Topic: History

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Economic Education, History

Taming the Dictator Within, Part 1

– April 9, 2022

“Beware of treating human beings, in an economy or organization or your personal life, as problems to be solved. We are imperfect material; our errors are corrected in the course of a social process.” ~ Barry Brownstein

Art and Culture, Government, History

Tony Soprano’s Critique of Identity Politics

– April 3, 2022

“Soprano is no role model for classic liberals because he made a living by extracting economics rents by fraud and force. But he reminds Americans that they are individual human beings first, Americans second, and who really cares about the rest?” ~ Robert E. Wright

Energy, History, Media

Old Oil Ads Were Reasonable on Climate Change

– April 1, 2022

“An impartial reading of them reveals rational commentary on the knowns and unknowns of energy and climate. The ads are hardly controversial.” ~ Robert L. Bradley Jr. & Richard Fulmer

Crisis, Government, History

Black Land Ownership Following Emancipation

– March 29, 2022

“The problem in the South following emancipation wasn’t that blacks were unable to navigate a private property-based, market-oriented economy; but it was segregation, especially of the public schools, and Jim Crow laws in general.” ~ Clifford F. Thies

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Government, History

Why Not Rebel?

– March 29, 2022

“Ironically, only in the United States and a few other relatively good places to live do people retain sufficient liberty to develop alternative governance systems capable of replacing existing ones, should that ever become necessary.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Classical Liberalism, Free Markets, Government, History

When Classical Liberals Went to the Mountaintop

– March 28, 2022

“Overshadowing the proceedings was the specter of totalitarianism—not just the recently vanquished National Socialist variety but also the Communist version then enveloping Eastern Europe.” ~ Samuel Gregg

Art and Culture, Education, History

Oakeshott’s Countercultural Education

– March 26, 2022

“For Oakeshott, liberal education was always an adventure, never a duty or a burden. His insights are essential reading for anyone who desires to preserve and rejuvenate this most important adventure.” ~ Elizabeth Corey

Authoritarianism, Free Markets, History, Socialism

Do They Not Know?

– March 25, 2022

“Do today’s skeptics of free markets – whether these skeptics be full-on socialists or advocates of ‘mere’ industrial policy – have any accurate knowledge of economic history, of economics, or of human nature?” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

Art and Culture, History, War and Peace

Whoopi, Maus, and 80 Years of American Jewry

– March 24, 2022

“It is now they, not Jews, who must take to heart the phrase ‘Never Again.’ My Gentile friends should ask themselves: If it comes to it, when the mobs come, will I take in and protect my Jewish friends?” ~ Daniel Asia

Crisis, History, War and Peace

From British Tea to Russian Vodka; A Brief History of Boycotts

– March 24, 2022

“From government bans to customers pouring it in gutters by the gallon, Americans are saying ‘nyet’ to Russian vodka, expressing their anger over the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.” ~ J. Mark Powell

Classical Liberalism, Government, History

The Other Great Debate

– March 22, 2022

“Nowadays it is difficult to pick a ‘side’ between Paine and Adams. Whichever man one’s political persuasions may favor, the country is undoubtedly a heterodox agglomeration of their ideas.” ~ Garion Frankel

Crisis, Government, History, Inflation

Americans Need a COLA, not a Coke

– March 18, 2022

“With inflation now high and trending higher, with no end in sight, American workers, and their employers, need to bring COLAs back, arguably out of fairness to workers but really out of efficiency.” ~ Robert E. Wright