Have you ever noticed that the greatest book-burners in history have been governments, not private individuals?

Prior to the 1880s, “individualism” was a term of opprobrium in most quarters, referring to “the atomism and selfishness of liberal society.” The League appropriated the word and elevated its general meaning to one of respect for the rights and uniqueness of each person.

To waste time and money spreading myths and misconceptions about profits and private firms serves no one but selfish interests.

Two centuries ago, William Wilberforce showed us that one man can make a world rife with institutionalized corruption and inhumanity a better place.

I’ve always thought that if all that local governments did was keep the streets safe, the traffic moving, and the sewers flowing, they would have a full-time job on their hands.

Hollywood capitalists occasionally take a break from vilifying capitalism.

In his veto of the Texas Seed Bill, Cleveland warned against a general disregard of the “limited mission” of the federal government. He didn’t think Congress or the president should torture the Constitution until it confessed that disaster relief was among the responsibilities of Washington.

Give us no more czars! Give us no pharaohs, emperors, shoguns, sheikhs, sachems, commissars, or potentates of any kind! 

On one day, we learn that government failed horribly to accomplish its primary mission. A few days later, people who want to lead the nation tell us that we must send government more of our money and trust it more than ever with not only our lives, but just about everything else too. 

Remarks delivered at the 27th annual Heritage Foundation Resource Bank meeting in Chicago, June 21, 2004.

If we strip away the technical particulars that often cloud this policy debate, what we essentially are left with are disparate visions about the power of markets to maximize technological innovation. It is clear that the regulatory model has failed to achieve policy objectives.

Communism was one of history’s most infamous lies. What it wrought stands as a horrible testament to the “planned chaos” of the omnipotent state. 

Though most Americans know something of that fateful day in 1903, far fewer are aware of the rivalry between the Wright brothers and another inventor/entrepreneur—one Samuel Pierpont Langley.

Empires, however, have a funny way of crumbling unexpectedly. The seeds of dissipation are sown by the empire-builders themselves when they impose their will at the point of a gun.

Britain's Great Exhibition of 1851 celebrated innovation, free trade, and free enterprise but the Millennium Dome of 2000 was a just another government boondoggle.

This is about some very critical fundamentals, bedrock concepts that derive from centuries of experience and economic knowledge. They are, in my view, eternal principles that should form the intellectual backdrop to what we do as policymakers inside and outside of government.

Like Prohibition, high taxes lead to big profit opportunities for people who break the law, which leads to smuggling, which in turn invites some pretty nasty people into the business.

We’re taught that the swashbuckling visionary Teddy Roosevelt rushed to the aid of freedom fighters in Panama, helped them secure their independence from Colombia, and then led the building of the Canal in just the right spot. Maybe the truth is a little different — from this 2002 book review.

Karl and Groucho. Two men named Marx. Both brought tears to the eyes of millions but for very, very different reasons.

Seventeen years since I wrote this article, Rwanda’s score on the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom makes it the 39th freest economy in the world, out of nearly 180 countries ranked.