Liberty McArtor is the host of the Know Why Podcast and a co-host for Point of View Radio Talk Show, where she has worked as a writer since 2018. Previously, Liberty taught English at a Christian hybr...

Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., was for 25 years a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation. He is a public policy analyst specializing in health care, entitlements and energy issues and is...

Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., was for 25 years a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation. He is a public policy analyst specializing in health care, entitlements and energy issues and is the author of numerous public policy studies. He is past president of the Health Economics Roundtable for the National Association for Business Economics, the largest trade association of business economists. For nine years Dr. Matthews was executive director of the Washington, DC-based Council for Affordable Health Insurance, a health insurance trade association. While he was executive director, National Journal recognized the Council as one of the most effective health policy organizations in Washington. Dr. Matthews served for 10 years as a medical ethicist for the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board for Human Experimentation. He is the co-author of On the Edge: America Faces the Entitlements Cliff (2019) and has contributed chapters to several books, including Physician Assisted Suicide: Expanding the Debate, The 21st Century Health Care Leader and, in 2009, Stop Paying the Crooks (on Medicare fraud). And for several years he co-authored a column on dental ethics for the Texas Dental Journal. He also serves as chairman on the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He is a weekly columnist for The Hill and has been published in numerous journals and newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, USA Today and the Washington Times. Matthews is a frequent guest host on Point of View radio talk show, which airs nationwide. He was an award-winning political analyst for the USA Radio Network, and for several years had a daily one-minute commentary on Sirius-XM Radio. In 2008 and again in 2014, the BBC invited him to star in a program on welfare reform in Great Britain, specifically Wales. Dr. Matthews received a BBA in Economics from the University of Texas at Arlington, an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has a Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas. And he is an 8th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Erin Smith serves as Associate Counsel at First Liberty Institute. Before joining First Liberty, Erin served as Assistant General Counsel for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She also se...

Erin Smith serves as Associate Counsel at First Liberty Institute. Before joining First Liberty, Erin served as Assistant General Counsel for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She also served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Unit. Erin graduated summa cum laude from the Oklahoma City University School of Law, where she was recognized as the J. William Conger Distinguished Student for the Class of 2022 and received the T. Hurley Jordan Award for Excellence in Criminal Procedure. During law school, she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Oklahoma City University Law Review, president of the OKC Student Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and vice president of the OCU Christian Legal Society. She externed for the Solicitor General of Oklahoma, and published her Note, Almost Only Counts in Horseshoes, Hand Grenades … and Hardison? The 45-year Reign Continues, in the Oklahoma City University Law Review. Erin spent her summers interning at First Liberty Institute and the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General. Erin received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Oklahoma State University in 2019, graduating summa cum laude. Erin is licensed to practice law in Oklahoma.