Mary Ruwart

Dr. Mary J. Ruwart is the author of the acclaimed libertarian book Healing Our World, a widely-praised guide to libertarian ideas. Its unique fusion of spiritual concerns with hardcore libertarian ideas has won it rave reviews. ... Dr. Ruwart became interested in libertarian ideas as a young child. 'I watched Johnny Tremain,' she said, remembering the 1957 Disney film about a young American Revolution hero. ... As a college student she read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, which had a profound effect upon her. In the late 1970′s she joined the Libertarian Party. ... Dr. Ruwart was a senior scientist at Upjohn Pharmaceuticals for 19 years.

In mid-week, a complete unknown threw her hat into the ring: Mary Ruwart of Michigan, who announced that "you should vote for me because I am a woman." ... I dismissed her candidacy ... I was dead wrong. By Friday night, I learned to my astonishment that Mary Ruwart ... was very effective in the candidates' debates in the regional delegates caucuses. In a small, living room situation, she was poised and articulate ... The cry, "Mary, Mary" would redound throughout the hall on Saturday ... on the first ballot, Mary got 77 votes, 15% of the total, and on the second ballot her vote rose to 99.

My journey to liberty began at the tender age of seven, when I fell madly in love with Walt Disney’s rendition of General Francis Marion. This legendary Southern freedom fighter harassed the British during the Revolutionary War and became known as the elusive Swamp Fox ...
For me, libertarianism continues to be an evolution. As I detail in Healing Our World, all paths, whether spiritual, practical, rational, or humanitarian, appear to lead to liberty, where these separate modalities become intertwined. Perhaps we truly are hard-wired for freedom so that nothing less will do.

Ask Americans what made our country great and they will say, without hesitation, that liberty is our touchstone. Yet ask [them] what their government should do for them and the answer [is essentially] this: "Control, tax, and regulate my neighbors." Americans want liberty for themselves, but ... something very different for others ... Liberty is indivisible. It's the one thing we can't have unless we are willing to give it others. If someone tells you differently, they just don't know how the world really works. Make sure that you don't vote them into power. The liberty you save may be your own!

Daily Bell: Any websites, books you want to recommend?
Charles Johnson: ... Mary Ruwart's Healing Our World is a good general introduction to libertarianism, and in particular to forms of libertarianism that are closely connected with ecological and social justice concerns. (There's a short excerpt from one of Ruwart's chapters on free-market environmentalism in Markets Not Capitalism, but we hardly had the space there to do justice to the scope of her work.)