Dear Friend of Freedom,
With two libertarian Republicans, Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, running for president, libertarianism is certain to be a topic of political conversation in the next 18 months. The Future of Freedom Foundation is well positioned to participate in what is clearly going to be a national discussion and debate on libertarian principles and philosophy. I am writing to seek your help in this endeavor.
As a nonprofit educational foundation, FFF is precluded from promoting political candidates or parties, and we certainly have no intention of doing so. However, we are able to do what political candidates are oftentimes unable to do owing to the nature of the political process: While candidates must often depend on sound bites to get their message across, we are able to provide longer, more in-depth explanations and analyses of issues from a libertarian perspective, inducing people to think about and reflect on matters in more depth.
Undoubtedly, libertarianism will also be the subject of vicious attacks from both the Left and the Right. Libertarians will be attacked from the Left for our opposition to the welfare state and from the Right for our opposition to the warfare state, and from both the Left and the Right for our opposition to the drug war.
For example, conservative Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson recently attacked Ron Paul on the drug war in his weekly column for the Post. In the process, he showed a woeful lack of understanding of libertarianism and, even worse, distorted what Paul was saying. That gave me the occasion once again to show why the drug war is ill-founded and why people should oppose it more fervently than ever.
We are prepared to fight in the defense of our philosophy, a philosophy founded on morality, prosperity, peace, and harmony. Our weapons are truth and ideas on liberty. The political climate is opening up a grand opportunity for us to spread libertarianism far and wide while coming to the defense of libertarian principles and ideals as they come under attack from both the Left and the Right.
What are we doing at FFF to gear up for the upcoming debates and discussions about libertarian issues?
We are, of course, continuing to spread ideas on liberty with our monthly journal, Freedom Daily, our daily FFF Email Update, our Economic Liberty Lecture Series, my live weekly Internet show (www.ustream.tv/channel/the-future-of-freedom-foundation), and participation in such conferences as CPAC, Freedom Fest, and Campaign for Liberty with speeches and debates.
But that’s not all. In anticipation of the heightened interest in libertarianism that we expect the presidential race to produce, we have been putting together an expanded team of writers to expound on libertarian principles in our daily FFF Email Update.
Our team of FFF Email Update contributors will include long-time Freedom Daily authors James Bovard and Sheldon Richman, whose perspectives will continue to integrate pure libertarian principles with the burning issues of the day; British writer Andy Worthington, who has become a world-recognized authority on the war on terrorism and civil liberties; Laurence Vance, whose hard-hitting, uncompromising libertarian essays will continue to smash statism in all its varieties; Wendy McElroy, whose essays will continue to provide readers with the fascinating historical and philosophical roots of libertarianism; Anthony Gregory, whose articles will feature his customary broad range of historical, economic, and philosophical insights into libertarianism; Richard Schwartzman and Fergus Hodgson, two writers who might be new to many in the libertarian movement and who have been doing great work advancing libertarian principles; Richard Ebeling, who will be providing readers with a deeper understanding of Austrian economics and libertarianism; and Bruce Fein, an indomitable force for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and civil liberties.
In the political arena, the statists have been winning their war on freedom, free markets, and a limited-government republic. But nothing is inevitable. More people than ever before, especially young people, are discovering libertarianism and joining us in this grand, glorious, and honorable cause.
As we fight the statists in the coming presidential campaign season, I hope you will consider helping us with a generous tax-deductible donation to The Future of Freedom Foundation. The more you help us, the more we can move our nation toward the principles of a free society.
Yours for liberty,
Jacob G. Hornberger
P.S. Your support is greatly appreciated. Please note that the reply card has a separate line for recurring monthly donations. We also hope you’ll keep FFF in mind in your planned giving.
