Life
Janusz Ryszard Korwin-Mikke studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Faculty of Philosophy of the Warsaw University. In 1965 he was detained by the communist authorities, while studying psychology, law, and sociology. In 1968 he was again arrested and relegated from the university for his participation in student protests. He passed the master's examination without attending a course of Philosophy.
In years 1969–1974 he was a researcher in the Institute of Motor Transport (Instytut Transportu Samochodowego), and then at Warsaw University. In 1978 he established "Liberal Publishing House" (Oficyna Liberałów), an underground publishing house.
From 1962 to 1982 he was a member of the Democratic Party), a puppet party subordinate to the communist authorities. In August 1980 he supported the political strike of the Szczecin Shipyard workers, and later he was an adviser of NSZZ Rzemieślników Indywidualnych "Solidarność" (The Independent Craftsmen's Union). After the imposition of martial law he was interned but later released. In 1987 he was elected the chairman of a liberal-conservative political party called Ruch Polityki Realnej (The Real Politics Movement), which in 1989 changed its name to Unia Polityki Realnej (UPR, Real Politics Union). In 1990 he established a new weekly Najwyższy Czas! ("The Time is Now!"). Lech Wałęsa appointed him to become a member of Solidarity's advisory body – Komitet Obywatelski (The Civic Committee).
Korwin-Mikke was a Member of Parliament during the first term of Sejm (Polish Parliament) of the Third Republic of Poland. Originator of the vetting resolution. He was a candidate for the UPR in the Polish Presidential Election of 1995, obtaining 2.4% of the vote. He was also candidate in 2000 when he got 1.43% of the vote. In the senate by-election in Wrocław in April 2004 he got 18% votes, but finally did not receive the seat. In the presidential elections of 2005 he obtained 1.4% of the vote.
Janusz Korwin-Mikke's economic views are radically liberal, in the classical sense of the word; in the U.S. his views would be best described as libertarian conservative. He frequently refers to such figures as Frédéric Bastiat, Alexis de Tocqueville, Friedrich Hayek or Milton Friedman.
In 2009 he left UPR and created a new party, Freedom and Lawfulness (Polish: Wolność i Praworządność, WIP).
Korwin-Mikke is a popular public figure in the mass-media and on the internet, mainly due to often unusual or eccentric ways of demonstrating his political stances. For instance, he protested against high taxes in Poland by eating his tax return together with a Polish musician Krzysztof Skiba in front of the Polish revenue service office.
He writes the most popular blog in Poland.
Janusz Korwin-Mikke has been a national champion in bridge, and a member of the national team. He is also a skilled chess player.
Read more about this topic: Janusz Korwin-Mikke
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When he who adores thee has left but the name
Of his fault and his sorrows behind,
O! say wilt thou weep, when they darken the fame
Of a life that for thee was resign’d!”
—Thomas Moore (1779–1852)
“Biography is: a system in which the contradictions of a human life are unified.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)