The Great Voucher Fraud by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 The mantra of school choice is repeated endlessly by proponents of educational vouchers, and is getting louder. But does an income-transfer program cease to be an income-transfer program just because it is recommended by conservatives, libertarians, a Republican president, and free-market economists? Advocates of educational reform are agreed on one thing: the doleful condition of the public school system. But instead of proposing a free-market solution, the panacea offered for improving the education of American youth is usually government vouchers. The federal government would provide each child a voucher worth enough money to fund his education. Parents would have the choice of the school on which to spend the voucher. The school would then redeem the voucher for payment from the federal government. If this was describing anything but vouchers for education, it would be denounced as an income-transfer program as well as a subsidy to private ...
Why I am a Libertarian by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 Over the years many people — family members, co-workers, and others — with whom I have come in contact have asked me why I think and believe what I do with regard to politics, economics, history, philosophy, and related topics. To put it another way, these people are curious as to what influences and experiences in my life have led me to be an advocate of the libertarian philosophy of individual freedom with regard to the issues of the day. I would have to say that my late mother Phyllis Richards was a profound influence in my life. She always encouraged me to read and to think for myself. A deeply religious woman and a devout Christian, my mother was not one to accept viewpoints of the clergy that she knew to be wrong or based on lies.
A History of Libertarianism by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty (Public Affairs, 2007); 741 pages; $35. With Radicals for Capitalism, veteran libertarian journalist Brian Doherty (whose work is most often found in Reason) gives the world what he calls a freewheeling history of the modern American libertarian movement. That is the books subtitle and it fully lives up to it. Doherty paints a picture of the libertarian movement and, often in great detail, the people who have driven it forward. In doing so, he fills a great need. Although there are many books by libertarians about their vision for a society in which coercion has become a barbarous relic of the past, until now there has been no book providing a survey of the entire movement. Radicals for Capitalism is not just a who did ...
Libertarian Paternalism by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 On April 1, 2007, the New York Times published a review of Brian Dohertys new book, Radicals for Capitalism, an extensive history of the libertarian movement that focuses on such libertarian luminaries as Leonard Read, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, and Milton Friedman. The book ...
Ayn Rand Introduced Me to Libertarianism by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 My very first exposure to libertarianism was provided by Ayn Rand, whose 100th birthday is being celebrated today. One afternoon in the fall of 1974, I was sitting around watching television. At the time, I was temporarily working as a waiter in Dallas, having just completed ...
A Libertarian Visits Guatemala by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 LAST SUMMER, I had one of the most uplifting experiences I have had in the many years that I have been advancing libertarianism. My week at Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala will always rank near the top in terms of events that have charged up my batteries big-time.
Making Sense of Jewish Stereotypes by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 The stereotype is a printer's aid. This one-piece plate, cast in type metal from a mold taken of a printing surface, produces an unvarying form or pattern, having no individuality. It speeds the process of producing printed material. People use stereotyping to speed up thought processes in ...
Optimism and Concern in Contemporary America by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 I was about fifteen years old, in the mid-1960s, when I became interested in free-market, libertarian ideas. I was initially influenced by Henry Hazlitt, who at that time still had a weekly column in Newsweek . I found his book Economics in One Lesson in a used bookstore, and after ...
The Rise, Fall, and Renaissance of Classical Liberalism, Part 3: The 20th Century by Future of Freedom Foundation March 27, 2010 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The First World War was the watershed of the twentieth century. Itself the product of antiliberal ideas and policies, such as militarism and protectionism, the Great War fostered statism in every form. In Europe and America, the trend ...
The Legacy of Milton Friedman, Part 2 by Future of Freedom Foundation March 25, 2010 Part 1 | Part 2 Milton Friedman also was adept at proposing practical solutions to practical problems. He believed strongly in liberty, but he recognized that he needed to promote it practically. Nowhere was his ability in this area more evident than in his work on ...
The Legacy of Milton Friedman, Part 1 by Future of Freedom Foundation March 25, 2010 Part 1 | Part 2 It has been more than a year since Milton Friedman passed from our lives. What a world he departed. The desire for liberty burns ever brightly. The forces of statism resist ever strongly. How we miss his presence.
