Famed orator, abolitionist, and writer Frederick Douglass was one of history’s greatest champions of individual liberty and equal rights.

Robert McDonald is an Assistant Professor of History at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This lecture was recorded on July 27, 2011 at Cato University in Annapolis, Maryland.

Frederick Douglass and the Movement for Liberation is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

The Washington Post launches a new weekly today, Capital Business, covering business in the Washington area. The cover of the first edition is striking:

As the cover line exults, “There’s a wave of government money headed our way — bringing opportunities in health care, green energy, cybersecurity and education.” Of course, it’s not actually “government money” — it’s money taxed or borrowed from those who produce it in the 50 states and then sprinkled liberally around the Washington area, which now contains 6 of the 10 richest counties in America.

If the Capital Business cover image had a few more arms, it would look like the logo for this year’s Cato University, “Confronting Grasping Government“:

Washington Rakes in the Money is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

Don’t miss “Stossel” tonight on the Fox Business Network at 8:00 p.m. ET. He’ll be discussing “What’s a Libertarian?” with P. J. O’Rourke, Andrew Napolitano, and a panel including Cato senior fellow Jeff Miron and me. Here’s a column Stossel wrote after taping the show about his own evolution from “Kennedy-style liberal” to libertarian.

When I did talk shows after the publication of Libertarianism: A Primer, I was always asked, “What is libertarianism?” I said then, “Libertarianism is the idea that adult individuals have the right and the responsibility to make the important decisions about their lives. And of course today government claims the power to make many of those decisions for us, from where to send our kids to school to what we can smoke to how we must save for retirement.”

Here’s another way to put it, which I believe I first saw in a high-school libertarian newsletter from Minnesota: Smokey the Bear’s rules for fire safety also apply to government: Keep it small, keep it in a confined area, and keep an eye on it.

For more on libertarianism, check out Libertarianism: A Primer and The Libertarian Reader. For deeper thoughts, take a look at Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice. Find an 80-minute interview on libertarianism here and a short talk here. And for a week-long seminar on libertarianism and our current crisis, come to Cato University this July at the beautiful Rancho Bernardo Inn outside San Diego.

John Stossel on Libertarianism is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

Students: Apply now for 11 weeklong, interdisciplinary seminars on liberty in its various aspects, hosted by the Institute for Humane Studies at locations around the country.

And don’t forget: Students and everyone else are invited to Cato University in beautiful Rancho Bernardo, California, the last week of July.

Learn about liberty! Enjoy beautiful weather! Meet your favorite libertarian thinkers! Make lifelong friends! And all for the low low price of — well, the IHS seminars are free. There’s a charge for Cato University, and some student scholarships are available.

Libertarian Summer Seminars is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

My “Freedom in Crisis” speech, which has gotten some compliments as I’ve delivered it in various venues, is now available on the web, complete with accompanying Powerpoint illustrations.

Find it also on the Cato site here. And a partial transcript (pdf) was printed in Cato’s Letter. (Get a free subscription to Cato’s Letter here.) And to hear speeches like this live, watch for details on the next Cato University, July 25-30, 2010, in San Diego.

“Freedom in Crisis” on YouTube is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

Okay, well maybe Tax Tips for Democrats won’t ever make it to the publisher, but while speaking at Cato University this summer, David Boaz offered a few tips to any more Democrats with tax problems who are thinking about joining the current administration.

“Some people say the best thing about electing a Democratic president is all the back taxes we collect from their appointees,” says Boaz. “It helps to balance the budget.”

Watch the whole thing:

C-SPAN 2 will air Boaz’s talk on the state of freedom in America this Sunday at 11:30 AM EST.

A New Book from David Boaz? Tax Tips for Democrats is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog

Urban planners want to shape our cities. And they want our cities to shape you. That’s the conclusion of Cato Institute Senior Fellow Randal O’Toole. He argues that the rationales for most urban planning collapses upon examination.

O’Toole — author of the forthcoming Cato book Gridlock — spoke at Cato University at Rancho Bernardo, California.

Randal O’Toole Assaults Myths of Suburbia is a post from Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog