Helio Veiga Jr.

As a Law Professor in Brazil constantly working with interdisciplinary concepts of philosophy, law, political science, bioethics, and economics I found out that I had a true passion for teaching young minds and motivating them with the ideas of freedom, individualism, and logic. Unfortunately, Brazil has always been a country where socialist and collectivist ideas have been admired more than questioned, so I felt like it was my duty to do whatever I could to reach the minds of my students and show them the path to the philosophy of freedom while I revealed the inconsistencies of collectivism. My passion for teaching has motivated me to not only educate the students of Brazil, but aim higher to expand my teachings to people all across the world with evidence-based facts and some challenging ideas. Evidently, there has always been utter relevance in showing people that science and facts outweigh opinions.

As a hobby I can say I am truly keen on martial arts, music, and some outdoor adventures. Playing the guitar, singing, jamming, and watching UFC with friends also always constitute my idea of happiness. I appreciate good historic movies and shows with strong satire content. As interests I am very fond of focusing my time on researching interesting interdisciplinary topics to write articles and prepare lectures about. If I can ignite people to maximize their knowledge and pass that on, then I gladly will! I tend to think that this is how the world evolves.

I guess claiming my parents as my first personal heroes might sound as selfish and inconsiderate as it can be, but the first two humans who enlightened me with the ideas of freedom were my father and my mother, so I feel like I owe it to them. Especially because they did so while we were all living in a country that despised freedom and capitalism. So I think they were brave! However, just in case they don’t count, I would gladly nominate as my heroes Thomas Jefferson, Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Carl Menger, Ludwig Von Mises, Friedrich A. Hayek, and as contemporary heroes I would definitely say John Stossel and Johan Norberg. I personally like to call them “Freedom Heroes”.

It might sound cliché, but I guess I was born longing for freedom. During my 8th birthday, in front of a crowd of what to me were just a bunch of strangers, my mother asked me what I wanted to be when I grew old. I answered her with the utmost enthusiasm: “I want to be American!!!” It’s not that I did not want to be Brazilian, but by saying “I want to be American”, as a kid what I truly meant was “I want to be part of a country that respects freedom as much as America does.” The reason for that answer is pretty simple. I was born and raised in a place where socialism dominated completely the political, social, and academic scenario, so whenever I watched American movies as a child, the US seemed to be a faraway dream that I longed for. As I witnessed poverty and hunger grow in a society where people had so many “rights” granted by the state yet everyone was utterly miserable economically, socially, and psychologically I started to doubt the system and look for answers. Then as an adult, after going to Law School I confirmed my theory that individuals were constantly tricked into believing in a big lie called socialism and that later disguised itself as a big welfare state, and no matter how you want to look at it, it is still that monster called Leviathan. So after witnessing the inconsistencies of the political and economic system that has been perpetuated in South America, I decided to start fighting against it and along with that also trying to wake people up to the maleficence of the nanny state. If I had to specify a time when I discovered the freedom philosophy and dived deeply into it deeply, I would say probably during High School years when my teachers would tell me to shut up whenever I questioned their knowledge.