ABOUT THE AWARD
THE GLOBAL LIBERTY INSTITUTE LIBERTY AWARD
The Liberty Award is given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the cause of restoring personal and economic freedom and ensuring the free exchange of ideas throughout the world. It is the highest honor of the Global Liberty Institute.
The Liberty Award Winners
2024: Christopher F. Rufo
Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow and director of the initiative on critical race theory at the Manhattan Institute. He is also a contributing editor of City Journal, where his writing explores a range of issues, including critical race theory, gender ideology, homelessness, addiction, crime, and the decline of American cities. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, America’s Cultural Revolution, available wherever books are sold.
Chris Rufo is a leader in the fight against critical race theory, particularly in America’s educational institutions. His research and activism inspired a presidential order and legislation in more than twenty states, where he has worked closely with lawmakers to craft successful public policy. As a filmmaker, he has directed four documentaries for PBS, Netflix, and international television, including America Lost, which tells the story of three “forgotten American cities.”
Chris holds a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown and a ALM from Harvard. He is a former Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. Today, he lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three sons.
Dr. Atlas’s remarks on presentation of the 2024 Liberty Award to Christopher F. Rufo on February 9, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida:
“Welcome to Global Liberty Institute to honor the 2024 Liberty Award winner, presented to Christopher F. Rufo, in recognition of his work to preserve and restore freedom and the free exchange of ideas.
Chris calls for bringing issues like critical race theory, DEI, and radical gender ideology visibly, aggressively, into the public debate and the political sphere, to mobilize popular support for institutional change. Chris accurately writes “Their policy of “anti-racism”—the destruction of middle-class norms and the construction of a racial patronage machine—would deepen racial divisions, not transcend them. Even worse, it would undermine the very institutions that are essential to addressing inequality in America.”
He has pointed out, QUOTE: “No longer simply an academic matter, critical race theory has become a tool of political power,” and QUOTE: “Remember that institutions don’t choose these ideologies democratically—they don’t ask people or employees to vote for them. They impose them by fiat, through bureaucratic, not democratic rule.”
Chris exemplifies the need to think about solutions, rather than merely complain about the problem. His work inspired a presidential order – although immediately reversed by President Biden on taking office – and legislation in more than twenty states, where he has worked closely with lawmakers to craft successful public policy.
A key to Chris is his recognition that we are in a new status quo, and that requires being on offense. For instance, he emphasizes, QUOTE – “Critical race theorists must be confronted with and forced to speak to the facts.”
For, as we know, we must live in a society where facts matter!
But being on offense, rather than defense, as Chris understands, is about more than facts. It’s realizing who has the moral high ground – realizing that the new, radical values – sexually explicit pornography in elementary schools, gender transition surgery in minors even without parental consent, and injecting experimental drugs into healthy children for a disease with minuscule risk to them, all to use them as human shields for adults – are morally abhorrent in any civilized society and break all social contracts with our own children.
Finally, his own words clarify the essential issue confronting our country today, and I could not agree more with him, when he writes, QUOTE– “My foundational belief is simple: the antidote to cultural chaos is moral courage.”
Echoing CS Lewis, who said “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.”
I am delighted to introduce the recipient of the 2024 Global Liberty Institute Liberty Award, Chris Rufo.
2023: Glenn C. Loury
Glenn C. Loury is a Paulson Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics & the Social Sciences at Brown University.
He is a recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 2022 Bradley Prize and now the 2023 Liberty Award, among many others. He has been elected as a distinguished fellow of the American Economics Association, a member of the American Philosophical Society and of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and a fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Glenn holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Northwestern and a Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T. As an economic theorist and scholar, Loury has published widely and lectured throughout the world on his research.
A prominent social critic and public intellectual writing mainly on the themes of racial inequality and social policy, he has published more than 200 essays and reviews in journals of public affairs in the US and abroad. He has a PhD in economics from MIT.
To view the press release and more, click here and here.
To view photos of Glenn Loury at Global Liberty Institute’s 2023 Rising Leaders event in Palm Beach, Florida, click here.
Dr. Atlas’s remarks on presentation of the 2023 Liberty Award to Glenn C. Loury on February 18, 2023, in Palm Beach, Florida:
“We are here to honor the recipient of the 2023 Liberty Award, the highest honor of the Global Liberty Institute. Glenn C. Loury is a Paulson Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of Economics & the Social Sciences at Brown University.
He has received numerous honors and awards in his distinguished career, including the Bradley Prize, among many others. He has been elected as a distinguished fellow of the American Economics Association, a member of the American Philosophical Society and of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and a fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Glenn holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Northwestern and a Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T. As an economic theorist and scholar, Loury has published widely and lectured throughout the world on his research.
Glenn Loury’s work focuses on affirmative action, the black family, and the important, almost unheard case for black patriotism.
QUOTE: “We’re African Americans but we are Americans first. We are not African in any way that’s meaningful. Yes, our ancestors may have been enslaved, but they were also emancipated.”
Glenn Loury has been a courageous leader in speaking for the importance and dignity of earned individual achievement and the recognition of achievements of minorities, in particular black Americans, instead of espousing a narrative of victimization and division.
QUOTE: “Woke racialism claims the American Dream doesn’t apply to Blacks, which is a patronizing lie that robs us of agency and authenticity and self-determination and dignity. It doesn’t acknowledge that we possess the ability to rise to meet our challenges and carry the torch of freedom.”
He has been one of the nation’s most compelling voices for pointing out the unique freedoms of America and the pathways to true equality offered by the nation, notwithstanding existing problems.
QUOTE: “Certainly, there are legitimate critiques that could be made about our foreign and domestic policies. However, I wouldn’t be shy about affirming the greatness of the American civilization.”
At the same time, he is also among America’s leading critics writing on racial inequality, while recognizing the complexity of the issue.
QUOTE – “Using preferential selection criteria is a cover-up for the consequences of the historical failure to develop African American performance fully. It’s fake equality.”
He speaks with a unique voice of experience, with the necessary nuance about race, equality, cancel culture, and where do we go from here.
I am delighted to introduce the first recipient of the Global Liberty Institute Liberty Award, our friend and colleague, Glenn Loury.”