Harry Browne: Your Loss and Mine

by Richard A. Cheatham, Press Media Group, LLC

Someone died on March 1st who’s life and passing are worth noting. Harry Browne’s personal crusade was to make his own life better and happier and his choices more profitable. In addition, he wanted and worked hard for the same for you and me.

He wrote a total of thirteen books that sold over two million copies. Several made it onto the New York Times bestseller list. One remained there for thirty nine weeks, making it to #1 on that list. Some were do-it-yourself investment books in which he supported his recommendations with solid free market fundamentals. They were painless and exciting lessons in economics while also being personal finance “self-help” books. Some books of that sort have a temporal utility. Some chapters in Harry’s books are timeless.

“How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World” was an extraordinary book about self-liberation. Every young person entering adulthood needs to read that book. Heck, most people above that age desperately need that book. Finally, Harry wrote several books of political theory offering his own prescriptions for reducing our growing addiction to the use of government (legal force and threats) to accomplish any and all goals.

He took the radical position that your life is your own, that the product of your labors belong to you. He maintained that your happiness and even your personal freedom are your own responsibility. These were not platitudes to be used on the right occasion with Harry. They were Harry’s constant refrain.

Harry was a provocateur, making a point of saying things that caused people to think. Getting people to see connections they’d missed before, to break through illusions that were causing them grief...now there’s a legacy worth desiring! That was Harry’s. When I die I hope people accuse me of being provocative!

The last time I saw Harry was in 2004 in Atlanta where we were both speaking at the banquet of a national convention. I was fortunate to be seated at the same table with Harry and his charming wife Pamela. I’d been impressed with Harry’s books over the years and had met him at a convention several years before where we had both been speaking. However, on this occasion, I was fortunate to be introduced by this man whose life’s work I admire so greatly.

Though he’s gone now and there’ll be no more extraordinary work from Harry, his writing remains to provoke us today and to shake future generations from their lethergy and illusions. He was certainly one of the most effective advocates for liberty of our time.

©2006 by Richard A. Cheatham. All rights reserved. Mr.Cheatham is a professional speaker/writer and is syndicated through Press Media Group, LLC. Contact him through, Living History Assoc., Ltd., at www.LHALtd.com or DrawBackVeil@aol.com.