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Lawrence W. Reed

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Recipients of Poland's Highest Honor →

November 9, 2023

Unlike many previous presidents, Reagan did not mince words when it came to recognizing the evils of socialism and the Soviet Empire. He, along with other notables, received Poland’s Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.

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Romans, Good and Bad →

November 5, 2023

Caesar, Cato, Cicero, Pertinax and more.

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Montana's Love Affair with William Jennings Bryan →

November 1, 2023

Perhaps Montanans saw in Bryan a man who, though often wrong, was sincere and incorruptible. If so, they were right. His reputation was never tainted by graft or dishonesty. 

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The Wild West's Most Infamous Con Artist →

October 18, 2023

He was as crooked as a dog’s hind leg. We here in Newnan, Georgia are glad he left town.

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American Presidents: A Discussion with Juliette Sellgren →

October 7, 2023

Some of the better presidents are the ones most people don’t know.

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Rome's "Last Honest Man" →

October 5, 2023

Publius Rutilius Rufus (158 B.C.-78 B.C.) attempted to reform Rome's corrupt tax system, and soon found himself accused of corruption and extortion himself.

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The Uncommon Ella Knowles Haskell →

September 19, 2023

Some people may look back on late 19th Century America in disdain because women couldn’t vote. But consider the context: For most of human history, nobody could vote—neither man nor woman. You did as you were told, as serf, slave or subject. Women could not vote in Mexico, for instance, until 1953.

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The Island That Saved Hundreds of Refugees →

September 5, 2023

All over the world, a year before World War II even started, doors were closing to Jewish refugees. One tiny island offered to accept a huge number.

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Georgia Liked Bryan →

September 1, 2023

Were Georgians right when they endorsed William Jennings Bryan all three times he ran for President? Personally, I wouldn’t have voted for him even once, so now you know where I stand.

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Lessons from the 2003 Heat Wave →

August 29, 2023

The staggering death toll in France is a reminder of what can happen when private initiative is replaced with government “safety nets.”

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A Tale of Two Fires: Maui and Michigan →

August 26, 2023

The tragedy in Hawaii reminded Biden of his kitchen; but the horrific nature of it and government’s culpability in it brought to my mind another event, long forgotten.

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Cleopatra's Money Mistakes →

August 23, 2023

In the face of soaring prices, do you suppose the inflating Ptolemies repented by cutting their spending, balancing their budgets, and restoring sound money?

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Montana--Cool for Coolidge! →

August 22, 2023

Did Montanans make the right choice by giving Coolidge their votes in 1924? You bet they did.

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Remembering a Great Polish Patriot: Jan Nowak-Jezioranski →

August 15, 2023

Looking to models of courage such as Jan Nowak-Jezioranski for inspiration will help us grow in courage ourselves. We may need it when we least expect it.

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The Lesson of Aurelian: Beware of False Reformers →

August 8, 2023

Like most dictators, Aurelian thought he was special. Inscribed on some of the coins he minted, and which bore his image, was the phrase, deus et dominus natus, meaning “god and born ruler.”

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The Best Treasury Secretary America Ever Had →

August 3, 2023

It was under Coolidge that the Mellon Plan achieved its fullest implementation, and the country was all the better for it.

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The Emperor Who Tried to Restore Sound Money →

August 1, 2023

Most political leaders are happy to cowardly defer real reform to some future generation and, in the meantime, do nothing more than “manage” the decline. Pertinax was different.

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What’s a sapelo? →

July 26, 2023

Before this book, I thought “tabby” was one of the more common names for a house cat. Now I know it’s a kind of concrete made with oyster shells.

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Satchmo Comes to Great Falls →

July 18, 2023

People said he had a voice like gravel, and they meant it as a high compliment. 

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Australia and Its Gold Standard →

July 11, 2023

Governments don’t like gold because they can’t print it is a truism worth canonizing in the Book of Proverbs. The experiences of Australia, the UK and the US.

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Recent “Best of Web”

Featured
Government Shutdown Exposed the Biggest Lie in Education
Oct 31, 2025
Government Shutdown Exposed the Biggest Lie in Education
Oct 31, 2025

“For decades, teachers unions and the liberal allies they bankroll in D.C. have told the American people that without the federal bureaucracy, education would crumble,” writes Ryan Walters.

Oct 31, 2025
Millions Gather to Express Total Ignorance
Oct 18, 2025
Millions Gather to Express Total Ignorance
Oct 18, 2025

“We're going to join our voices together and let the message ring loud and clear that we are uneducated rubes in desperate need of a middle-school social studies class,” said one man. Problem is, they DID have middle-school social studies, at great expense to the taxpayer, and still turned out to be rubes. Maybe there’s a connection??

Oct 18, 2025
Argentina's Economy Didn't Collapse; It Roared Back to Life
Sep 25, 2025
Argentina's Economy Didn't Collapse; It Roared Back to Life
Sep 25, 2025

Writes Dionysis Partsinevelos, “Experts warned that electing a chainsaw-wielding libertarian outsider as president would push the country over the edge. Instead, the unthinkable happened: Argentina’s economy started working again.”

Sep 25, 2025

Recent Quotes

Featured
Murphy on America
Feb 11, 2025
Murphy on America
Feb 11, 2025

“The true meaning of America, you ask? It’s in a Texas rodeo, in a policeman’s badge, in the sound of laughing children, in a political rally, in a newspaper. ... In all these things, and many more, you’ll find America. In all these things, you’ll find freedom. And freedom is what America means to the world. And to me” — Actor, poet, and the most decorated American of World War II, Audie Murphy.

Feb 11, 2025
Mill on Freedom
Feb 1, 2025
Mill on Freedom
Feb 1, 2025

“The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental and spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest.”

Feb 1, 2025
Best-Selling Japanese Novelist Eiji Yoshikawa on Do-Gooders
Mar 20, 2023
Best-Selling Japanese Novelist Eiji Yoshikawa on Do-Gooders
Mar 20, 2023

“There’s nothing more frightening than a half-baked do-gooder who knows nothing of the world but takes it upon himself to tell the world what’s good for it — from his book, Musashi.

Mar 20, 2023

Recent Blogs

Featured
From "I, Pencil" to "I, Smartphone"
Nov 6, 2025
From "I, Pencil" to "I, Smartphone"
Nov 6, 2025

The late Milton Friedman figures into this October 2025 video interview of me by Libertarianism.org. Topic: From “I, Pencil” to “I, Smartphone.”

Nov 6, 2025
Red Flags or Green Lights?
Nov 4, 2025
Red Flags or Green Lights?
Nov 4, 2025

Opposition arises every time new technology emerges. Often it is promoted by those whose livelihoods would be most directly affected. Their short-term, vested interest focus might grant them temporary security, but it does so at the expense of the well-being of everyone else.

Nov 4, 2025
I, Smartphone: Far Smarter Than You Ever Imagined
Oct 30, 2025
I, Smartphone: Far Smarter Than You Ever Imagined
Oct 30, 2025

You will be amazed at what goes into a handheld device that nearly everybody uses. Inspired by Leonard Read's famous piece, "I, Pencil," it will be a success if it becomes just a fraction of the classic Leonard's essay was.

Oct 30, 2025