Do you think that Sharpies and Post-it Notes are normal, everyday office supplies? Not the nine project presenters of this year’s inspirational Unconference, sponsored by EdChoice, part of Atlas Network’s 2016 Liberty Forum. Unconference brings a workshop atmosphere to the traditional policy conference — aggregating the wisdom o...
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Every year Liberty Forum inspires and rejuvenates the individuals in the worldwide freedom movement, and this past weekend was more inspirational than ever. More than anything, there was a palpable connectedness among our partners, our supporters, and various friends and family members. With 58 countries represented, Liberty For...
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The Manhattan Institute has been awarded this year’s $10,000 Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for the book Disinherited: How Washington Is Betraying America’s Young (Encounter Books, 2015), by Manhattan Institute scholars Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Jared Meyer. The award was presented at Atlas Network’s 2016 Liberty...
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Atlas Network is pleased to present the six finalists for the 2016 Templeton Freedom Award. The award is generously supported by Templeton Religion Trust and will be presented during Atlas Network’s Freedom Dinner on Nov. 10 in New York City at the historic Capitale. The winning organization will receive a $100,000 prize, and th...
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The cruel coldness of bureaucracy is never more apparent than when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) keeps potentially life-saving drugs out of reach of terminally ill patients, even after deeming them safe. The Goldwater Institute, based in Phoenix, Ariz., is driving a new national conversation around access to treatments...
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When government violates the individual and economic liberties of entrepreneurs in Sweden, the Stockholm-based Centre for Justice (Centrum för rättvisa) fights back by defending the dreams of these entrepreneurs in court. The organization’s Litigating for Liberty project has been named one of six finalists for this year’s presti...
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Nearly half of America’s colleges and universities maintain blatantly unconstitutional speech codes, which are the draconian and illiberal policies that administrators use to silence unpopular and inconvenient speech on campus. That’s why Philadelphia-based FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) is fighting bac...
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Despite more than 30 years of economic reforms that have helped transform Israel, its economy remains saddled with bureaucracy and regulation that make life difficult and expensive. The economic reform campaign developed by the Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress (ICSEP), based in Mevaseret Zion, has been named one of...
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Although the U.S. welfare state was enacted with the intention of helping the least fortunate, its perverse incentive structure often traps families in poverty and drains state budgets. America’s welfare state has exploded in the past decade, and the number of able-bodied adults on food stamps and Medicaid has doubled, but begin...
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In high schools across the world, most students graduate without any exposure to the concepts of market economics. The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), based in Vilnius, sought to change that by developing its Economics in 31 Hours textbook, which has been named one of six finalists for this year’s prestigious $100,000 T...
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The future prospects of liberty can only be secured by instilling a passion for freedom in the youth of today. Atlas Network annually recognizes the best student-focused project for liberty with the $3,000 Smith Student Outreach Award. The 2016 winner is the Center for Free Market Enterprise (CFME), for its impressive efforts in...
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Bad economic ideas, myths, and misinformation are continually resuscitated over the years, so it’s not unusual to see them featured prominently in candidate rhetoric during every new election season. Still, it was surprising to see so much support for ideas from self-avowed “democratic socialist” presidential candidate Bernie Sa...
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South Africa remains mired in poverty more than two decades after the end of apartheid, and the government’s efforts at poverty relief do nothing to create new economic opportunities for people struggling to build better lives. The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE), an Atlas Network partner based in Johannesburg, has p...
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Cryptography enables a wide array of digital freedom, from decentralized online currency like Bitcoin to enhanced privacy in communication and collaborative technology. Paralelní Polis, an Atlas Network partner based in the Czech Republic, is dedicated to using digital tools to build parallel social, economic, and political stru...
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In Nepal, electric rickshaws provide a means of earning a living for struggling families who aren’t in a position to make a large capital investment. Quotas and restrictive regulations had pushed most e-rickshaw drivers into the gray market, however, where they are subject to harsh fines and corrupt solicitations from law enforc...
