This will be completely incoherent, but I’ll go ahead and empty my brain into the word processor, and call it a post. I won’t be doing one tomorrow. I’m on my way to Elk Horn, Iowa for Tivoli Fest. Reports and photos will be forthcoming once I’m back. If I get back, of course. You never know with us old guys, especially when we play with swords.

So I’ve got to pack for the trip, as soon as my washing is done. I’ve also got to celebrate my weekly bill-paying ceremony. And load Mrs. Hermanson. And write a list of eight suggested questions for TV and radio interviewers, for my publisher’s publicist. Continue reading Incoherence on the eve of departure →

Procter & Gamble must pay a particular snack food tax in the UK, because it failed to make its case that Pringles is not, in fact, a potato chip. The company said that because Pringles have only 42% potato in them (the rest being flour and fat), they are more like a cake or biscuit and therefore not subject to the tax in question.

I wonder if P&G would have won their case if they had employed a five-year-old to argue it.

In case you missed this, the states with the most freedom are those with low taxes, low government spending, and not too much legal management of private lives. Liberal state governments restrict freedom far more than conservative state governments, according to a study. “The problem is that the cultural values of liberal governments seem on balance to require more regulation of individual behavior than do the cultural values of conservative governments.”

Yes, this is a problem. As I was discussing with the good wife after watching “The Dark Knight” recently, good people rely on each other to behave and be trustworthy. There can be structures for law enforcement and personal defense, but the whole system breaks down once enough people become corrupt in one way or another. Add to that someone willing to force his agenda on everyone, you can have chaos quickly.

So conservatives want everyone to do what’s right, believing the more power concentrated in government, the less positive freedom we all have, and liberals want the heavy hand of government to force everyone to do what’s right, believing government power will always work they way they want it to, never turning on them to take their freedom away. For many years, conservatives have been lousy communicators and in many ways lousy practitioners of justice, liberty, and mercy. Liberals have been lousy visionaries, misunderstanding the base reality that given enough power we will redefine justice, liberty, and mercy.

On a related note, let me say that I’m proud of a man I work with, who told me today of a plan he is working with others to form a non-profit which will work to open opportunities for local minority workers–people who want to work but have few options. The organization will encourage employment from our community, specifically for those who have had many doors closed to them. That’s the way to do it, private citizens helping each other and not relying on the government to force them to do it its way.