Dead Wrong™ with Johan Norberg - Mexican Immigrants (VIDEO)

When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Dead Wrong. In this short video clip, Free To Choose Media Executive Editor and Cato Institute Senior Fellow Johan Norberg explains.

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From the Founder: Seeing is Believing from Bob Chitester

Seeing is believing. 

Scenes of polar bears on melting ice floes. Beggars on the street--a church’s soup kitchen closed because of government regulations. An interior designer is put out of business for lack of a state-issued license. She has few options left to her. 

For most people these slice-of-life vignettes are more persuasive than mounds of data. Image and story are more likely to change beliefs and prompt individuals to act. 

And when you get down to it, it’s the individual who acts: Why do we think as we do? Why do we do what we do? 

Notice I did not ask about our education, our genetic makeup, our social environment, our ethnic or religious affiliations, our psychological makeup, or our philosophical starting points. Doing so may advance scholarship, but asking these questions will not directly engage the millions of citizens whose votes shape our collective destiny, for better or worse. 

That is not to say only a few of us are smart enough to understand why limiting government is desirable. It’s just too few citizens think it’s worth the effort. 

Give people the freedom--to make their own decisions, to decide what makes them happy and to take action toward that goal and they don’t much care whether Caesar Augustus or Cicero and the Senate rule the land. But whoever rules, there will be only a smidgen of difference in outcome unless a majority of citizens keep the autocrat or the legislature in check by somehow limiting the size and scope of government as necessary for human freedom to prevail. 

Why we do what we do - is to improve our well-being and achieve the satisfaction of taking care of ourselves. We want to be happy. Charles Murray and Arthur Brooks have been prominent among those testing the thesis of what Arthur describes as "earned success." Both are contributing to one our upcoming video projects, Work and Happiness: The Human Cost of Welfare, which parallels a soon-to-be released book by Phil Harvey and Lisa Conyers. A public TV program and teaching units will be available in the Spring of 2016.

Our instincts and observations of others lead to the conclusion people would rather work for a living, but if things go bad, the majority expect Augustus or Cicero and the Senate to bail them out. And once bailed out, they want the government to get out of the way so they can give it another try own their own. And we should all accept the sincerity of that notion.

Cicero and the Senate and Augustus were practitioners of public choice theory, give the folks what they want and we can continue to enjoy the trappings of power. But failure to support Senators who resisted the centralization of power led to Augustus' empire and centuries of worsening imperial repression of personal and economic freedom.

Sound familiar? The burden is on those of us who do think it is worth the effort, to understand the acceptable limits of government and to communicate the winning ideas of freedom in the manner the average person can easily grasp and remember when making a decision regarding the extend of Caesar's role in their lives.

Walter Williams on his Life, Teaching & Learning

            ...can be seen here: www.youtube.com/freetochoosenetwork

Milton Friedman on Erosion of Liberty

 

A Message from FTCN

Milton Friedman on Classical Liberalism

 

Ron Paul on 2nd Amendment (1989)

 

John Stossel: Liberty Conference (Full)

          To view the full conference with guest interviews from Congressman Justin Amash, former Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson, Cato Institute's David Boaz, Former Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, and more, follow the extension below.

 

 

 

 

 

William Ruger on the Constitution and Tyranny

 

Sowell on Healthcare

The GOP and Justin Amash

            In Zane McMillin�s article from Mlive.com, Congressman Amash proposes that while leading Republicans may act like they are for fiscal conservatism and cuts, they are being deceptive.  

            It is official:  The GOP Civil War is brewing.  The void
in power is evident, and competition over ideas is intensifying.  In this rebuilding era, one of the first
major challenges facing this messy GOP is undoubtedly the coming sequestration
cuts.  How principled will our
conservative leaders be?  Congressman
Justin Amash (R) of Grand Rapids, Michigan suggests that the GOP establishment
won�t hold on to our values too sturdily.  

            Regardless of how this unfolds, it is good to see we have a young, principled and bright star carrying the torch of Liberty.

Is The US Constitution Actually Special?

 

de Soto on Poverty

USA Today's Glenn Reynolds on a Revolution in the Works

            With a mere 22% of Americans believing that the government has consent of the people (Rasmussen reports) Glenn Reynolds suggests that perhaps a revolution is brewing.  

            The constant disappointment with contemporary politics provides fertile ground for the growth of organized opposition.  As establishment Republicans and Democrats grow more polarized and less effective, Liberty has a real opportunity to break through.

Izzit.org Product Spotlight: 2081

            A short film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron, 2081 depicts a dystopian future in which, thanks to the 212th Amendment to the Constitution and the vigilance of the United States Handicapper General, everyone is "finally equal." The strong wear weights, the beautiful wear masks and the intelligent wear earpieces that fire off loud noises to keep them from taking unfair advantage of their brains. It is a poetic tale of triumph and tragedy about a broken family, a brutal government, and an act of defiance that changes everything.

            Buy it here!

Friedman on Learning

Judge Napolitano on Cybersecurity

             

            As the government increasingly aims to regulate and surveil the internet, we must consider impact of such interference on freedom.  Should we sacrifice the liberty offered by internet to supposed security promised by government?  Perhaps the internet should remain a place for free people, free markets and free minds.

Equality or Liberty?

 

Hayek on Planning