July 15, 2002

A GREAT INSTITUTION BROADENS ITS NET

When we arrived at FEE headquarters nine months ago, in September 2001, the former president had been gone for nearly five months. His interim replacement had been gone for nearly two months. His director of seminars would resign two weeks later to go back to graduate school. Then the terrorists attacked New York, and suddenly no one wanted to fly. Schools who had planned to attend FEE seminars in the spring cancelled their registrations. And the Red Cross became everyone's favorite charity, leaving educational foundations out in the cold. The outlook for FEE was pretty bleak.

And yet, FEE's educational programs are now booming. The first national FEE convention was attended by nearly 900 paid participants, nearly double our projected attendance. Our onsite student seminars this summer have sold out, and we have added additional seminars to accommodate the waiting lists. Our home school and debate programs have burgeoned--Greg Rehmke is attending four separate debate conferences in the next week alone! New Friends of FEE who attended our National Convention want us to add an adult retreat in the fall. We are literally running seminars back to back. And our onsite list of free-market libertarian faculty is impressive: Israel Kirzner, Peter Boettke, Roger Garrison, Harry Veryser, Lawrence Reed, Burt Folsom, Dwight Lee, Jack Chambless, Charles Baird, John R. Pugsley, just to name a few. We adhere closely to the format established so well by founder Leonard Read. We 've even brought back his tradition of gourmet meals cooked by himself, with meals prepared by the president's wife from recipes in her own cookbook.

There are no philosophical compromises at FEE: we are teaching the principles of sound money and free market economics to record numbers of students and adults, many of whom are new to FEE and to libertarian ideas. As one of the teachers at these seminars, I can state without question that it is a joy to watch the light dawn in the eyes of participants as they "get it" for the first time. Yes, it is great speaking to all-libertarian audiences. But it is even more exciting to guide conservatives and liberals to the discovery of freedom, as Rose Wilder Lane so aptly described it. We invite anyone reading this article to attend a FEE seminar and see what we are teaching. Instead of supposing and surmising, come see for yourself. Leonard Read would indeed be pleased.

FEE's new president, Mark Skousen, is a bit flashier and more grandiose than previous administrations may have been. This is by design, not by accident. Quoting Andrew Carnegie, Mark told attendees of the FEE fall dinner, his first public address as president of FEE, "In order to make an impact, you have to attract attention. We plan to attract attention to FEE. I want to make FEE a household name." This goal is not for his own aggrandizement; he has enjoyed ample notoriety in his role as an investment writer and personality for more than 25 years. He wants to attract attention to FEE, because that's how we spread the ideas of liberty worldwide.

So what's all the fuss about? Simply this: We have gone outside traditional libertarian circles to attract attention. Specifically, we have invited Rudy Giuliani, former mayor and current hero of New York City, to be the keynote speaker at the FEE fall dinner. Libertarian hero and ABC correspondent John Stossel will be the guest host for the evening, and FEE President Mark Skousen will be representing FEE. So why are we inviting Rudy Guiliani, a controversial figure who doesn't even claim libertarian credentials?

I can best answer that question with an example. When I picked up my teenaged daughter from her boyfriend's house last night, his mother met me at the door. We chatted a few minutes, and then she said, "Hayley said you have Rudy Giuliani speaking at a dinner you're giving in the fall. Wow!! What exactly do you do?" I explained to her about our free-market seminars, and told her that we in fact have a dormitory full of teachers attending a seminar this week to learn new approaches to teaching economics and history. She turned to her son, a bright, personable young man with an avid interest in history, and said, "Gee Matt, maybe you should attend one of these seminars."

I should add that Matt's mother has known for nearly a year that we are running the Foundation for Economic Education. She sees the large wooden sign each time she drops Matt off or picks him up (which is nearly every day). We have talked about FEE numerous times, and she has listened politely, if not attentively. But she didn't take notice until we hired a big-name speaker to address our audience, a man she is intrigued and impressed by. She knows that Giuliani receives hundreds of requests to speak at various events around the country, and turns most of them down. But he chose to attend ours. Suddenly she realized: FEE must be fairly important, to attract someone of Giuliani's stature.

Of course, libertarians have known for decades that FEE is "fairly
important." FEE has been quietly teaching the principles of free market economics to libertarian students since 1946. I admire that. I wish I had known Leonard Read, and I'm glad that some of his lectures are on tape, so I can see that quiet, dignified style of teaching. But when critics state that "reaching the Remnant, not the massman, [is] the libertarian way," we at FEE vehemently disagree. We want to take the ideas of liberty to the masses, because that's where these ideas are needed most. And if using Rudy Guiliani's name will help us attract the masses, then that's what we will do.

This has been a controversial decision. Some applaud the coup in landing America's number-one speaker for our banquet. Others have criticized us soundly. But by inviting Rudy Giuliani to address our audience, we are not implying that he is representing FEE, or even that he is a "guest of honor." We aren't planning to give him a trophy or an award, although we do plan to treat him with the courtesy and respect that any guest is due. In But like Hans Sennholz's selection of Margaret Thatcher as FEE's 50th anniversary speaker, and Don Boudreaux's selection of Bill O'Reilly as the Millennium speaker, we selected Rudy Giuliani because he is a personality who attracts attention. We are marching into the camp of the conservatives in order to invite them back to our house.

When another teacher of new and controversial ideas was criticized for socializing with "publicans and sinners," he responded, "they that are well hath no need of a physician, but they who are sick." Similarly, we are willing to eat with publicans and sinners (if that is what you want to call those who admire Rudy Giuliani) because we think that we have the power and the skills to heal them of their misguided thinking. These aren't bad people, they are badly taught people. And they are worth teaching.

Let me give you an example. Several months ago we hosted a FEE reception at the Blanchard Investment Conference. Some of our libertarian friends attended the reception, and we appreciated their support. But they weren't our primary target. We wanted to reach the mostly conservative, mostly Republican Blanchard audience. We wanted an opportunity to change minds as well as lives.

The next day we were invited to lunch by a couple who had attended the reception and were intrigued by what they heard. We gave them information about our seminars, and encouraged them to think about donating to the newly formed Blanchard Scholarship Fund. Several months later Mrs. X called to see if we had room at our undergrad seminar for her granddaughter. And then she asked if she could attend too. She was 50 years older than the rest of the students, but she fit in beautifully.

I don't know exactly what her expectations were. But as our staff of
philosophically sound libertarian teachers presented the principles of sound money and free markets, she began to learn. Midway through the week I saw the light dawn in her eyes. She was understanding the principles of liberty! By the end of the seminar she had registered her grandsons for the next undergrad seminar and had handed us a generous donation. "You're doing a wonderful work here," she told us warmly. "I want to be a part of it." Other students at that same seminar said, "This week has changed my life." These were students who began the week by listing two pages full of what they considered to be "legitimate roles of government" and ended the week learning how to apply Larry Reed's "Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy" toward finding free-market solutions to perplexing public problems.

The mission of the Foundation for Economic Education has been, and still is, to teach the principles of individual liberty, private property, personal responsibility, and limited government (some would say no government). That' s pretty easy to do when the students are already libertarians. It's more of a challenge when they come with typical statist views taught them by their public school teachers. But we are up for the challenge. And if we can get more people here by using Rudy Giuliani as bait, then that's the way we'll do it. We're going to their house, in order to bring people to our house. And so far, it's working.

-- Jo Ann Skousen

email: jaskousen@mskousen.com

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