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The top four jurisdictions with the most economic freedom — Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and Switzerland — have placed the same in the Canada-based Fraser Institute’s 2016 “Economic Freedom of the World Report” as they did in 2015. Venezuela is also once again in last place in the world. For the first time, though, Canada...
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Ohio won a recent legal victory that protects its voting laws from undue federal intervention, and Atlas Network partner The Buckeye Institute was instrumental in making the case to preserve the integrity of Ohio’s elections with its amicus brief filed earlier this year. “Ohio voters can go to the polls this fall knowing the int...
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People raised in different circumstances often show different attitudes toward potential dangers. If you’ve never been near the water or learned how to swim, lakes, rivers, and oceans probably seem quite terrifying. Those who can swim generally see rivers, lakes, and oceans differently. Such different experiences may lead to dif...
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A new Atlas Network partner is championing the ideas of liberty through its Great Communicators Tournament, which features competitors making emotionally compelling arguments that highlight and advance the causes of human achievement, freedom, and empowerment. Think Freely Media, based in Washington, D.C., is partnering with Atl...
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Taxi bailouts, threats to free speech at universities, ballooning budget problems ... what’s up in the land down under? Tim Andrews, executive director of the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, will speak about those and other topics at Atlas Network’s Trendsetters NYC event on Sept. 21 in New York City. In advance of the event, An...
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We are the stories we tell.
And we are the stories we believe.
In 1978, when Superman hit the big screen, we believed a man could fly.
In 2016, when Batman met Superman, we believed a man wouldn’t want to.
What happened in 38 short years?
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When I think of examples of successful self control and dignity under the most difficult circumstances, one living person comes to mind before all others: 刘晓波, Liu Xiabo, the Chinese writer and human rights activist who was sentenced on Dec. 25, 2009, to 11 years of imprisonment in China on the charge of “inciting subversion of...
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It’s almost eerie how Milton Friedman had the perfect responses years ago to the outrageous economic claims that Bernie Sanders would make during his U.S. presidential campaign this year. It’s also peculiar that the Australian government is bailing out nearly obsolete industries — why not also bring back the chimney sweep, the t...
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The people of North Korea are held captive in a society that lacks information about the outside world, but the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) and Forum 280 aim to change that with their “Flash Drives for Freedom” program, “with the goal of changing the totalitarian system of North Korea to a more free and open society by deliver...
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Airbnb is a popular and growing part of the new sharing economy, allowing people to earn extra money by renting out their homes for temporary use by others. This business model provides new competition to hotels, though, so governments face industry pressure to fine and regulate the home-sharing industry out of existence. Despit...
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Isn’t it interesting how often government leaders use passive voice to refer to their bad decisions? “Mistakes were made,” “The intelligence was flawed,” “Things got out of control,” etc., etc. And even when they say “I take responsibility,” they almost never actually take responsibility by, say, resigning or reimbursing or even...
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Argentina has suffered over the last 12 years as a result of a government that has implemented inefficient populist policies, leading to stagnation and an overall decrease in prosperity. The state became increasingly involved in both the public and private lives of Argentines during the successive presidencies of Néstor Kirchner...
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For more than 800 years, Magna Carta has served as the foundational document codifying the rule of law as a check on the arbitrary discretion of rulers. This year, Atlas Network partner the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF), initiated a new student membership organization, the Runnymede Society, its name commemorating the m...
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The university experience is meant to be a proving ground for ideas and intellectual growth, but campuses across the United States are restricting free expression through speech and behavior codes that marginalize, silence, and even control students. Harvard University recently introduced a new policy that restricts students fro...
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The Mackinac Center for Public Policy first published a brief calling for Michigan to become a right-to-work state in 1992. Despite the many compelling reasons that nobody should have to pay money to a union in order to hold a job, organized labor was so powerful at the time that few politicians took the idea seriously.
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