Alvan Rosenberg grew up leaning towards a progressive political ideology. However, in 1962, he was introduced to the ideas of liberty. At this time, he was a business owner starting to find success. He began working with someone who helped him invest wisely – someone who, as Rosenberg put it, “knew even more about politics and life in general than he did about the markets.”
Pioneering pro-liberty activism online
In the early days of the internet, Rosenberg decided to share his libertarian ideals with a broader audience. Therefore, he hired a company to help him run a student organization called “Bureaucrash”, which focused on the values of liberty. That company was subsequently sold, and he closed his organization in the early 2000s. Later, when somebody told him about Students For Liberty, he decided to become a donor.
Rosenberg told Students For Liberty that the most exciting thing about our organization is its scope. “The main thing I’m interested in is simply numbers,” he said. “The number of schools that you’re in and the number of people in each group- not just people who are interested, but people who are really involved.”
Personal experience of threats to liberty
As a World War II veteran and international businessman, Rosenberg knows a thing or two about freedom. He knows that we must remain vigilant, and has seen what happens when we become complacent. “In my lifetime, there’s been a big change in terms of freedom,” he said. “We are less free now.”
Rosenberg once lived in China, having an office in Hong Kong at the time that the territory reverted to Chinese control after more than 150 years under British rule. He remembers the freedom and prosperity Hong Kong enjoyed in the 1990s. “I was in the Hong Kong office, maybe 1997 or 1998,” he recalls, “when the headline was that the average person in Hong Kong was now making more than the average person in Great Britain.” Sadly, Hong Kong now faces severe restrictions on individual liberties along with the dangerous consequences of Marxism as they fight back against China’s totalitarian regime.
As a supporter, Rosenberg decided that one way he can support Students For Liberty is through a legacy gift. By remembering our organization in his will, he knows that the fight for liberty will endure as part of his legacy. He told us that “Liberty means free markets and freedom- it’s something that doesn’t come free.”
At Students For Liberty, we are proud to have the support of people like Alvan – people who have seen the best that liberty has to offer, and the worst that can happen when it is taken away.
If, like Alvan Rosenberg, you would like to help support Students For Liberty in our mission to educate, develop and empower the next generation of leaders for liberty, please consider investing in the future of liberty by clicking on the button below.
