Source: Students For Liberty
by Deirdre Nansen McCloskey
“Three big political isms came to mind and language 1776 to 1848, and have had enormous influence right down to the present — liberalism, nationalism, and socialism. I’ve said this before. When put into action, especially in the 20th century, liberalism pursued vigorously had wonderful results. The other two pursued vigorously, by using the power of the big modern state, had terrible results. Liberalism resulted in human enrichment, from art and science to health and housing. Nationalism led to the Paraguayan War, and socialism led to Venezuelan impoverishment. There’s another big 19th-century -ism with 20th-century consequences, protectionism.” (05/15/25)