The Liberty Manifesto

The Liberty Manifesto
by P.J. O'Rourke

P.J. O'Rourke is the Cato Institute's Mencken research fellow. He delivered these remarks at a May 6, 1993 gala dinner celebrating the opening of the Cato Institute's new headquarters in Washington.

All we have is the belief that people should do what people want to do, unless it causes harm to other people. And that had better be clear and provable harm. No nonsense about second-hand smoke or hurtful, insensitive language, please.

I don't know what's good for you. You don't know what's good for me. We don't know what's good for mankind. And it sometimes seems as though we're the only people who don't.

Here's the complete speech

The Liberty Manifesto