Topic: Classical Liberalism

Authoritarianism, Classical Liberalism, Government, History

How Individuals Enable Tyranny

– January 13, 2023

“Mill, Havel, and Kundera all point us to a terrible truth: our moral weakness, desire to evade responsibility, and illusion that the majority makes right have led us down the slippery slope of forfeiting our freedom.” ~ Barry Brownstein

Classical Liberalism, Government, History

Conquistadors and Indian Rights

– January 3, 2023

“Though this counters today’s understanding of colonialism generally, and the conquest in particular, the fact is that Spanish treatment of Indians in the Americas was not the monolithically brutal affair it is so often portrayed to be.” ~ Paul Schwennesen

Classical Liberalism, Philosophy, Religion

Happy 2023: Adam and God

– December 31, 2022

“What is the place of God in our ethics? What is our nature? What is our civilization? Which way is up? The Smith tercentenary is a special opportunity to come together in Adam Smith.” ~ Daniel B. Klein

Books, Classical Liberalism, Economic History, Government

Freedom’s Future Requires Understanding the Past

– December 29, 2022

“When confronted with issues regarding the necessary extent of the state, liberty-lovers need not rely solely on economic theory, nor hypotheticals, because the historical record often can light the proper path towards smaller, more-efficient government.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Classical Liberalism, Education, History, Philosophy

The American Heritage of Freedom in the Liberal Arts

– December 16, 2022

“The study of human nature through the liberal arts will help us in this return. As the student studies man’s capabilities, he learns to preserve liberty rather than trampling on others’ or relinquishing his own.” ~ Paul D. Moreno

Classical Liberalism, Economic Education, Free Markets, Government

Communicating Economics to Young People

– December 15, 2022

“Among the most satisfying of my professional duties as an economics educator is communicating, mostly by email, with students from around the country, and sometimes from abroad, about economics and liberalism.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Classical Liberalism, Economic History, Government

The Governmentalization of Social Affairs

– December 6, 2022

“More liberty means less government, and less government means less miserableness, servility, fickleness, hypocrisy, denial, mendacity, baseness, and degeneracy. Liberal backbone checks the evil that is the governmentalization of social affairs.” ~ Daniel B. Klein

Art and Culture, Books, Classical Liberalism

The Case for Bringing Back Neckties (and Classical Liberalism)

– November 29, 2022

“Liberalism—or, to clarify, classical liberalism, which developed a few centuries ago and cherishes free markets, limited government, and flourishing social institutions—is (like the necktie) a bit out of favor.” ~ Bruce Rottman

Classical Liberalism, Education, Government

Educating the Founders

– November 21, 2022

“It is both the type of education one receives and how one receives it that explains the disparity between our recent presidents and the American Founders.” ~ Lee Trepanier

Classical Liberalism, Government, History, Religion

When Giving Is Smart and When It Isn’t

– November 20, 2022

“If a charity proves to be ineffective or corrupt, its donors vanish; when the welfare department squanders public money and perpetuates social problems across generations, it usually gets more tax revenue.” ~ Lawrence W. Reed

Classical Liberalism, Free Markets, Government

Economic Liberalism’s Uncertain Future

– November 19, 2022

“The market liberal cause needs more of a rare commodity: economists with the breadth and depth of knowledge that gives them the capacity to mix it up with historians and philosophers peddling left-populist or economic nationalist narratives.” ~ Samuel Gregg

Classical Liberalism, History, International

Recalling our Roots- The Fertile Iberian Soil of Liberty

– November 14, 2022

“For a variety of complicated reasons this early Spanish Enlightenment didn’t flourish as we might have wished. But without it, the English and Scottish Enlightenments may well have never coalesced.” ~ Paul Schwennesen