In the first review of my forthcoming book, Born of Ideas: How Principles, Faith and Courage Forged America, Surse Pierpoint writes, “Chapter by chapter, Reed, an economist and President Emeritus at the Foundation for Economic Education, shows the same pattern: precedent accumulates, someone reads it carefully, and an institution gets built.” The book is available for pre-order now on Amazon.

Be inspired by these books. Celebrate America 250! Read online or download for free the Happy Birthday, Freedom! brochure from the Free Society Coalition, on whose board I proudly serve: freesocietycoalition.org.

The amazing story of what goes into a smartphone, this is a short November 2025 speech in San Francisco. It’s an adaptation of the principles expressed in the 1958 essay, “I, Pencil” by Leonard Read. The essay, “I, Smartphone,” is available on Amazon for about five bucks: https://tinyurl.com/yunb8jyx.

When it came to the conduct of America’s war against the world’s pre-eminent military power, Congress got one big thing right. It involved the navy and what today we would call privatization.

A new discussion with Sean Themea of Young Americans for Liberty's "Voices of Liberty" podcast, posted June 9, 2026. Lots of great subjects from history to economics to philosophy in this one!

What Al Sharpton won’t tell you is that the Framers, armed with the promise expressed in the Declaration of Independence, did as much or more to put human bondage on the road to extinction than any other generation anywhere. Spanish version: https://tinyurl.com/5dvv9jx6.

“Do We Still Need the Declaration?” was the topic of this panel discussion in Philadelphia at the Jack Miller Center’s National Summit on Civic Education on May 18, 2026.

Delivered to the Pachyderm Club in Wichita, Kansas — May 22, 2026.

Based on my forthcoming book, Born of Ideas: How Principles, Faith, and Courage Forged America (available for pre-order at https://tinyurl.com/5hbpujuj), this lecture was delivered at my alma mater, Grove City College, on April 16, 2026.

From the Amazon description: In a world where revolutions often replace one form of tyranny with another, the American Revolution stands apart. Why? In Born of Ideas, Lawrence W. Reed reveals that America’s founding was not merely the result of war, but of a profound transformation in thought―an extraordinary revolution of ideas rooted in liberty, personal responsibility, faith, and moral courage. Through engaging, accessible essays, Reed introduces readers to both well-known figures and unsung heroes whose convictions shaped a nation. From the Mayflower Compact to the struggles of the Revolutionary era, each chapter illuminates the principles that made America unique―and that remain essential today. Order here: https://tinyurl.com/3vwxznxz

Your teachers and professors undoubtedly taught you “something,” true or not, about the so-called robber barons. Did they ever mention this one?

Christianity not only survived the evil Diocletianic Persecution, it emerged stronger than ever, underscoring the prophecy of the early Christian author Tertullian that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

Empires come, empires go. It’s a law of history.

What does it mean to have a “spiritual foundation”? Can we think of it as completely independent of any notion of an intelligent Creator?

We are smothered in jaw-dropping marvels without ever noticing how inscrutable they are.

Ronald Reagan once observed, “Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.” Franklin Roosevelt personified that truth.

The patriots who gave us the Declaration of Independence, who shed blood and tears to create a new and free nation, were the progeny of the Great Awakening and its broader, political and philosophical ally, the Enlightenment.

The line between sanity and mental illness is not stark and defined. It is blurry, so it’s not easy to tell when someone has crossed it.

As long as it was, it was largely boring and forgettable.

A proposal from more than a decade ago that fortunately went nowhere.