Defending America's Right To Be Free

I promised a big announcement late last week.

Here it is:

After 6 years, I'm leaving NFIB at the end of this week. Yes, it's true. Some of you have heard the rumors, other have heard it directly from me. It's been a wonderful run, but a great opportunity was presented to me, and I simply can't pass it up.

Jason Wright, founder of an organization called the Institute for Liberty, approached me a little while ago, along with my old friend, Kerri Houston. Jason, who has written a number of books (one of which is being turned into a movie), was cycling out of IFL, and Kerri had shared with him some of my thoughts about needed entities in the policy world. So we sat down and chatted, and Jason asked me if I would like to take over as President of IFL.

How could I not?

IFL has, up until now, been largely focused on tech policy. We're going to be refocusing and rebranding the organization, dealing with what I call the "petty tyrannies" of government: the little things that add up to very big things over all, and impede, frustrate, and kill small businesses in America. IFL will be about the intersection, mostly, of federal executive branch policy and small business and entrepreneurship, building on the work that I have been doing for the last 6 years at NFIB. It is a perspective that is very much needed in this community, and I hope to lend it.

For those of you who know me, you know that I have relished my job at NFIB. Fighting on behalf of America's small businesses at NFIB is a real passion for me. At IFL, I will carry on that work, dealing with a wide variety of issues, including what I call the "incremental nature" of regulation, something few, if any, are talking about.


Here is a mock-up of the logo. We're still tinkering with it. The motto is right up in the title: defending America's right to be free. We're also working on a website rebuild. If you want to see what we have right now, the url is http://www.instituteforliberty.org

What's great is that I can get back to, in my guise as President of the Institute for Liberty, of updating my blog on a regular basis (you'll notice, by the way, that while we're still langrrr.blogspot.com, I have changed the blog title to "Langer's Liberty Blog". That was a conscious decision.).

I'm also writing a book, "The War on Small Business" (and looking for great stories from real small businesses).

So that's what's been happening. To me, this is a big change. I've loved my time at NFIB, but am really excited about the challenges of running this organization.

And I look forward to sharing a lot of it with you.

- Andrew Langer