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.)

This book, masquerading as a science-based analysis and proposal to resolve a looming catastrophe, was an amazing piece of propaganda. “Predictions” – all since demonstrated to be false – called for hundreds of millions of people on the planet to starve to death just in the 1970s. And still more in the next decade. The Ehrlichs proposed truly horrific actions that might mitigate at least some of the catastrophe, at least in later decades.

They were advocates, even worshippers, of massive, powerful, and all-controlling government. Worldwide but especially in the United States. Departments of population control, involuntary sterilization of both men and women, triage and cutting off of all food aid to many nations (examples called out included India and what is now Bangladesh), and more were pushed by them.

Even though their most extreme proposals were not adopted by the FedGov, UN, or State governments, the book nevertheless had a major impact on public policy. That included legalization of abortion, environmental “protection” laws, and tax policies.

But perhaps their greatest impact has grown since then. They popularized the idea of “science” making pronouncements that often were exaggerated, misunderstood, or just plain wrong. But still proclaimed as so important, so critical, that immediate action by governments must be taken. Full speed ahead. The examples abound but the major ones are very obvious. The manmade global warming/climate change is the longest sustained. The COVID-19 Beer Flu pandemic panic had the most drastic and rapid impact. There are many others, and government advocates, celebrities, and mainstream media use them all to promote more government power, regressive politics, and the taking of more and more liberty. “Or we’re all gonna die.” “Or civilization will collapse.” Or whatever.

But it is amazing that mainstream media, the environists, and many other transnational, international, and national progressives continue to support and praise Paul Ehrlich. Among those? The New York Times, as this article discusses: NYT is getting crushed online for downplaying infamous ‘population bomb’ false alarm | Blaze Media

Fortunately, one reason that the predictions of the Ehrlichs were wrong was because individual people solved problems that made life better, that preserved and extended human freedom, and that reduced both the hazards and the risks those hazards presented. People that often did it despite the best efforts of the governments of the world and the powers-that-be (and those who worship those kinds of people).

Just one of them is an American, Norman Borlaug, sometimes called the father of the Green Revolution. He is often credited with “saving a billion lives” by his research and practical, “hands in the dirt under a burning sun” work to develop new varieties of wheat and other food plants which demonstrated the wrongness of the Ehrlich’s Malthusian fearmongering. Although his work was supported and aided by academia, big business, and governments, it was his personal liberty, genius, and determination that made him more than just another professor – or another like the Ehrlichs. (Read more about Dr. Borlaug at the Texas A&M website here.)

The lesson to be learned? Necessity is the mother of invention which is nurtured and made possible by liberty, but too many people want to use necessity as justification to take away freedom and give government more power.