Hoffer was fascinated by the fanatic—the sort of person who often abandons reason for a cause—and he sought to explain where that mentality comes from. 

The following episode of "The Mandy Show" is a discussion between Lawrence W. Reed, the president of The Foundation for Economic Education, and the podcast's host, Mandy Connell. In this episode, they discuss courage, self-reliance, and liberty. 

Strange, isn’t it, that the statist Left always claims to be for “the people” as it bestows enormous, concentrated political power on a very few. 

In my four decades of teaching and interacting with students on matters of economics and history, I’ve been routinely amazed by both how much they know and how little they know about the very same subjects.

When any government makes it harder for its citizens to start a business, engage in trade, make plans for the future, control their own property, or settle a dispute fairly, it means economic suffering—needless, personal, material suffering.

Gus Hobart: It’s a shame that if he’s remembered today at all, it’s for checking out early instead of anything he stood for.

A sickly young man from New Jersey fundamentally changed the image of the American cowboy forever.

Men as outstanding as Billy Graham are rare enough that we may not see another like him for a very long time.

Part of the allure of Halloween is getting something great for just showing up, and this carries over into voting habits.

Gareth Jones and Boris Kornfeld—two notable victims of Soviet communism among the tens of millions.

On a house worth maybe $800,000, the government expended a total of $1.8 million—spread over as many as 22 occasions.

History shows protectionist steel policies hurt American workers. (With Drew Johnson)

Thanks to a remarkable man who passed away on June 22, 2017 at the untimely age of 48, relief from the scourge of herpes may soon be a reality.

The oldest trick in the monetary book is cheating the people by debasing the coin or currency. It goes back at least as far as the Eighth Century B.C. when the Jewish prophet Isaiah chastised the Israelites for doing it.

I seriously doubt if God intends for politicians to fine or jail people who play football.

What we advocates of liberty have to point out and explain is that the more you rely on the state, the less secure you really are. 

Protectionism: you slap me, I poke you in the eye. Let’s rid ourselves of these senseless interventions as soon as we can, one way or the other.

As humorist P. J. O’Rourke explained it, “When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.” Brazilians are learning this by the millions.

The increasing frenzy of the campus Left may be an indication that, in the words of Robert Tracinski in The Federalist, we are approaching “peak leftism.” I got a taste of it in Denver in April 2017.

Welcome to the world of diffused costs and concentrated benefits, the welfare state’s primary means of propulsion. Take a little bit from a lot of people and give it to a few people whose votes and allegiance the perpetrators thereby purchase without ever spending a nickel of their own.