A Trinity of Values observed by Australian visitors to a Montana Ranch Ron Manners, is a successful Australian entrepreneur, a member of the international Mont Pelerin Society, and a strongly committed classical liberal. In 1997 he advanced his good intentions by creating The Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, a free market think tank headquartered in Perth, […]
Read MoreBountiful Success after the first Earth Day I’m indeed happy we are all still here and thriving despite the Earth Day predictions of 1970. (For amusement, please see the predictions below. *) Most of us relish the fruits of responsible liberty and live in sustainable ecological systems. We concurrently enjoy (at least) modest prosperity. According […]
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The U. S. Park Service in the Department of Interior celebrates its centennial this year. It manages over 400 national parks and monument units. The creation of these protected areas is often labeled as “America’s best idea”.* America’s first national park, Yellowstone, was established in 1872. It has become the world’s model for park management.** […]
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Introduction by John Baden Working with honor students is among the several luxuries of university teaching. My first experience was teaching an economic anthropology Honors Course at Indiana University in 1969. Forty-six years later I’m privileged to work with Valerie Sigler, an MSU Honors College student. This summer we are working at the confluence of ecology, […]
Read MoreYellowstone National Park and Change This and the two following FREE Insights will deal with the changing environments effecting Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was created in 1872 as the world’s first national park. Many referred to it as “America’s Best Idea.” Ken Burns produced a 2009 PBS documentary series with that title. The goal for […]
Read MoreWhat If Environmentalists Own Oil and Gas Lands? Introduction by John Baden In the 1980s I was one of three academic members of the National Petroleum Council. President Harry S. Truman created this federal advisory committee in 1946 to advise the executive branch on oil and gas topics. The other two academics from universities were […]
Read MoreIntroduction by John A. Baden This week’s FREE Insight features an essay by economist, Ray Rasker a principal in the Bozeman-based organization Headwaters Economics. Ray is an expert on the economy of the emerging West. His essay celebrates the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Wilderness Act of 1964. I wrote my comments to […]
Read More“Improving Federal Land Management: Ecology, Equity, and Economics” I recently learned that no Green/leftist/progressive leaders have confidence in large governmental organizations. Who is the source of this knowledge? It’s Gus diZerega, a political scientist/theorist with a PhD from UC Berkeley. He recently visited from California while traveling through Yellowstone. We enjoyed several dinner conversations, mainly about progressive Green […]
Read MoreFREE is preparing for our August 25-29 seminar. We designed it for Article III federal judges and their clerks. This program will feature a field trip to Yellowstone Park. We will have presentations from the current Park Superintendent, a retired superintendent of Yellowstone, and natural scientists specializing in wildlands ecology. Ramona and I have been […]
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Minorities suffer abuses when their rights to property and person are violated. We examined historical situations involving Jews and Mormons in two recent FREE Insights (May 7 and 14). The underlying logic is clear: If people’s property is not given legal protection, then it is cheap and easy to violate their persons and strip their […]
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