Courses

Ryan Bercaw

Local Coordinator

Students For Liberty

Ryan Bercaw is a Senior International Studies Major at American University in Washington D.C. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and has over eight years of experience in the defense sector. His other work has appeared in the Marine Corps Gazette. He has been a Local Coordinator for Students for Liberty since 2021

Blog Posts

What are the limits of ideology?

February 17, 2023
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Philosophy

Ideology — that is, a system of beliefs that are baked into our perception of the world — serves important functions in human society. It can provide context to problems, foster a sense of belonging and community, and in some cases even inspire hope.  A lasting — key word there, lasting — ideology is based on fundamental truth that is also adaptive. Its proponents are continually able to adapt and modernize to meet current circumstances. Those ideologies that can’t adapt to the times fall behind in the march of history.  But because the world is filled with infinite possibilities

The dangerous simplicity of polarization

December 12, 2022
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Politics & Policy

We comment. We fight. We bicker. We block. Political discourse in America today is far from rosy. We avoid introspection and waste no time blaming this polarization on anything and everything — except ourselves. Social media. Free speech. Corporate media. Bad-faith journalists. Algorithms. Echo chambers. Fake news. Donald Trump. George Soros. Disinformation. Foreign propaganda. CNN. Fox News. 4Chan. Bla, bla, bla, BLA! We shamelessly charge head-first into a hurricane of emotional turmoil only to push ourselves further from our friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors at the expense of

What do libertarians and progressives have in common?

August 22, 2022
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Politics & Policy

It is a well-established fact in 2022, as has been the case throughout history, that the vast majority of college students identify with left-leaning politics. My school located in the heart of the nation’s capital is no exception. A year of recruitment for Students For Liberty on my campus has yielded some valuable insights for the wider liberty movement to learn from and actualize.  A novice observer might preemptively conclude that a campus saturated with self-described “progressives” would be an insurmountable environment to advocate for liberty. Quite the contrary; this assumption

Speak up! Overcoming the anxiety of free speech on campus

August 11, 2022
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Free Speech

I attend American University (AU) in Washington D.C. AU is a fine school with a world-class teaching staff and bright young students hungry for knowledge.  Every new student is required to take a class that focuses on issues of race, gender, and structures of power. Some might instinctively cringe at the very thought of even taking this class, but I genuinely found it interesting.  As a class we navigated highly contentious social topics with discussion and sometimes tense, but civil, debate. I never felt for a moment that I could not freely speak my mind, share an opinion, or ask

The libertarian personality: a quick guide to the best friends you’ve yet to meet

July 8, 2022
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Free Will and Moral Responsibility

Many people have a highly diverse group of friends. They are all different ages, backgrounds, ethnic and sexual identities, and have widely varying systems of belief.  They treat each other and everyone else they meet with respect and are tolerant and embracing of each other’s differences. They are always open to go down a deep rabbit hole of conversation, tell a joke, or build a movement.  These friends sound like libertarians. Libertarians fancy ourselves as students of politics, history, literature, philosophy, science, culture and much more. Every individual libertarian has

Free speech, fake news, and society’s search for truth

May 12, 2022
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Censorship

With the controversy surrounding the new “Disinformation Governance Board,” misinformation and disinformation are back in the news again. But they’re not a singular amorphous problem. They’re a million little individual problems. Wouldn’t we all just love a magic wand to make them all go away? Of course.  Unfortunately, you cannot herd cats in any more of an expedient manner than you can dispel a falsehood.  As my grandma once said, “bad news doesn’t get better with time.” False information is bad news. And the longer it goes unchallenged the harder it is to dispel.

Ukraine and the struggle for liberty

March 15, 2022
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History

On February 24, 2022, the world we live in changed forever. The Russian military launched an unprovoked and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, claiming countless innocent lives and displacing millions of people. Vladimir Putin’s violation of Ukrainian sovereignty has seen an arbitrary and reckless use of force against the Ukrainian people. However, this war is more than a mere land-grab for Putin. The war in Ukraine is fundamentally a showdown between liberty and tyranny. In these uncertain times we are reminded that freedom is not self-evident or guaranteed. No one knows this