotes from an adoring New York Times Magazine article (by the
On the face of it, who can object to the Supreme Court’s decision that permits wine consumers to buy directly from out-of-state wineries? This is just the free market at work. The state laws that prohibited the practice were nothing but a legal leftover from prohibition days and a mercantilist privilege granted to politically powerful distributors
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.