Early one morning last December, Jeff Gracik was heading to his southern California home garage-workshop where he makes his living when he heard a loud, hurried knock on his front door. Thinking it might be a rushed UPS driver, he quickly opened the door. But it wasn’t UPS. Standing on his doorstep were three badge-flashing inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They had come to inspect Jeff’s business.
Tag: world
A Preference for Peace: Not the Same Thing as Support for the Bogeyman of the Week
I’m not ashamed to admit it: I’m a peacenik. I think war is a bad thing. I’ve seen it up close and personal as an infantryman, and I’d like to see less of it, preferably none at all, either up close or from a distance. In part, this desire also makes me a “non-interventionist.” That is, in a world with 195 “sovereign nations,” it makes sense that the political officials in each one should mind his or her own state’s business and not try to decide who gets to run the other 194, or how they should do so.
Homeschoolers: Guilty Until Proven Innocent?
What struck me most about revisiting the Salem Witch Trials with my children was the fact that these English Puritans who had recently settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony had no presumption of innocence. Those accused of a crime at the time, both in the New World and elsewhere, were guilty until proven innocent. The presumption of innocence in trials, with court defenders and impartial juries, would take centuries to catch on.
All Hail the Entrepreneurs (and the Carnitas They Bring Us)
This might all seem completely ordinary to you, but bear in mind that I am able to enjoy these culinary delights even though I live at the ends of the Earth, at the far reaches of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. For Lucio’s making it possible for me to live here so well, I feel much indebted to him.
The Mighty Difference Between Immigration and Trade
International trade is a wonderful thing, but merely trading goods across borders has no blatant effect on the productivity of the workers who produced the goods. When a worker migrates from a low-productivity country to a high-productivity country, however, he becomes vastly more productive almost overnight.
A One-Page Hop from Bleeding Heart to Mailed Fist
“Drastic measures are needed to fight delinquency. First, I’d give a juvenile delinquent good advice. Second, if that didn’t help, I’d suggest going to the work farms, along with study. That way I’d gradually try to perfect the individual’s feelings and conscience. And finally, if the first two measures brought no improvement, I’d send him before the firing squad.”
The Practice of Letting Go
When we practice like this, we are shifting from our habitual patterns of self-concern and shutting out all possibilities, to openness and not-knowing, to unlimited possibilities and seeing the breath-taking beauty of the world in front of us.
Be the Euphoria You Want To See In the World
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Nationalism, the Ideological Delusion at the Heart of Protectionism
To ask the question is almost to answer it. People who would balk at city, state, or regional protectionism will not only tolerate national protectionism, but actually hail it as a godsend for overall national prosperity. The doctrine of nationalism, a dangerous brew in which Americans have long indulged to great excess is the cause of this bizarre public sentiment.
On Tolerance II
It’s just a tad (just a tad) ironic that the supposedly most tolerant places in the world, places like London, San Francisco, Toronto, and New York, are also the most heavily regulated and taxed. Why is this ironic? Because advocating for and permitting your government to impose such heavy burdens on your neighbors is one of the most intolerant things you can do.