Richard Ebeling

Richard M. Ebeling (born 30 January 1950) is an American libertarian author who was the president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) from 2003 to 2008.

Quotes

• Socialism's failure in the former Soviet Union and in the other socialist countries stands as a clean and unquestionable warning as to which path any rational and sane people should never follow again. Government planning brought poverty and ruin... Unfortunately, America is not absorbing the lessons that should be learned from the socialist experience and, instead, is following the same path of destruction.
  • “The Failure of Socialism and Lessons for America, Part 1”, Future of Freedom Foundation (FFF), (March 1, 1993)

• Government is, and always has been, the greatest criminal threat to the peaceful members of society.
  • Jacob G. Hornberger, editor, The Tyranny of Gun Control, “Introduction,” Fairfax, VA, Future of Freedom Foundation (FFF), (1997) p. xii

• Who is the fascist? Individualism and the political philosophy of limited government is not only inconsistent with but is the exact opposite of fascism and Nazism. Under Fascism fascism and Nazism, the state reigns supreme with absolute power over everyone and all forms of property. It can well be asked: who is the fascist, when the president of the United States and many Democrats and Republicans in congress call for expanded authority for the FBI and other federal security agencies to intrude into the lives of the American citizenry? Who is the fascist, when the call is made for increased power for the FBI to undertake ‘roving wiretapping’ or have easier access to the telephone and credit-card records of the general population? Who is the fascist, when the proposal is made to make it easier for the FBI to investigate and infiltrate any political organization or association because the government views it as a potential terrorist danger?
  • Jacob G. Hornberger, editor, The Tyranny of Gun Control, chap. 13, “The Oklahoma Tragedy and the Mass Media,” Fairfax, VA, Future of Freedom Foundation (FFF), (1997) p. 83

• The history of paper money is an account of abuse, mismanagement, and financial disaster.
  • “Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 29: The Gold Standard in the 19th Century”, Future of Freedom Foundation (FFF), (May 1, 1999

• Each of us, Leonard Read said, must become candles of liberty in the darkness of collectivist ideas. The brighter we each shine through our understanding and ability to articulate the meaning of freedom, the more we will be beacons that can attract others.
  • “Free Markets, the Rule of Law, and Classical Liberalism”, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (May 1, 2004)

• Democracy in itself does not define or guarantee a free society. History has told many stories of democratic societies that have degenerated into corruption, plunder, and tyranny.
  • “Beware Democracy without Liberty”, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (April 1, 2005)

• It should be remembered that men of courage, integrity, and principle can stand up to Big Brother and resist the headlong march into economic tyranny.
  • “When the Supreme Court Stopped Economic Fascism in America”, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (October 1, 2005)

• Liberals say they are for civil liberties and personal freedom, but they continue to advocate government regulation of business, redistribution of wealth, and various forms of social engineering to manipulate human relationships and attitudes.
  • “Still Neither Left Nor Right”, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (January 1, 2006)

• If government goes beyond securing liberty and instead violates it through regulation, redistribution, and planning, then citizens are victims of legal plunder.
  • “FEE at 60: Self-Improvement and First Principles”, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (March 1, 2006)

• Our world today is in the grip of anti-capitalism. State bureaucracies ruling over anti-market policies have grown into ideological and political elites who arrogantly presume to know and dictate how we should all live and work.
  • “Is the ‘Spectre of Communism’ Still Haunting the World?”, speech entitled “Evenings at FEE” in March 2006. Posted in Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (December 19, 2008)

• Capitalism in the 19th century did not doom the worker to a life of perpetual poverty. Instead, they kept creating new and better-paying employments as the decades went by. They produced the wealth and rising income that resulted in the emergence of a phenomenon completely new to human history: a self-supporting and educated middle class that grew more and more as they lower classes bettered their economic well-being.
  • “Is the ‘Spectre of Communism’ Still Haunting the World?”, speech entitled “Evenings at FEE” in March 2006. Posted in Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (December 19, 2008)

• The rationale for the vast network of government welfare programs as well as regulation and control over private enterprise is based on the socialist analysis of the market economy.
  • “The Entitlement State that Nobody Mentioned”, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), (July 29, 2016)