In this Commentary, In Defence of Liberty: Help is on the Way, Charles Murray suggests that times may look bleak for the ideals of individual liberty, but he is optimistic.
Based on remarks to the 2009 Civitas Annual Conference, Murray suggests 21st century technology will hand unprecedented power to individuals that States will be unable to curb. He cites research that is taking place that indicates the findings of 21st-century biology will produce a crisis in the moral foundation of the Left. Murray describes the dynamics of both of these developments and the opportunity they open for a reformulation of the case for liberty.
Charles Murray is the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He first came to national attention in 1984 with the publication of Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950–1980. This was followed in 1988 by In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government, in 1994 by The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (with Richard J. Herrnstein), in 1997 by What It Means to be a Libertarian: A Personal Interpretation, and in 2003 by Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950. His latest book is In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State (2006).
To read the complete Commentary, click here.
