The 2011 FreedomFest apparently is NOT for those who want to fit into the box, follow the leader or line up quietly.
The July 14-16 event at Bally's in Las Vegas is scheduled to address topics including "Selfishness: Virtue or Vice?" "Obamacare: Beginning or End of good Living in America?" "Free Trade vs. Fair Trade," "To Vote or Not to Vote," "Can Science Determine Human Values?" "The Growing Chinese Threat: Crisis and Opportunity," "From Good to Great: The Keys of Successful Leadership," "Vaccines: Good or Bad?" "The Future of the Middle East," "Education in American: Are We Making Progress?" and "Beating the Market."
Among the speakers planning to appear are Dr. Jerome Corsi, WND's senior special investigative reporter; Judge Andrew Napolitano of Fox News; Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel; Steve Forbes; Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey and others.
Organizers say forums will address subjects in philosophy, science and technology, art and entertainment, economics, geo-politics, finance and literature.
Founded and produced by Mark Skousen since 2002, the event is "where 'free minds meet' to celebrate 'great books, great ideas and great thinkers.'"
On the schedule, too, are Bob Bishop, Rick Maybury, Adrian Day and Skousen during a special Atlanta Investment conference luncheon.
"You libertarians know how to have a good time with dancing, skits, mock trials, magic acts, yoga, silver dollars, and fun debates, all in the world's most laissez faire city. It was incredible," described Lee Edwards, of the Heritage Foundation.
The conference will be more than just good times, however.
Its organizers say, "We are entering one of the most critical and dangerous periods of economic upheaval in the modern history: millions unemployed, real estate prices still falling, skyrocketing foreclosures, record gold and silver prices, a 10-year bear market on Wall Street, and $14 trillion national debt.
"Overseas, we are witnessing riots in the Middle East, oil prices spiking to over $100 a barrel, and Red China threatening our strategic minerals ('rare earth' elements) and building up their military-industrial complex," they continued.
"The scary part is that our leaders don't have a clue about what to do about these threats, short of 'spend, tax, and regulate more.' Like kids with a new chemistry set, they don't know if their latest experiment (Quantitative Easing II) will be a dud or explode in our faces. Meanwhile, overseas they continue to fight an ever-more elusive enemy, costing us trillions of dollars."
Other speakers will be Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute, Lawrence W. Reed of the Foundation for Economic Education, Doug Casey of International Speculator and Peter Schiff of EuroPacific Capital.