The Fallacy of the Common Good: How the Idea of Collective Good Challenges Individual Freedom
This is how we will forge a prosperous, just, and strong nation. The concept of the common good has been a constant in Western thought since Greco-Roman civilization. This idea has deeply permeated our society, to the point of being enshrined as a basic principle in our constitution. However, from a logical and objective analysis, […]
Committed to Opportunity: Why Libertarians Must Fight Poverty
The recent publication of the National Survey of Living Conditions (Encovi 2023) has reignited the debate on poverty in Guatemala. According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), 56% of Guatemalans, equivalent to 9.7 million people, live in poverty, a figure that has remained almost unchanged since 2000. Of these, a concerning 16.2%, or 2.8 million, […]
From the School Voucher in Lombardy to the Miracle of Soria: Educational Innovation and the Fight Against Poverty
The recent INE report on living conditions in Guatemala reveals a compelling fact: people without education are the most affected by poverty. It also highlights that the level of education has a direct impact on the chances of escaping poverty, especially extreme poverty. Among the most relevant findings: These data show that education, especially secondary […]
The Guatemalan Entrepreneur: A Hero Against the Current in Times of Uncertainty
According to Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, the engine of economic change is innovation, and the entrepreneur is its main agent. Innovation ranges from the introduction of new products or production methods to the opening of markets and the creation of new industrial or service structures. It is not enough to invent; inventions become innovations only […]
Economic Freedom, Engine of Prosperity and Development: An Opportunity for Guatemala
Little by little, the government has been restricting our freedoms without us realizing it. The sad thing is that we are losing our direction, and there are no signs of winds of greater freedom and a better economy on the horizon. Several friends have suggested reflecting on the concepts that generate a country’s wealth. These […]
Demystifying Investment and Competition in Guatemala: The Dangers of Malicious Fallacious Arguments
Finally, the same thing happens with competition. It must be free, without controls. In the Semilla government, they believe that by imposing a law they will encourage competition, when the solution is to open the markets. Finally, the same thing happens with competition. It must be free, without controls. In the Semilla government, they believe […]
Competition, Capital, and Corruption: Three Divergent Edges of Necessary Dominance for Guatemala
In Ibero-America, many countries have implemented competition laws, from Colombia in 1959 to Paraguay in 2014, with the intention of stimulating their economies. However, the results have been modest. Guatemala’s economic future depends on several essential factors: investment, competition, capital accumulation, and the fight against corruption. These not only influence our capacity for growth, but […]
The Man in the Arena: Reminiscences of a Nobel Prize-Winning Politician’s Speech
That is what we must demand from our politicians: that they fight tirelessly for a better, fairer, and greater Guatemala. The famous speech known as “The Man in the Arena” was delivered by Theodore Roosevelt at the University of the Sorbonne on April 23, 1910, shortly before giving his speech in Oslo for the Nobel […]
The Engine of Freedom: The Virtue of the Individual Within the Space of the Republic
I invite you, dear reader, to take on this mission together. It depends on us. The antidote against absolutism, authoritarianism, and collectivism is the virtue of the individual, the sustainer of the principles of freedom within a framework of checks and balances inside a republic. In the mid-18th century, Charles Louis de Montesquieu argued that […]
Against Privileges: When Freedom Competes Against Power
Only then will we stop competing against power and begin building a dignified and just future for all. In social debate, privilege represents rights and advantages that some enjoy at the expense of others, not as a result of fortune, but as the outcome of structural advantages. These are usually defined around groups of power, […]