On my
Fox Business show last week,
I celebrated some people who fight for liberty. Election season is upon
us and I could have cited Ron Paul as a defender of freedom, but I
didn't. I had some other idea in
my column this week.
Alfred Kahn was a bureaucrat who, under President Carter,
managed to kill off the Civil Aeronautics Board and Interstate Commerce
Commission. By bringing freer markets to transportation, he saved
Americans billions of dollars.
Norman Borlaug
saved billions of lives. He invented a high-yield wheat that ended
starvation in much of the world. He also criticized the
environmentalists who fight the bioengineered food that could end hunger
altogether.
How about Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine? He brought
tastelessness to new depths -- but by spending his own money to defend
free speech in court. He is a champion of freedom. So is musician Willie
Nelson. He brought the battle against drug prohibition to the very roof
of the White House (where he reportedly smoked weed).
How about the former president of the Czech Republic, the late Vaclav Havel?
He demonstrated that speaking truth to totalitarians, while being
willing to suffer the consequences, can be more potent than tanks.
Business leaders rarely speak up for freedom,
but a few do.
I interviewed some champions of liberty, like John Allison, who ran BB&T, the 12th-biggest bank in America.
Most people don't think of businessmen as champions of liberty, but I do.
People resent bankers, and frankly, we should resent those who use
their cozy relationship with government to freeload. But folks don't
understand banks; they think bankers simply grab money for themselves.
Allison is one of the few CEOs willing to face the cameras and explain
banking to people.
'Banking is essential,' Allison told my audience. 'Banks allocate
capital to people that deserve it. We see really big problems when the
banks do a bad job and give capital to the wrong people.'
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