“The battle for liberty begins anew this morning.”
—The Wall Street Journal, November 7, 2012

Oakland, Calif., Nov. 9, 2012— In the aftermath of the reelection, in which the tide of big government rolls FORWARD at the expense of liberty and constitutional restraint, many are calling for a return to first principles.

We at the Independent Institute never abandoned them.

For twenty-six years, and especially throughout the current century’s accelerated assault, we have stood steadfastly defending peace, free enterprise, and liberty. We provide clear, concise, and substantiated arguments and solutions, regardless of current challenges.

Our scholars, like Dr. Robert Higgs, show how the history of crises is used as cover for unprecedented expansions of government power and warn against repeating that fatal mistake.

We have stood fast against the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq as securing neither our liberty nor our safety. From the start we argued for the use of the Constitutionally provided Letters of Marque and Reprisal as the appropriately limited as well as the most likely-to-succeed means of prevailing over terrorist threats. Today, we chronicle the attack on American freedoms as the war on terror in the form of the TSA, Homeland Security, and loss of our civil liberties undermine the American tradition of a proud and free people.

In the aftermath of financial disaster, we showed that the collapse had not been the result of deregulation, as “progressives” continue to claim, but rather a corruption of standards mandated by Washington in pursuit of progressive ends—which have yet to be reversed. We looked behind the veil of the bailouts and revealed how they were mismanaged. We continue to fight tirelessly to restore the system of enterprise whereby decision-makers reap rewards—or punishment—for the risks they take and are fully accountable for the resources entrusted to them by investors.

And even as a seriously flawed healthcare system came up for grabs, we put forth information about the perverse, systemic, regulatory incentives behind its failings, with straightforward, compassionate, sustainable solutions for the provision of affordable care and the equal protection of all who need healthcare.

Our Lighthouse logo is a case study of how private enterprise—not government—can provide a shining beacon guiding ships to safety. In every human endeavor: security, education, healthcare, financial stability, poverty, justice, and more, enterprise and the unbridled potential of free markets are irreplaceable— and at the Independent Institute, form the pillars of our mission, which remains undeterred.

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