Liberty-minded people should not strive for utopias, but instead encourage people to see how much better the world became through the ideas of free markets, rule of law, and democracy. If we continue on this path, we have a good chance of living in the best world that can ever be.
We commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact armies’ invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, an event that in many respects showed to the whole world the desperation of people struggling for self-determination under totalitarian regimes.
It is our job to ensure not only that our personal freedoms are respected by others, but also that we ourselves know their value and power. Therefore, we felt that it is our responsibility to devote the 8th issue of 4liberty.eu Review to personal freedoms in the region.
The magic of the Harry Potter franchise lies not in all the wand waving, but rather in the strong willingness of the protagonists to fight for liberty. Be it as small as opposing nonsensical school rules, or as grandiose as combatting the authoritarian Ministry of Magic, the main characters are there to step up for their freedoms.
Atlas Network’s Europe Liberty Forum, co-hosted by Free Market Foundation, held on September 21-22, 2017 in Hungary, was one of the largest gatherings of classical liberals and libertarians from Europe and the word. Around 140 people from more than 30 countries attended the two-day event.
We sometimes hear that the only type of liberalism we need today is “political liberalism” while classical liberal ideas in the economy can be neglected. The view that we need only political freedom, without a broad range of economic freedoms, is not isolated and requires a response.
It would seem that freedom unites people, gives them a sense of community and a common denominator. However, freedom may embrace many incompatible things. If we truly wish to be free, we must be able to differentiate between the concepts of liberating freedom and binding freedom.
The more powers, functions and mechanisms concentrated in the hands of a government, the more etatistic its policy with the people more restricted by, and subordinated to, the government. And vice versa, in a country where the government has very few functions, people live, act, study and work more freely.
Liberty. Equality. Fraternity. France and Europe and its three pillars have been shaken. Or rather have been shaking for at least a decade, but few wanted to admit this and to take action.
It has already been 25 years since Bulgaria started its unsteady transition to a market economy after a long period of Communist rule. However, our society is yet to experience the true benefits of liberal democracy, as well as arguably – capitalism itself.
