On Tuesday, February 4^th, profound journalist and author John Stossel visited the PC upper school to discuss his controversial views on the government and economy.  Stossel, a Princeton graduate with a B.A. in Psychology, is renowned for his outstanding, libertarian views that emphasize the importance of personal freedom and the free market.  Some of his personal highlights include writing two best sellers, anchoring for ABC News, Fox Business and Fox News, and hosting his own weekly television show.  Stossel has received many prestigious awards including 19 Emmy Awards, the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting, and the George Foster Peabody Award.  The Dallas Morning News has named him “the most consistently thought- provoking TV reporter of our time.”

To begin his presentation, Stossel described his stance on conventional media.  When he first joined the broadcasting world, Stossel did whatever he could to increase the amount of viewers by reporting on irrelevant “scare stories” that unnerved the general public.  Once he realized the insignificance of these small-scale stories, he began reporting on important topics and dangers.  He explained that the best measure of danger is calculated by how many days are taken off a human life.  For example, poverty takes away 7-10 years off an average life while plane crashes take less than a day off an average life.  Eventually, he broke through the conformity of mainstream broadcasting and transformed into an anti-hype, anti-trvial reporter.

Immediately after Stossel opened up the floor for discussion, student’s hands shot up left and right.  Each and every response he gave seemed to reflect his extreme libertarian views that stressed the importance of limited government intervention.  He explained that well intended laws always result in unintended consequences.  For instance, welfare teaches people to be too dependent on the government and minimum wage increases teen unemployment.  He feels these laws do more harm than good.  If the government left things alone, people would learn to be independent and it would lead to a sort of spontaneous order.  Stossel backed up this ideology with a quote by economist Frederick Hayak who once said, “The curious test of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”  All the same, he feels that as time goes on, competition will grow and businesses will continue to progress without any help from the government.  He feels that no matter what laws or regulations the government imposes nothing will ever be as effective as free market.

Stossel also possesses unprecedented views on current issues and universal politics.  He is a strong believer in the Second Amendment and feels that states with strict gun laws have no less crime then states without strict gun laws.  From an intellectual’s standpoint on legalization of marijuana in Colorado, Stossel feels that the body belongs to the individual, not the state, and it is therefore in the hands of the individual to decide what to do or not do with his body.  Initially, he thinks that the legalization will damage the country because more and more people will gravitate towards the “pothead culture.”  However, he describes that as it becomes more comfortable and acceptable within culture, it will become less harmful and more beneficial.  In regards to America’s aggressive foreign policy, Stossel stated, “We create more enemies than we kill.  The future will bring a smaller, deadlier form of terrorism and the best way to get rid of terror is to not piss people off all the time.”  In addition, Stossel proclaimed that if 9/11 happened every three years, it would still take less days off the average human life then  car accidents or cigarettes would.  He  asserts that the sense of proportion to the response of these different dangers is absurd.

To conclude, Stossel gave a perfect example that underlines the success of libertarianism.  He stated that as the country progressed in the early 20th century, child labor decreased and work days became shorter without the help of the government sanctions and laws. Stossel vehemently emphasized his belief that issues can be cured by prosperity, rather than the idea that government and laws can fix any problem.  This is the fundamental notion of capitalism.

John Stossel provided an extraordinarily thought-provoking afternoon that challenged student’s personal beliefs and created one of the most enlightening events of the school year. We would like to thank him again for taking time out of his busy schedule to share some of his knowledge with us.