The Rational Standard (RS) is a commentary and news platform covering politics, culture, philosophy, economics, and more. Founded in 2015 and rebranded a year later, it has been delivering classical liberal and libertarian opinions and analysis consistently ever since.

South Africa has, since the dawn of democracy in 1994, seen an active civil society and free press work toward keeping government accountable. What has contemporarily, however, become an issue is that this quest toward accountability has lost its principled foundation, leading to news media grasping about in the dark with no light leading it in a particular direction – they report on what appears popular and do so from a so-called 'politically correct' perspective.

The Rational Standard represents a provocative mixture of analysis and news commentary which provides an alternative to the mainstream media. Unlike the mainstream, RS embraces and is open about our approach – our 'bias' – we value individual freedom, and our articles and reports reflect that.

Every occurrence in the South African politico-economic scene which affects individual liberty will be dissected and held against centuries’ worth of philosophical development and the fundamental realization that the human being is a free, self-owning individual.

The Editorial Board consists of:

Martin van Staden - Editor in Chief

Nicholas Woode-Smith - Managing Editor

Chris Hattingh - Editor at Large

Dr Morné Malan - Editor at Large

As of 2025, the Rational Standard is an initiative of the Free Market Foundation.

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