Mr. Basil

Lecture by Robert Higgs given at the Ludwig von Mises Institute's 25th Anniversary Celebration held in New York City, 12 October 2007. http://mises.org Robert Higgs is an American economist of the Austrian School and a libertarian anarchist. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute and is an adjunct faculty member of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Mr. Higgs is also a regular contributor to LewRockwell.com. His writings in economics and economic history have most often focused on the causes, means, and effects of government growth. Some of the books he has authored include, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government; Resurgence of the Warfare State: The Crisis Since 9/11, and Depression, War and Cold War: Studies in Political Economy. He is also the editor of the collections, Re-Thinking Green: Alternatives to Environmental Bureaucracy; The Challenge of Liberty: Classical Liberalism Today; and Opposing the Crusader State: Alternatives to Global Interventionism. Related links: http://www.independent.org/aboutus/pe... http://www.lewrockwell.com/higgs/higg... http://www.youtube.com/misesmedia DISCLAIMER: Owner of this media presentation, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, has given permission under the Creative Commons license to publicly repost and remix as long as credit is given to the Mises Institute. More info at: ht... [More]

Michael Shaw (12 December 2009) Have we abandoned the uniquely American concept of the political, legal and educational recognition of unalienable rights? If so, is there a political movement to restore the core purpose and principle of the American Declaration of Independence? As documented in Understanding Unalienable Rights, the dictionary meaning of unalienable rights has been corrupted. School children are no longer instructed about this most basic element of the Declaration of Independence. Leading liberty minded legal and “think tank” organizations often fronting the freedom movement, treat or label the seeking of unalienable right protections as outdated. They argue a system of “civil rights” [1] as the appropriate man-made replacement. Think tanks of most stripes quietly argue that the idea of unalienable rights is flawed and indefensible. Correspondingly, the idea has been largely abandoned by academia and intellectuals. The question then becomes: Can the American experiment in freedom continue without a foundation predicated on the notion that each person possesses a life that is their own? I conclude that without the political recognition of unalienable rights it cannot be assured that the political system will recognize that your life belongs to you. This is not a moot issue. At the root of the globalist movement is Agenda 21 Sustainable Development. This worldwide program agreed upon by 178 nations, including the United States, reve... [More]