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By

Cato Institute President and CEO John Allison

One of the many highlights of attending Cato Institute events is the opportunity to hear President and CEO John Allison talk about liberty and freedom. John has a unique view in that he was the Chairman and CEO of BB&T. Under his guidance, BB&T’s assets grew from $4.5 billion to $152 billion, and he’s been recognized by the Harvard Business Review as one of the top 100 most successful CEOs in the world over the last decade. It’s one thing to believe in liberty and freedom and quite another to apply it successfully in the real world. Here’s a recent excerpt of his thinking. Allison writes:

It is often said that libertarians line up with conservatives on economic issues and with liberals on civil liberties. This is a misleading concept. Many conservatives are pro-business (crony capitalist). Libertarians are not pro-business, we are pro-free markets. Liberals, unfortunately, have rationalized that the best way to advance civil liberties is to deny civil liberties to those who do not share their beliefs. Libertarians, on the other hand, are uncompromising advocates of civil liberties for all. Our position is logically consistent and integrated.

The intellectual foundation for the “libertarian moment” is the growing realization, especially among young people, that libertarian philosophy is fundamentally different than that of conservatives and liberals and provides a genuinely transformative alternative that can create a more successful society that supports human flourishing. Libertarianism is by far the closest modern philosophy to classical liberalism (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness) that inspired America’s Founding Fathers and that somehow got lost in the “Progressive” tide that began in the early 1900s.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.
E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.