These are a few thoughts and reflections on Liberty Fund Inc. (“LF”) and its mission. My perspective is that of a foreign lawyer, professor of law, and columnist. I have lived most all my life in my native Guatemala. I think I have been to some fifty colloquia organized by LF and I myself have organized about a dozen of their conferences. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to visit and tour LF´s library and I have about one hundred and fifty of their books (including three collections) in my own library. My affiliation with the LF (as a participant in and an independent organizer of some of their conferences and as an avid reader of some of the books they publish) goes back to the early nineteen nineties. First, I think the mission of LF (to encourage the study of the ideal of free and responsible individuals) is fundamental to the sustenance of our civilization and its main values. I think that the civilization of the West rests, ultimately, on the inseparable principles of individual freedom and responsibility. I also believe that it is a paradox that relatively few people understand how and why this is so. Drawing on my experience, I have no doubt that LF has contributed immensely to enlightening the minds of literally hundreds of intellectuals, academics, businessmen, and professionals in four continents in this regard. In a typical LF conference, some of the participants are knowledgeable on its main subject; others have read and probably thought about it, and still some are at best familiar with the subject matter of the seminar. But literally no one leaves the conference without a deeper and a broader understanding of matters covered by the readings and the discussions that take place about them. The Socratic method provides the natural setting for the exploration of whatever subject—as many as are chosen for the several conferences—is discussed freely, orderly, and responsibly under the direction of a discussion leader that faithfully enforces a few rules in order to preserve an atmosphere of civility and comfort in the course of a conversation where a process of continued discovery takes place. This has been my experience and I can attest to the fact that it is widely shared by most all of those with whom I have participated. There is hardly any aspect of my life—even on a practical level—that has not been impacted by my involvement in LF activities. But certainly, my intellectual life has essentially changed. There is no way that I can think of—and sometimes I have reflected on this—that I could have acquired from any other source the knowledge about individual freedom and responsibility that LF conferences have given me. And this, with the background of a set of readings of the highest intellectual level on politics, economics, the law, literature, history, morality, education and many other topics. This learning and reflecting experience has nurtured my teaching on jurisprudence, constitutional law, and law and economics over some three decades. The essays, books, and articles that I have written have almost invariably been enriched and even inspired by the multiple insights that populate an LF seminar. With some of those with whom I have had the fortune of participating in an LF conference we have promoted academic or intellectual projects of different kinds—from a modest one-day seminar to a full course or a book. As a former dean of a law school in Guatemala City, I referred to LF materials, seminars, and methodology in order to share with my faculty members the wealth of knowledge and guidance found in LF programs and its books and other publications. A good number of them were invited to colloquia and all those who participated reported a profoundly enriching experience. It is probably true that today’s higher education is more and more focused on providing students with valuable professional training. And this becomes ever more technical in character. Thus, students and their professors tend to know—as it is commonly said—more and more about less and less. There is nothing bad about the process of specialization, except —I believe—when one of its consequences is to leave out of consideration history, philosophy, morality, natural law, or political and economic thought. I find it even dangerous to the evolution of our civilization that there are increasing numbers of extremely talented and capable professionals and technicians that ignore the bases of the institutions—civic, moral or political—that provide them with the very grounds for their livelihood. LF is crucial to the understanding of all this.
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Eduardo Mayora Alvarado
Trustee, Francisco Marroquin University
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