The Forum’s impressive roster of past speakers includes Henry Hazlitt, Milton Friedman, William F. Buckley, Ronald Coase, Murray Rothbard, Thomas Sowell, Christina Hoff Sommers, and many others. I am honored to be included this year.
My question will be: The economic, political, and historical evidence for the superiority of free societies is substantial — yet so many are suspicious or outright hostile, and often authoritarian policies prevail over genuinely liberal ones. Why?
My answer will be: Whoever has the ethical high ground most often wins. The entrepreneurial moral principle of being a self-responsible individual committed to making his or her way in the world — that must be well defended against those committed to the opposing principles of paternalism, collective sacrifice, and egalitarian leveling.
Related: My article in The Wall Street Journal on “What Entrepreneurship Can Teach Us About Life” (or at WSJ’s site or in audio version).