Yesterday and today, I attended two excellent talks in the Atlanta area — the free-market/libertarian scene in Atlanta is actually kind of booming these days, with FEE, AFF, GPPF and ATLOS having an active presence, as well as some interesting student organizations.
Last night, Tom Palmer of Cato/Atlas came down to Kennesaw State University to talk about his new edited volume, After the Welfare State. I met Tom 20 years ago at an IHS conference, and he’s always an excellent speaker. (You can get the book from Amazon, but Students for Liberty and others are also giving it out at events, to student groups, etc.)
Then, this morning, Yaron Brook of ARI gave a talk on “Morality and the Marketplace” as part of his book tour for his (and Don Watkins’s) new book, Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government. I’d never met Yaron or heard him speak before, and (not being an Objectivist) I wasn’t sure whether I’d like it, but it was an outstanding speech, from which one may possibly extrapolate that those who take an interest in this sort of thing might enjoy his book. The Georgia Public Policy Foundation’s monthly policy breakfasts and other events have been consistently interesting, from what I’ve seen of them so far.