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OUR LATEST
The Attempt to Burn Me at the Stake
Perhaps for this reason: people might start to take seriously the idea that the corona crisis was primarily a psycho-social phenomenon that marked the transition to a technocratic system, a system in which the government would attempt to claim decision-making rights over its citizens and, step by step, take control of all private space.
Why Did So Many Intellectuals Refuse to Speak Out?
Here is why in our time, as in all times, there is a crying need for intellectual sanctuaries for those brave souls who are willing to stand up and be counted, risk cancellation, put their professional careers on the line, simply to say what is true. They need protection. They need care. And they deserve our congratulations, for it is they who will guide us out of this mess.
The Corruption of Private Enterprise in the Pandemic Era
While the Constitution is designed to prevent the usurpation of these rights by the government, there is little that limits the power of the corporations and institutions, which are making decisions about when and how we exercise our rights.
The Real Reason Vaccine Mandates are Wrong
Vaccine mandates are wrong not because they fail to generate a net benefit or because the risks to vaccinated persons outweigh public health benefits (though both are true). They are wrong because they trample on the very thing the noblest version of a liberal democratic society should be trying to create.
The Brownstone Institute for Social and Economic Research is a nonprofit organization conceptualized in May 2021. Its vision is of a society that places the highest value on the voluntary interaction of individuals and groups while minimizing the use of violence and force even including that which is exercised by public authority. This vision is that of the Enlightenment that elevated learning, science, progress, and universal rights to the forefront of public life, and is newly threatened by ideologies and systems that would take the world back before the triumph of the ideal of freedom.
The motive force of the Brownstone Institute is the global crisis created by policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. That trauma revealed a fundamental misunderstanding alive in all countries around the world today, a willingness on the part of the public and officials to forego freedom and fundamental human rights in the name of a public health crisis. The consequences were devastating and will live in infamy.
It’s not just about this one crisis but past ones and the next ones too. The lesson we should learn concerns the desperate need for a new outlook that rejects the rights of the legally privileged few to rule over the many under any pretext, while preserving freedom, free speech, and essential rights even in times of crisis.
The name Brownstone is from the malleable but long-lasting building stone (also called “Freestone”) used so commonly in 19th-century American cities, preferred for its beauty, practicality, and strength. The Brownstone Institute regards the great task of our times as rebuilding the foundation of liberalism as classically understood, including core values of human rights and freedom as non-negotiables for an enlightened society.
OUR MISSION
The mission of Brownstone Institute is constructively to come to terms with what happened, understand why, and how to prevent such events from happening again. Lockdowns have set a precedent in the modern world and without accountability, social and economic institutions will be shattered once again. An institution such as Brownstone Institute is essential in preventing the recurrence of lockdowns by holding decision makers intellectually to account. In addition, Brownstone Institute hopes to shed light on a path to recovery from the devastating collateral damage, while providing a vision for a different way to think about freedom, security, and public life.
Brownstone Institute looks to influence a post-lockdown world by generating new ideas in public health, scientific discourse, economics, and social theory, to defend and promote the liberty that is critical for an enlightened society from which everyone benefits. The purpose is to point the way toward a better understanding of essential freedoms – including intellectual freedom and free speech – and the proper means to preserve essential rights even in times of crisis.
The world needs the Brownstone Institute now to prevent the next “snap” lockdown and make the case for an open and free society. The idea is to correct and compete with the mainstream media and take on the technocratic disease managers, or anyone else who believes rights and liberties can be violated, at the discretion of political leaders, to central plans.
The research and content of the institute are sophisticated but accessible. Operationally, Brownstone’s mode is no fluff in the budget, no bureaucrats, no cronies, only a highly competent small team working to change the world. It will have media reach and call on scientists, intellectuals, and others who are dedicated to this task.
OUR PRIMARY FOCUS
- A rethinking of the relationship between social and market functioning and public authority, particularly as it relates to crises;
- The post-lockdown recovery and vibrancy of markets, small businesses, and entrepreneurial opportunity;
- The inviolability of academic freedom, free exchange of ideas, and the openness and vitality of scientific discourse;
- The prosperity, freedom, and health of all members of society, including and especially its less privileged members;
- The rights of association of individuals, families, and the well-being of school-age children, who carried the greatest burden during the lockdowns.
The Brownstone Institute’s goals are accomplished through research and publishing, including essays, articles, reports, media, and books, and by organizing conferences and retreats.