Eric Hoffer on Freedom

From an article by Gary Galles on the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) website:

July 25 marks the 1902 birth of Eric Hoffer, known as the “longshoreman philosopher” for the manual labor he performed for most of his life. In 11 books, beginning with The True Believer, the Presidential Medal of Freedom winner focused on the allure of a seemingly ennobling collective cause and the coercive power it puts in the hands of leaders and their discontented followers. He contrasted this with freedom, which is the only milieu in which creative individuals can flourish and find fulfillment. Given the vastly increasing popularity of proposals for further imposing collectivist government policies into Americans’ already-adulterated freedoms we see around us today, his insights into freedom merit renewed attention . . . .

Professor Galles goes on to list some of Hoffer’s quotations on freedom; other insights from Hoffer are available in previous articles by FEE president Larry Reed, here and here.

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