 Ladies and gentlemen, a great pleasure to be here. I'm talking tonight specifically, Lou asked me to talk about what makes the Mises Institute unique. And in doing that, I'm not looking to disparage other organizations, but what makes the Mises Institute necessary when we have other free market organizations? What's so valuable about it? Now, I have in the past talked about what it's meant to me personally, which is a great deal. For better or worse, I am who I am today because of the Mises Institute. Some people think that's good, some people think that's bad. But the Mises Institute has had a tremendous influence on me because as a younger man, I went to the Mises University summer program for a week. This was before the internet, so I couldn't read all the books online in advance, I couldn't read all the articles, I had to go to an academic library and scour through the periodicals to find all the articles. But I did it, I found all, even just the recommended articles, you didn't even have to read them. I was such a geek, I read them all. And then off I went, couldn't have been happier to spend a week studying economics. And I had an opportunity to meet Murray Rothbard there. And that is a memory I will never forget, it was an extraordinary thing. And I got to meet many of the folks who now teach, who continue to teach at the Mises University. But also, I'm happy to say, folks of my generation and now an up and coming generation are starting to teach at the Mises University, which is a testament to the success of the Mises Institute. That there are these up and coming generations of academic economists. Let's just go down the list of things that make it unique. First of all, it's devoted specifically to the Austrian School of Economics. Not just a vague adherence to the free market, but specifically to the advancement of Austrian economics. Because there's something special and important and unique and irreplaceable about specifically the Austrian tradition. And that was a tradition that may well have been eclipsed all together. There's no guarantee in 1982 that Austrian economics is going to continue as a going concern. And I think that is one of the motivations behind what Lou Rockwell did. And moreover, it's not even just that it emphasizes Austrian economics. More than that, it really is on the cutting edge of new work being done in Austrian economics. For example, the question of derivatives came up in the financial crisis. Well, was there a fully full-fledged Austrian theory of derivatives? Of course not. The subject hadn't come up before. So there are always new frontiers to be exploring in Austrian economics. And at the Mises Institute, for example, we had Xavier Merin, who's now teaching in Europe, who specialized in this, who our good friend Guido Hulsman here in the audience worked with him on this topic and said, what about this? Here's an area we need more work done on, and the Austrian school hasn't had much to say. Let's say it. So the Mises Institute is not, in other words, just providing readers with quicky responses to popular objections. Shouldn't we force rents down by law? Okay, we have the answers to that. But we also have the answers to these technical cutting edge questions because of the dedication of Lou Rockwell and the Associated Scholars of the Institute to the scholarly enterprise itself, which of course began with Rothbard's editorship of the review of Austrian economics that later became the quarterly journal of Austrian economics. Secondly, like Mises himself, the Mises Institute covers more than just economics. Our point is not that everything's right with the world except people have economics wrong a little bit. It's really that there's a much more systemic problem going on, and it extends into other disciplines too. Mises himself wrote on history and other fields, political philosophy, for example, and we have a lot of work to do in those related fields as well. And when we do so, we, associated with the Mises Institute, are fearless. When covering history, there is no topic that is taboo, there is no question that is off the table. We will look at, for example, all the wars of history and re-examine why they were really fought and how they were funded and what the consequences were for society. We're not just a think tank. Oh my gosh, the very term makes my skin crawl. We're not looking to influence congressmen. Now we do have a distinguished congressman in our ranks here, but he didn't need to be influenced. And we're not just here to argue that price controls don't work. Yes, we do need to do that. I don't want to despair. That needs to be done. But we also need to systematically unmask the lies of the regime. And they tend to be tied up in particular with war and finance and money. And a lot of times when I look at very well-meaning libertarians, these are topics they can't run away from fast enough. Because conspiracy theorists talk about war, or conspiracy theorists want to talk about the Federal Reserve. So we have to talk about whatever boring, lame thing that isn't going to cause any ripples in the state apparatus. I mean, I've sometimes wanted to ask, and again, I'm not looking, I'm not