As you may have noticed, there have been less articles published this week on this blog than there should have been. I was admitted as a scholarship student to Cato University 2009, which focuses on Economic Crisis, War and the State. The seminar ends on Friday morning, but I have already gotten more out of my experience than I could have hoped for. Although the aggregate amount of knowledge held by the speakers would be impossible to pry out of their heads due issues concerning sheer volume, the small fraction of information they divulge in their presentations is enough to make even the most learned that much more intelligent. Through the donations of many volunteers (Cato is a completely privately funded institution; as Tom Palmer said, “because, we don’t believe in stealing”), the fifty or so scholarship students have been opened to a world of information that would have been impossible to experience by any other means.
I say this, because it is not just from the pleasure of listening to the speakers’ lectures, but due to the even greater pleasure of being able to interact with them. Although the words I have heard from Robert Higgs’ mouth, outside of his lectures, have so far not been extraordinarily many, they are words that are likely to remain with me for the rest of my life. On Tuesday, he willingly signed my copy of his book Depression, War, and Cold War and told me of a time when he had asked the same from Friedrich von Hayek. Although, I must admit, I consider Hayek a much more important scholar than Higgs in only the sense that Hayek had made a much larger impact on the fields of economics (especially on the theory of capital, which is what sets apart the Austrian school from every other economic school of thought). Sorry Robert Higgs. Regardless, Robert Higgs will be my Friedrich Hayek. He will be my inspiration to do great things as I progress through my intellectual career as (hopefully) an economist. No words offered by the great speakers at Cato University should be missed.
The sponsors should be praised for their gift. They are the mechanism by which students have the ability to go to Cato University free of charge. They are the mechanism by which libertarian ideals are spread throughout the world’s youth. They guarantee not only the survival, but the growth of the libertarian movement. There are students from South Africa, Guatemala, Venezuela, Italy, et cetera. There are few other places with such an eclectic melting pots of cultures, ideals and intellect. There are few other places that one can sit down for dinner at a table of Spanish speakers, giving their opinions on the political situation in their countries. But, besides the exchange of knowledge between students, sponsors and speakers, those same students will return to their countries to spread their ideals. There is no doubt that through Cato University, libertarian ideals are slowly (but surely) diffused throughout the world. It is thanks to the sponsors that perhaps one day we will see a society where the human being is as free as nature intended the human being to be.
David Boaz, an expert on libertarian politics, surmised the merits of Cato University, and intellectual public forums in general, during his discussion on the “rebirth of liberty amidst war and depression”. The idea that all intellectuals “stand on the shoulders of giants” applies as much to economics and politics as to physics. There is no doubt that these public forums ferment intellectual stimulation and will lead to a general rise in libertarian ideals throughout the world. The experiences of many of those who came to Cato University on scholarships already illustrate the struggle, and the progress that has been made so far. As David Boaz said, during his teenage years he feared conscription, and that is no longer a threat. Over the years, whether minor or not, there has been a general advance towards greater political freedoms. There should be no doubt that through programs such as Cato University (a similar program is Mises University, held in Auburn, Alabama) this steady progressive advance towards liberty will accelerate, thanks to the interchange of ideas.
I hope to attend Cato University again, whether next year or some year after that, and perhaps even donate to allow another student the same gift that I was given. It is truly a blessing that there are people who voluntarily subtract to their own wealth to offer others opportunities which they would have otherwise never had. These sacrifices might be seen as minor by some, but are actually amongst the most important. Only by educating the future serf, can we avoid a road to serfdom.
