The 2016 campaign set a new standard for interruptions and other crimes against civility by candidates. The primaries were full of such rudeness, particularly the Republican free-for-alls. The presidential debates provided additional examples. Even the vice-presidential debate was described by one pundit as an “interruptionfest.” One side would
One of the dangers facing those who have come to believe in a certain philosophy or approach is the temptation to ignore or reject useful insight from those who are not “pure” enough—those who deviate from “the Truth” either in their position on certain issues or because of the hypocrisy of actions inconsistent with their alleged beliefs. That is
The meat-grinder politics beginning with the 2016 campaign has triggered proposals to rescue us from a crisis of democracy. At least two authors — Jason Brennan, in Against Democracy and Dambisa Moyo, in Edge of Chaos — have suggested that letting more knowledgeable citizens’ votes count more might be a useful reform. Both trace democracy’s
In 1958, Foundation for Economic Education guiding light, Leonard Read, presented a series of lectures in Argentina against the backdrop of an economy decimated by mis-government which shares a great deal with the same country six decades later. The lectures became a small book-- Why Not Try Freedom? —an excellent encapsulation of Read’s thought.
An electoral weakness for anyone who advocates more freedom—i.e., smaller government—is that such a position can be easily demagogued as a selfish threat to many voters. Their continued government benefits depend on the continuation of someone else being forced to pay for them, typically “the rich,” making any rollback in “coercive charity” almost
January 20 marks the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s swearing in as the 44th person to succeed George Washington as President. Looking back, we can see that not only were the principles of civility that animatedWashington as America’s “indispensable man,” in historian Forrest MacDonald’s words, missing from the electoral process, neither our
Leonard Read, founder, leader and long-time heart and soul of the Foundation for Economic Education, and one of liberty’s most insightful adherents, took seriously his belief that the purpose of one’s life was to grow. He sought out sources of light, wherever he could find them, and incorporated them into his thoughts. Those familiar with Read,
Uno de los peligros que enfrentan quienes han llegado a creer en una determinada filosofía o enfoque es la tentación de ignorar o rechazar la intuición útil de aquellos que no son lo suficientemente puros —aquellos que se desvían de «la Verdad», ya sea en su posición sobre ciertos problemas o debido a la hipocresía de acciones incompatibles con
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.