trying to put anybody down, but I've sometimes wanted to ask a certain kind of libertarian, have you ever held a position that you knew you would be reviled for? Not just one that is different from what most people believe, but that you would be smeared for, that you would be attacked for, that your character would be questioned. And your very moral foundation of your being would be called into question if you advanced position X, Y, or Z. I don't think they can think of one. And that's fine. It's not for everyone. That's a hard thing to do. It's a hard thing to say, to look in history and say, well, what if this had happened this way or that had happened that way? Or maybe centralized power is not the best outcome. Maybe we should have more political units rather than less, break them up as much as possible, and then maybe we can have liberty in a few of them. That's very unpopular. You're going to be called all kinds of names for having a view like that. If you say things about the Federal Reserve, you're going to be called all kinds of names. If you question the intentions behind our so-called statesmen when they enter us into wars, well, you'll be accused of sympathizing with the dictator of the weak. You know these things are going to happen to you. And yet we do them anyway. I know, I know that my name is going to be dragged through the mud sometimes, but I just think, well, you know, I know some good people got my back and I'm just going to do it. I used to try and sugarcoat things, but what fun was that? I don't think anybody ever summed up the independent spirit of the Mises Institute better than Dr. Paul did when he looked into that television camera and he told people that maybe 9-11 occurred not because the American government was just innocently minding its own business and then out of nowhere all of a sudden there was an attack. He had no idea there were people who were ready to hear that. He's in a crowd that the last thing in the world they want to hear is that, but he looked into that camera and said it. And when a certain mayor of a certain city was outraged at this, half of America expected the usual ritual of expiation and apology. Why, I am so sorry I have questioned our sacred truths that America is great and her government is never in the wrong and I can't believe I said this thing. He doubled down on it. He looked back into that camera and doubled down on it. That is what on a smaller scale we're trying to do in the Mises Institute is be that guy. I think what also makes the Mises Institute different is its view of the state. Now that's not to say every single scholar associated with the Institute holds this view, but we tend not to look at the state as being a bumbling bunch of jokers who are always doing the wrong thing. And there are these unintended consequences of their well-meaning policies and if only we could educate them, you know, sometimes that may be true. But when I hear people say, we need to let our government officials know that this program is going to make people dependent on the government. Yeah, the government would hate that situation, wouldn't it? There's no way they intended it that way. This must be an unintended consequence of their well-meaning policy. We're not really inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt over here. And likewise, we don't use terms like American interests. We have to protect American interests, which always means the state's interests. It never means you and me. Never. Never means you and me. That's regime speak. We don't speak that way. In my experience, the Mises Institute in general is simply unafraid to stand against prevailing opinion and unafraid to stand against whatever new thing the left, and sad to say even some libertarians, is suddenly demanding we all believe. It is truly independent. Notice where it is not located. You won't see the Mises Institute whining and dining the chairman of the Federal Reserve. None of that. That just doesn't happen. It is independent. It's an independent voice, which I happen to think is half the reason it gets the attacks it has. They can't believe there is such a thing. Any time there's an independent voice left and right can't kiss and make up fast enough, they've got to go after those independent voices. The world, in short, is at war with places like the Mises Institute. Places that defiantly refuse to toe the cultural line. Places that reject egalitarianism. That uphold traditional standards of merit and excellence. And which are not at pains to announce to the world how enthusiastically they've embraced the latest left-wing fad. It is amazing to me that such a place not only exists, but is thriving. And it is thriving in large measure thanks to people like those of you in this room who have supported it over the years and who intend to continue supporting it. And I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that those of us who care deeply about the Institute, who contribute to it, who promote it, are working on behalf of a cause that is wrapped up in truth, in prosperity, and yes, dare I say it, the cause of civilization itself. Thank you all very much for your support of the Mises Institute.