Due Dec. 1st at 11:59pm
There are TWO categories for this competition: the Topic Question category and the Free Response category. Please choose one to respond to.
LFE Topic Questions
This year’s Liberty, Faith, and Economics (LFE) Summit focused on three dimensions of liberty and freedom: economic, political, and religious. Please pick one or a combination of the three sources quoted below to focus your essay upon. You should also contribute your own resources and sources (please refer to the requirements section below). As you consider essay topics, consider the questions listed below for ideas to help get you started.
Religious: Matthew 25:29
“For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
NOTE: If you are stuck on something to write about, research the Matthew Principle.
Political: John Adams, in a letter to the Officers of the Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798
“Our constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Economic: Julian L. Simon, The State of Humanity
“Adding more people causes problems. But people are also the means to solve these problems. The main fuel to speed the world’s progress is our stock of knowledge; the brakes are our lack of imagination and unsound social regulations of these activities. The ultimate resource is people — especially skilled, spirited, and hopeful young people endowed with liberty — who will exert their wills and imaginations for their own benefits, and so inevitably they will benefit the rest of us as well.”
Questions
- Are economic, political, and religious freedom interconnected? Can the three (or two of the three) passages below be connected in your essay?
- Which of the three types of freedom is the most important? Does one have to come first, and if so, why?
- Can a society have religious or economic freedom without political freedom? Can political freedom occur without economic freedom? What does history tell us?
- Reflect on the implications of the passage below from Matthew on the role of religious freedom in our society. What happens when societies gain or lose religious freedom?
- Considering the quote from John Adams below, do you think he was right? Does our constitution only work for “moral and religious” people? Support your ideas
- How has our constitution and system of government helped Americans avoid the mass suffering that many autocratic and communist countries have been afflicted by and were discussed by Mr. Harbison at the LFE event?
- How could economic freedom be considered our first basic “right”? Can you be free if you don’t own your own labor, property, and wealth?
- Ever since the first economist Adam Smith, the discipline of economics has sought to discover what makes countries rich and poor. Does economic freedom matter for human flourishing? What about political or religious freedom? Why?
Your goal is to recognize the intersection of different perspectives on freedom while making an argument about the presence and impact of liberty (or lack thereof) in our lives and society. Essentially, you are joining a great conversation about economic/political/religious freedom and, in consideration of what has been said before, contributing an idea of your own (either in agreement or dissent). As you write, keep these questions in mind: Why should your audience care about what you are saying? What is the evidence for your argument? The best essays communicate something that you care deeply about.
Prizes
- 1st - $750
- 2nd - $500
- 3rd - $250
Or enter the Free Response category
Relate your area of study or interest to the broad topics presented at the LFE event (Did any of the speakers remind you of a book or historical event or ethical concept or artistic period or medical principle or musical idea? Is there an area/field that interests you which relates to the LFE content?). The point of this prompt is to encourage you to think outside the box and recognize how seemingly unrelated areas, like medicine, literature, and economic liberty, are all connected in our lives and add to the richness and complexity of what it means to be human.
Prize
Requirements
- APA format
- Word count suggestion: 1,500 - 3,000
- 3+ sources (scholarly journal or academic book)
- Cited throughout essay and in a bibliography
- Essays without any sources will not be considered for winning a prize.
There are recordings of the LFE summit on the Free Enterprise Center site, so it’s ok if you missed some of the speakers!
Essays should reference the content of the LFE presentations, but do not need to directly quote or cite the speakers in the essays. For instance, one could write about socialism as a broad concept in their paper without necessarily directly referring to George Harbison’s talk. Of course, if it would help develop your essay, feel free to use LFE materials but it is not a requirement for the essays.
Essay Workshop Event!
- Oct 28th at 6:00pm in the Lakeshore room
- Need help formulating ideas or gathering sources? Come speak to the Quaestus editorial staff to improve your essay!