There are some out there who talk about freedom, and then there are those who promote freedom. The Freedom Summit [5] is an annual event (this year it will be semiannual) that brings together some of the brightest minds in the freedom movement today. Names such as Ron Paul, Butler Shaffer, Doug Casey, Claire Wolfe, and Nathaniel Branden, just to name a few.
This year's lineup promises to be better than ever with two Summits, one in New Hampshire in June, and the other in Phoenix in October. The speakers at the June Summit will be:
- Katherine Albrecht of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering [6] (CASPIAN). Ms. Albrecht is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on consumer privacy, with a specialty on RFID [7] technology. Executive Technology Magazine recently called Katherine "perhaps the country's single most vocal privacy advocate" and Wired magazine calls her the "Erin Brockovich" of RFID.
- James Bovard, who is the policy advisor for The Future of Freedom Foundation [8]. His articles have appeared in Playboy, American Spectator, and Investor's Business Daily, as well as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek. He is the author of several books [9], one of my favorites being How the State Screws You from A to Z. He was the 1995 co-recipient of the Szasz Award for Civil Liberties Work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought, and the recipient of the 1996 Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. His book Lost Rights received the Mencken Award as Book of the Year from the Free Press Association.
- Nathaniel Branden, who is a psychotherapist, corporate consultant, lecturer, and author of many books, as well as a close personal friend of the late Ayn Rand [10]. Nathaniel helped launch Objectivism [11] as a philosophical movement with his 20 lecture course entitled "Basic Principles of Objectivism."
- Representative Ron Paul [12], who is the premier advocate for liberty in politics today. Ron Paul is the only advocate in Washington today for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary polices based on commodity-backed currencies. Ron Paul is a physician (OB-GYN) who is proudly known as 'Dr. No' for his voting record [13] in the House of Representatives. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the 'one exception to the gang of 535' on Capitol Hill.
- George H. Smith, who has served as the Director of the Forum for Philosophical Studies, Los Angeles; a lecturer on American History at the Cato Institute [14]; and a Senior Research Fellow and lecturer on political philosophy and intellectual history at George Mason University. George is the author of Atheism: The Case Against God. [15]
- Vin Suprynowicz, who is an author [16] and freedom fighter. Vin landed his first newspaper job at the alternative Hartford Advocate in 1972 after graduating from Wesleyan University . He went on to become a star reporter at the daily Willimantic Chronicle, wire editor of the Norwich Bulletin, managing editor of the daily Northern Virginia Sun, and founder and publisher of the weekly Providence Eagle. He was named three times to the Golden Dozen (the top 12 weekly editorial writers in the U.S. and Canada) by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. He is currently a writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He also pens a twice-a-week syndicated political column in many daily newspapers around the country, and edits Privacy Alert [17], a newsletter for people who want to preserve their personal and financial privacy from an over-intrusive state.
Other speakers will include Sharon Presley, co-founder of Laissez Faire Books [18], Amanda Phillips, president of the Free State Project [19], Michael Scheuer, a senior CIA officer tasked with a team to locate and eliminate Osama bin Laden. Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital [20] will speak on commodities, gold, and the dollar. Edward Stringham, who is a professor at San Jose State University , will discuss laissaz-faire capitalism.
The speakers for the Summit in October in Phoenix are still being lined up, but they will be heavy hitters as well. Be sure to make your plans now to attend both events, as they are sure to be the freedom events of the year.
