Civil Libertarianism’s Think Tank

Civil liberty is liberty in a state of society: that is, in a state of union with equals.

Francis Lieber, On Civil Liberty and Self-Government

These are dark times for civil libertarians. Once at the forefront of liberal politics, civil libertarianism has long been displaced by movements empowering big government or big business rather than individuals and communities. In its absence, authoritarian ideologies like national conservativism and postliberalism have grown around the world, threatening constitutional democracy with the reactionary nightmare of Project 2025 and human rights with a new era of persecution and war crimes.

Liberalism as a body of doctrine, derived from the use of the word “liberal,” denotes a departure from the established institutions, standards and dogmas in an effort to change them for what is regarded as less authoritative and freer from tradition. Its central concept is that of individual rights, diversity of interests, decentralization of authority, freedom of conscience.

Roger Nash Baldwin, Liberalism Defined

Few liberals actually know what civil libertarianism is anymore. Not only do most mistake it for mere support for social freedoms, many confuse it with the conservative-aligned libertarianism that puts private and national self-interest ahead of the public good and global justice. As a result, civil libertarians’ unique commitment to both freedom and equality is largely overlooked even when it comes to traditional civil liberties, let alone other important issues.

The core principle of civil libertarianism is that all human beings are equally entitled to fundamental freedoms. We all have inherent human rights, and it is government’s responsibility to protect those rights.

Nadine Strossen, Civil Libertarianism and the Commitment to Equal Justice

Civil libertarianism’s failure to compete with other movements is no surprise given its relative lack of investment in ideas. While civil libertarians have depended on domestic advocacy groups and issue-based think tanks to define and defend our values, libertarians on the right benefit from transnational networks of institutes dedicated to continually developing and marketing their ideology to the public and policy makers. And now the Heritage Foundation and its dictator-funded partners are following this model to spread their dystopian agenda of closed borders, mass surveillance, and economic control.

From a historical perspective, the civil libertarian faith that we can articulate, litigate, and legislate a clearly agreed-upon slate of civil liberties norms is no longer plausible . . . .

How to do that within the practical realities of liberal politics is the challenge to the next generation of civil libertarians.

Stanley N. Katz, A Historical Perspective on Crises in Civil Liberties

As the only think tank explicitly and comprehensively promoting civil libertarianism, the Equal Freedom Institute is the first direct intellectual counterweight to rising neofascism. Beginning with our current projects advancing free movement, human-centered AI, and basic income, we aim to create a central hub for civil libertarian scholars, officials, and reformers across the globe. Join us in promoting a new vision of a world built around personal freedom and civil society, not states and corporations.

The stability of the large world house which is ours will involve a revolution of values to accompany the scientific and freedom revolutions engulfing the earth. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing”-oriented society to a “person”-oriented society.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community