Finally, here is an edition of Road to Serfdom that does justice to its monumental status in the history of liberty. It contains a foreword by the editor of the Hayek Collected Works, Bruce Caldwell. Caldwell has added helpful explanatory notes and citation corrections, among other improvements. For this reason, the publisher decided to call this “the definitive edition.” It truly is.
Memo to Conservatives: Quit Apologizing for Capitalism
Everywhere we turn these days, it seems, leftists are undermining and attacking capitalism on moral grounds. Their criticisms are directed not at merely certain corrupt corporations or individuals who abuse the system, but at the system itself.
Sadly, few conservatives, even conservative Christians, are willing or prepared to defend capitalism’s virtues. Rather than tout it in terms of liberty, they sheepishly apologize for its allegedly inherent greed.
Is Envy More Important than Prosperity?
New York Congressman Anthony Weiner is making a name for himself.
He wants taxes raised on wealthy Americans and is one of the more vocal opponents to the deal that would retain current tax rates for everyone.
“An estate tax cut for millionaires adds exactly zero jobs. A tax cut for billionaires – virtually none,” says the congressman.
But what does Weiner know about job creation, about work, about being an entrepreneur?
Thatcher’s Britain returns 20 years after she fell
Britain is moving further to the Right after 13 years of Labour, it is disclosed today, as the public’s views on welfare become tougher than when Baroness Thatcher was prime minister.
Conservative vs. Liberal-An exercise
Most of the debate among liberals and conservatives in the United States is over specific issues, but very little attention is given to the underlying ideals and principles behind these ideologies. We state our case to support or oppose this or that, and we argue with people who disagree, but we almost never bring the argument down to the underlying political attitudes behind our opinions. As such we often misunderstand or mischaracterize each others’ positions, and the result is deep political polarization and a virtual inability to find common ground with one another. I think that a discussion about the fundamental differences between liberalism and conservatism is well worth having.
Economics 101-Steve Forbes
“The truth is, there is a moral basis for free markets,” Heritage Foundation trustee Steve Forbes said earlier this month at a Heritage event in Dallas. Free enterprise, he explained, creates wealth through voluntary exchange. This wealth creation, in turn, allows for the great philanthropic enterprises that have improved our lives: higher education, medical research and more. “We have to find our voices and not be on defense” against those who attack free enterprise, he argued.
Flat Tax: An idea whose time has come
There is widespread consensus that the current tax system is a complicated failure that hinders the nation’s growth while allowing the politically well-connected to manipulate the system to get special breaks that are not available to average workers and businesses. This is stimulating a great deal of interest in shifting to a simple and fair flat tax. For instance, President George W. Bush has appointed the President’s Advisory Panel on Tax Reform to recommend options for fundamental tax reform,[1] the Department of the Treasury has produced extensive analysis of the flat tax and other reform options,[2] and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are exploring various ways to reform the tax code.
Eric Hoffer
Former migratory worker and longshoreman, Eric Hoffer burst on the scene in 1951 with his irreplaceable tome, The True Believer, and assured his place among the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. Nine books later, Hoffer remains a vital figure with his cogent insights to the nature of mass movements and the essence of humankind.
Of his early life, Hoffer has written: “I had no schooling. I was practically blind up to the age of fifteen. When my eyesight came back, I was seized with an enormous hunger for the printed word. I read indiscriminately everything within reach—English and German.
Cliches of Socialism
When a devotee of private property, free market, limited government principles states his position, he is inevitably confronted with a barrage of socialistic cliches. Failure to answer these has effectively silenced many a spokesman for freedom. Here are suggested answers to some of the most persistent of the “Cliches of Socialism.” These are not the only answers or even the best possible answers; but they may help someone else develop better explanations of the ideas on liberty that are the only effective displacement for the empty promises of socialism. Single-sheet reprints of each answer available at cost. Unless otherwise indicated, books noted in this volume are published by and available from the Foundation for Economic Education