Entrepreneurship Beyond Politics, held in Oklahoma City in February, was the first Mises Circle of 2026. Thanks to the generous support of Michael and Beverley Starkey and Gil Robinson, attendees heard a series of talks centered on an increasingly urgent question: If politics cannot fix our broken system, what can?
For decades now, Americans have been growing disillusioned with a system that is clearly designed to rip them off. But recently, people have started to become disenchanted with a political process that, despite what we’re all taught in school, is not capable of delivering genuine systemic change. The event in Oklahoma City emphasized a different path—one that does not require winning elections or ideologically converting millions of people. That path is entrepreneurship.
Ryan McMaken opened the event with “The Decline of Small Business in America.” Although some industry consolidation can be explained by market forces, he explained, inflation, regulation, and political favoritism have systematically tilted the playing field in favor of large, politically connected firms. So if we want to see actual change led by the private sector, big business is the wrong place to look for allies.
Peter Klein delivered “Entrepreneurship and Free Markets in the Age of AI.” Revisiting Ludwig von Mises’s economic calculation argument, Klein challenged the growing belief that artificial intelligence could replace the entrepreneurial function. AI, he argued, is a powerful tool, but it is still a tool. It cannot exercise judgment, bear uncertainty, or engage in purposeful human action. Far from making markets unnecessary, advances in AI will make entrepreneurial judgment more important than ever.
Per Bylund’s talk, “How to Change the World: Entrepreneurship Versus Politics,” addressed the Circle’s central question. Political action, he argued, is a blunt, one-size-fits-all instrument that is not well suited for advancing liberty. In contrast, entrepreneurship creates real alternatives that are available now. He detailed some recent cases where, especially through emerging technologies, innovators reshaped society by making old regulatory structures obsolete—often forcing the state to adapt to the market rather than the other way around.
Timothy Terrell explored a different frontier in “Nature-Al Entrepreneurship: Being Green Without the State.” Rejecting the notion that environmental stewardship requires political control, he showed how, through property rights and entrepreneurship, the market process offers more effective solutions to environmental issues than politics ever could.
Finally, Keith Smith closed with “Creative Destroyer: The Apolitical Story of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma.” By posting transparent, all-inclusive prices and refusing government funding, Smith and his partners exposed the grift at the heart of our medical system and sparked competition in an industry long shielded from it. Their success demonstrates how reform can begin when entrepreneurs act.
In contrast to the pessimistic national political atmosphere, our message in Oklahoma City was hopeful. We are not confined to the political process. Entrepreneurs are already building alternatives, undermining institutionalized corruption, and tangibly improving people’s lives. Politicians may promise prosperity, but it’s entrepreneurs who create it.
