Barry Brownstein
Contributor
Barry Brownstein is professor emeritus of economics and leadership at the University of Baltimore.
He is the author of The Inner-Work of Leadership, and his essays have appeared in publications such as the Foundation for Economic Education and Intellectual Takeout.
To receive Barry’s essays in your inbox, visit mindsetshifts.com
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Why There is a Civic and Moral Duty to Oppose Tyrannical Bureaucracies
“In the spirit of Mises, I offer this: A society that embraces coerced medical choices has chosen a path away from social cooperation and towards the disintegration of society.” ~ Barry Brownstein
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Resisting Tyranny Depends on the Courage to Not Conform
“The price of abdicating our responsibility is high. As Browning puts it, Germans paid a high price for ‘placing uncritical trust in the ‘firm leadership’ of seemingly well-intentioned political authority between 1933 and 1945.'” ~ Barry Brownstein
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Principles, Not Coercion, Are the Source of Unity
“True unity, our shared humanity, must rest on the principle of natural rights. Rights-based unity leads to cooperation and harmony based on respect for voluntary choices made by individuals, especially when their choices differ from our own.” ~ Barry Brownstein
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Why Totalitarians Promote Hate
“As human cooperation decreases and hatred increases, you too, not just the people the mandates are directed against, will suffer. The oxygen of capitalism is cooperation. The oxygen of totalitarians is hatred for differences.” ~ Barry Brownstein
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The Totalitarian Roots of Vaccine Mandates
“The end to the pandemic requires not that we follow the collectivists but that we are free to consider different perspectives and discover in the course of an uncoerced social process what really works.” ~ Barry Brownstein
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Good Medicine Requires Second Opinions
“In the 1920s drinking water infused with radium was hailed as ‘one of the greatest boons to ailing mankind that ever was discovered.’ In matters of health, competition and second opinions lead to better medicine.” ~ Barry Brownstein
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Why “Good” People Enable Totalitarians
“Forces are acting to paralyze the human spirit. We should deceive ourselves no longer. Without the consent and assistance of good people, totalitarians have no power. Governments, Mises warned, ‘become liberal only when forced to by the citizens.'” ~ Barry Brownstein
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Censorship Kills
“In 1644 John Milton wrote, ‘He who destroys a good book, kills reason itself.’ Today, acknowledge the destructive consequences of censorship. Speak out now or we risk allowing Big Tech’s algorithms and community guidelines to continue to destroy reason, hinder science, and undermine hope for humanity.” ~ Barry Brownstein
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Liberating Yourself from Faucism
“In place of helplessness, we can choose not to participate in lies. ‘Let their rule hold not through me!’ is the key to our liberation. We can be open and eager for public jousting and arguments from diverse points of view. If this is too much to ask, we will lose our remaining freedoms.” ~…
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Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers
“Resistance starts gently by recognizing our own mental processes that make us vulnerable to the current of conformist thought. With mental alertness we attune ourselves to spiritual strength. With self-study, we prepare for peaceful exchange of ideas with those currently choosing to be little brothers. There is still enough freedom in America that without the…
-
•
Why There is a Civic and Moral Duty to Oppose Tyrannical Bureaucracies
“In the spirit of Mises, I offer this: A society that embraces coerced medical choices has chosen a path away from social cooperation and towards the disintegration of society.” ~ Barry Brownstein
-
•
Resisting Tyranny Depends on the Courage to Not Conform
“The price of abdicating our responsibility is high. As Browning puts it, Germans paid a high price for ‘placing uncritical trust in the ‘firm leadership’ of seemingly well-intentioned political authority between 1933 and 1945.'” ~ Barry Brownstein
-
•
Principles, Not Coercion, Are the Source of Unity
“True unity, our shared humanity, must rest on the principle of natural rights. Rights-based unity leads to cooperation and harmony based on respect for voluntary choices made by individuals, especially when their choices differ from our own.” ~ Barry Brownstein
-
•
Why Totalitarians Promote Hate
“As human cooperation decreases and hatred increases, you too, not just the people the mandates are directed against, will suffer. The oxygen of capitalism is cooperation. The oxygen of totalitarians is hatred for differences.” ~ Barry Brownstein
-
•
The Totalitarian Roots of Vaccine Mandates
“The end to the pandemic requires not that we follow the collectivists but that we are free to consider different perspectives and discover in the course of an uncoerced social process what really works.” ~ Barry Brownstein
-
•
Good Medicine Requires Second Opinions
“In the 1920s drinking water infused with radium was hailed as ‘one of the greatest boons to ailing mankind that ever was discovered.’ In matters of health, competition and second opinions lead to better medicine.” ~ Barry Brownstein
-
•
Why “Good” People Enable Totalitarians
“Forces are acting to paralyze the human spirit. We should deceive ourselves no longer. Without the consent and assistance of good people, totalitarians have no power. Governments, Mises warned, ‘become liberal only when forced to by the citizens.'” ~ Barry Brownstein
-
•
Censorship Kills
“In 1644 John Milton wrote, ‘He who destroys a good book, kills reason itself.’ Today, acknowledge the destructive consequences of censorship. Speak out now or we risk allowing Big Tech’s algorithms and community guidelines to continue to destroy reason, hinder science, and undermine hope for humanity.” ~ Barry Brownstein
-
•
Liberating Yourself from Faucism
“In place of helplessness, we can choose not to participate in lies. ‘Let their rule hold not through me!’ is the key to our liberation. We can be open and eager for public jousting and arguments from diverse points of view. If this is too much to ask, we will lose our remaining freedoms.” ~…
-
•
Big Brother Depends on Little Brothers
“Resistance starts gently by recognizing our own mental processes that make us vulnerable to the current of conformist thought. With mental alertness we attune ourselves to spiritual strength. With self-study, we prepare for peaceful exchange of ideas with those currently choosing to be little brothers. There is still enough freedom in America that without the…