Liberty's Friends

In this season of giving, I want to take the opportunity to identify a number of organizations who fight for the cause of liberty across a wide front.  Whether you contribute to their efforts financially, sign up to get emails of their activities, or peruse their web sites, I encourage you to learn more about these groups who are important advocates of freedom.

The Moving Picture Institute (MPI) promotes films that espouse a pro-freedom agenda.  Think of the success of Michael Moore's documentaries from a leftist perspective, and you can see the power of film to promote in an immediate and emotionally powerful way views.  One of MPI's great successes has been promoting The Singing Revolution, an inspiring story of how the people of Estonia struggled to free themselves from Soviet oppression - through the power of singing.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) defends individual rights at America's colleges and universities.  FIRE has had great success in exposing restrictions on free speech and politically-motivated suspensions/dismissals of students and professors for having the temerity to speak their mind.  The fact that FIRE's work is so important is as sad a commentary as any on the deplorable state of our institutions of higher learning.

The Institute of Justice (IJ) is a public interest law firm dedicated to protecting individual rights through litigation.  For example, IJ has defended homeowners subject to eminent domain in the Kelo case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is a voice for women who favor economic liberty and 

personal responsibility who find that other women's groups don't speak for them.

The Claremont Institute seeks to restore the principles of America's Founding to a preeminent role in public policy.  The website contains many interesting articles.

The Cato Institute is the most prominent libertarian think tank, seeking to influence public policy.  Similarly, The Heritage Foundation is the most prominent conservative think tank.

There are a number of websites that are advocates of novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand and her pro-freedom views, including:  The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights and The Atlas Society.   

The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice is a leading advocate of school choice.

Other groups whose work I found interesting include The Manhattan Institute and the American Council on Science and Health.

We are fortunate that freedom has these and other advocates, since they provide the organizational capacity to promote and defend freedom.