Principled Parties
Imagine a political movement that says it’s committed to “equal rights”—and means it. Not just equality in a few cherry-picked rights but all human rights, including the most maligned, property rights. Imagine a movement whose raison d’être is to oppose any and all special privileges from government for anybody.
When it comes to political parties, most [...]
The Man Who Didn’t “Grow” in Office
December 29, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of William Ewart Gladstone. This article by Lawrence W. Reed explains that Gladstone was one of liberty’s greatest champions.
28Dec2009 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Sound of Freedom
When I have the chance, I often pose this question to people who have become advocates for liberty: “What was it that first turned you on to these ideas?”
It’s an important question that always produces revealing answers and sometimes some fascinating stories. Liberty, keep in mind, is not automatic or guaranteed. Few people who have [...]
Berlin, August 1961: An Anniversary We Should Never Forget
[This essay originally appeared in the National Review Online in 2001. ]
August marks the anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall that for 28 years thereafter, divided the city of Berlin and closed off the only remaining escape hatch for people in the communist East who wanted freedom in the West. It was a [...]
Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution
Profound economic changes took place in Great Britain in the century after 1750. This was the age of the Industrial Revolution, complete with a cascade of technical innovations, a vast increase in production, a renaissance of world trade, and rapid growth of urban populations.
Where historians and other observers clash is in the interpretation of these [...]
A Tribute to the Polish People
The cause of liberty saw memorable highs and unconscionable lows in 1989. Surely that year will be best remembered as the year Soviet hegemony over central Europe disintegrated, paving the way for the dissolution of the Soviet Union itself in 1991. Free people everywhere should toast the brave people of one nation in particular–Poland–for the [...]
23Sep2009 | Lawrence W. Reed | 6 comments | ContinuedIn the Grip of Madness
“Thank God we had the federal government last week to bail out the private sector!” That is what a rather statist friend of mine declared a year ago as the economy tanked, almost gleeful that the financial crisis seemed to be proving how much we all need a massive federal establishment to both regulate and [...]
19Aug2009 | Lawrence W. Reed | 24 comments | ContinuedGive Up? Are You Kidding?
We should not squander a second feeling bad for ourselves. This is a moment when our true character, the stuff we’re really made of, will show itself. If we retreat, that would tell me we were never really worthy of the battle in the first place. But if we resolve to let these tough times build character and rally our dispirited friends to new levels of dedication, we will look back on this occasion someday with pride at how we handled it.
17Jun2009 | Lawrence W. Reed | 12 comments | ContinuedTwo Cheers for Transparency
If citizens knew more about how their governments really worked and what they spent other people’s money on, it would not only make for better-informed citizens but for better (and hopefully less) government at the same time.
That’s the theory behind a growing movement spearheaded by think tanks from coast to coast and in Canada. It’s [...]
Who Owes What to Whom?
Note: This column first appeared in the February 2002 issue of The Freeman.
For a society that has fed, clothed, housed, cared for, informed, entertained, and otherwise enriched more people at higher levels than any in the history of the planet, there sure is a lot of groundless guilt in America.
Manifestations of that guilt abound. The [...]
The Sage of Tampa
“The natural progress of things,” according to Thomas Jefferson, “is for government to gain ground and for liberty to yield.” But this lament does not suggest that the primary author of the Declaration of Independence was resigned to inaction. He also said, “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary [...]
1Apr2009 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedWhat We Believe
The Foundation for Economic Education, publisher of this magazine since 1956, is now in its seventh decade, and I am now in my seventh month as its president. As we expand the outreach of our programs and publications, now is a good time to remind our readers who we are and what we believe in.
FEE’s [...]
A Man Who Knew the Value of Liberty
[This column was adapted from one published first by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy on its website in February 2007.]
A television audience in the millions will feast on the glitz and glamor of Hollywood when the 81st Annual Academy Awards are bestowed February 22. My thoughts will be elsewhere that Sunday night—on a friend [...]
Character and the Healthcare Crisis
A friend of FEE, Dr. Robert Berry, gave this speech last March. It deals with the ‘healthcare crisis’ in America today. The author ultimately attributes it to a crisis of character. I commend this speech to the attention of our readers. It may provoke thought and controversy, but it offers many essential truths and [...]
31Dec2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | Continued
Mr. President, Meet Mr. Smith
Since it’s obviously possible for people to reach the pinnacle of politics without seeming to know much about either economics or Smith, perhaps we’re overdue for a little reminder about both.
1Dec2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 3 comments | ContinuedWhy “Inflation” Is Back
“Government,” observed the renowned Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, “is the only institution that can take a valuable commodity like paper, and make it worthless by applying ink.”
Mises was describing the curse of inflation, the process whereby government expands a nation’s money supply and thereby erodes the value of each monetary unit—dollar, peso, pound, franc, [...]
The Holiday That Isn’t
I know it’s only October, but that’s late enough in the year for most people to have already begun thinking of the holidays just around the corner. We will each observe the traditional ones according to our personal wishes—a precious right won for us by past and present patriots.
Allow me to advise you, however, not [...]
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