Dear Friend of Freedom,
Friends of FFF often point out that the ever-burgeoning group of college-aged libertarians is the key to the future. That’s true, but I think they’re more than that. I believe they are also a key to the present.
Last year, The Future of Freedom Foundation, in conjunction with the Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), conducted two major college tours called “Civil Liberties, the War on Terrorism, and the Constitution” on college campuses in the East, Midwest, and West. FFF also delivered presentations at the annual International Students for Liberty conference in Washington, D.C., which 1,500 young libertarians attended.
This year, I traveled to New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania to speak to YAL groups at the University of Albany, the University of North Carolina, and Slippery Rock University. I also recently spoke to two groups live over the Internet at the University of Wisconsin (which won a “Best Event” award from YAL) and DePaul University.
These YAL groups sponsored those events in conjunction with liberal and conservative groups on campus, enabling us to reach a wider range of people with our libertarian perspective.
I can’t tell you how impressed I am with these students. They are passionate, genuine, and committed. They are upbeat. They are reading Mises, Hayek, Hazlitt, Bastiat, Rothbard, Read, Rand, and other libertarian luminaries. Their understanding of economics is already phenomenal. One 21-year-old student told me that she had read all of Rand’s works, including Atlas Shrugged twice. Equally important, these young people are recognizing the vital importance of civil liberties to a free society.
FFF vice president Sheldon Richman has begun his monthly FFF webinar series, which we are hoping will attract students from all across the country. In his first two webinars, he covered the economy and Frédéric Bastiat. In June, he talk about the income tax, which, as you know, is the subject of one of the three books — now e-books! — he has written for FFF. Given Sheldon’s long history of working with students at the Foundation for Economic Education, Cato Institute, and Institute for Humane Studies, he’s well qualified to make these webinars a fantastic introduction to libertarian and Austrian principles. The problem, however, is that most college libertarians don’t yet know our webinar series even exists, which means we need to advertise and promote it.
Here in Virginia we have our ongoing Economic Liberty Lecture Series in conjunction with the George Mason University Economics Society, a student-run group consisting of college libertarians and devotees of Austrian economics. For the past two years I have also conducted a monthly law and economics seminar for them.
These young people are increasing our chances of achieving a free society now, not 20 years from now. In fact, many of them relate to me that they’re changing the thinking of their parents toward libertarianism.
As effective as the Internet is in communicating libertarianism, there is nothing like a live presentation to imbue an audience with the real spirit that inspires our movement. We want to do more. When we receive speaking invitations from college groups, we want to be able to subsidize the travel expenses. We want to initiate more speaking tours with these college libertarian groups. And we want to advertise and promote our events to as many young people as possible.
To accomplish that, we need your support. To be blunt, we simply lack the resources that would provide us with the needed flexibility. If you help us out with a generous tax-deductible donation to The Future of Freedom Foundation, we pledge to expand our efforts along these lines.
Yours for liberty,
Jacob G. Hornberger
President
The Future of Freedom Foundation
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