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Lawrence W. Reed

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On This Date... →

February 7, 2024

No, not those dates!

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War Isn't Just a Western Notion →

January 28, 2024

A lust for power begets war, which begets disorder and destruction, which begets the “strong man” who then knocks heads together to bring order from the chaos.

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Happy Australia Day! →

January 24, 2024

On this Australia Day, I plan to raise a glass (of rum) in tribute to an extraordinary people.

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The Rise and Fall of Japan's First "Enlightenment" →

January 24, 2024

A little freedom goes a long way, as demonstrated by Japan’s “Muromachi Period.”

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The Failed Smear Against Horatio Nelson →

January 3, 2024

The Nelson Column must stand. Cancel culture and its twin evil of presentism must be torn down.

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Some Memorable Events of 2023 →

December 30, 2023

This essay originated with a question a good friend posed to me just days ago: “Name the top 5 things that happened to you in 2023,” he asked.

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A Merry Socialist Christmas? No Way! →

December 22, 2023

Many on the left argue that Christian teaching should spurn private property and endorse a socialist system of wealth redistribution. After all, isn’t that what those early Christians did? 

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The Plane That Landed Itself →

December 19, 2023

I wonder what Orville and Wilbur would think about the time when a plane landed in Montana without a pilot.

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Marcus Aurelius Didn't Have a High Opinion of Government Schools →

December 7, 2023

I have no desire to be a subject of any potentate but if I had to live under just one of the nearly 100 emperors of ancient Rome, I believe I would choose Marcus Aurelius.

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Indians, Property Rights, and Ayn Rand →

November 20, 2023

A festering question concerning Native Americans is that of property rights, the extent to which the various tribes and their individual members possessed them—both when white settlers first arrived and even today. 

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President Duda of Poland Bestows Upon Me the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland -- 11/11/23 →

November 17, 2023

November 11, 2023 was a day in Warsaw that I will never forget!

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Statement to the President and People of Poland, November 11, 2023 →

November 11, 2023

This is an award I shall proudly display as long as I live. I will use it to help tell the story of this nation’s brave people.

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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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Recent “Best of Web”

Featured
New Yorkers Report Warmth of Collectivism Feels Strangely Like Crushing Tax Hikes
Feb 19, 2026
New Yorkers Report Warmth of Collectivism Feels Strangely Like Crushing Tax Hikes
Feb 19, 2026
Feb 19, 2026
Minnesotans Escape to Somalia
Jan 26, 2026
Minnesotans Escape to Somalia
Jan 26, 2026

Fleeing Minneapolis for Mogadishu.

Jan 26, 2026
The End of the Climate Cult
Dec 4, 2025
The End of the Climate Cult
Dec 4, 2025

The climatastrophe has been a terrible mistake. It diverted attention from real environmental problems, cost a fortune, impoverished consumers, perpetuated poverty, frightened young people into infertility, wasted years of our time, undermined democracy and corrupted science. Time to bury the parrot — Matt Ridley.


Dec 4, 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
The Story Told by Poland and Venezuela
Mar 14, 2026
The Story Told by Poland and Venezuela
Mar 14, 2026

Only socialists can look at Poland and Venezuela and arrive at the wrong conclusion. For everybody else, which system works and which does not is as certain as where the sun rises and where it sets. Spanish version: https://tinyurl.com/yt44u7px.

Mar 14, 2026
Native Americans and the Revolution
Mar 12, 2026
Native Americans and the Revolution
Mar 12, 2026

Most Native Americans were not bystanders as patriots fought British soldiers and Hessian mercenaries.

Mar 12, 2026
The Life of Frederic Bastiat, a Real Hero for Liberty
Mar 1, 2026
The Life of Frederic Bastiat, a Real Hero for Liberty
Mar 1, 2026

To his last breath, he mustered great eloquence to assault the arrogance of socialism and to defend the virtues of liberty. Article also appears here: https://fee.org/articles/the-life-of-frederic-bastiat/.

Mar 1, 2026