The Price of Liberty

1968 was an interesting year. Several of us here at The Price of Liberty recall that rather fateful year. For us, the impact of events of 1968 still is resonating around the world, and especially the States, in 2026.

Many people will recall that year as the year of assassinations: Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F Kennedy (Sr.) were killed by assassins in April and June. Of note, RFK was killed by Sirhan Sirhan, born in Jerusalem and nominally a “christian” who immigrated to California, where he grew angry of RFK’s support of Israel and the Six-Day War of 1967 which saw Israel gain control of his birthplace. 58 years later those same issues lead to deaths and destruction. As do the racial political issues that lay behind the killing of King.

The decision of the successor to RFK’s brother JFK (Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson) to not run, and RFK’s killing, led to Richard Nixon defeating Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 election. We note that by current, 2026, standards, neither RFK, LBJ, JFK, nor HHH would be considered acceptable as Democrats. In 1968, the American-Vietnam phase of the Great Asian War was three years old, and would last another six or seven (depending on what event is considered the end of that phase). In contrast to the present show of “sorrow” over the thirteen American military deaths in the present Iran war, American war in Vietnam saw more than 50,000 American military die. In a time when the States had only 200 million people, as compared to pushing 350 million in 2026!

Which brings us to an event in 1968 that is seldom recalled, which nevertheless still has a major impact on the world of 2026. That was the publication of The Population Bomb by Professor Paul Ehrlich and his wife Anne, of Stanford. (Paul Ehrlich died on 13 March 2026.)