The Searle Freedom Trust aims to foster research and encourage public policies that promote individual freedom and economic liberty while at the same time advancing a commitment to personal responsibility and a respect for traditional American values. One of the Foundation’s chief objectives is to help develop policies that advance liberty without encouraging license, and that demand personal responsibility without compromising freedom.
The Foundation supports research and education on a range of U.S. domestic public policy issues, including:
Tax and budget issues
Cost-benefit analysis of regulatory practices and proposals
Welfare policy
K-12 and higher education reform
Environmental policy
Legal reform
Through its work, the Foundation seeks to develop policies that encourage the transfer of responsibility from government to the private sphere, and the devolution of power from the national to the state and local level—in short, policies that return authority to individual citizens so they are in a position to make the decisions that govern their lives. As much as possible, the Foundation aims to relieve Americans of the heavy hand of government so as citizens we can be free to generate a more free, just, and prosperous society.