equal quality
During my few days in Lynchburg at Christmas, I was sure to stop by the Bookshop on the Avenue for whatever random texts seemed to call my name. I always hope that a classic or two will manifest itself, but perhaps I have reached the threshold where I must rely on recommendations for the classics since I have read so many of them. (so, recommendations welcome, particularly the lesser-known titles from the great authors). Anyways, I found no unread classic that I had ever heard of, let alone recognized the author of.
Anyways, by the time I walked upstairs to the not-so-fiction area, I was moderately distraught for having found only one book that caught my eye. Maybe due to my recent exhaustion of fiction works, particularly those about the Grail, when I arrived in the non-fiction room (the Bookshop is actually an old house) I was overwhelmed with a huge selection of attractive titles. One of the books, the Friedman’s Free To Choose, had an interesting title and tag, “The classic inquiry into the relationship between freedom and economics”. The ever-accelerating proliferation of political conversations and images with this impending election somewhat unconsciously urged me to grab the book. And I did.
At first, I felt like an idiot. Most engineering curricula cover economics to the extent that you understand how much to put away for retirement, often ignoring inflationary effects for linear simplicity. So, the first few chapters of this book were more of a kick in the pants than anything remotely fulfilling. Yet, knowing the popularity of Milton Friedman (a Nobel winner, after all), I was able to persist, page-by-page until I understood the state of late 1970s, American economics.
The result of this is that I now know where my fiscal policy sympathies lay. This election year currently has a bunch of loser candidates seeking popularity and eventual electoral votes. It’s fairly clear what my social policy beliefs are (probably the same for most people) but I was just about as familiar with my fiscal beliefs as with modern Arabic authors. The last few weeks I’ve spent offhandedly mentioning that I would start considering the presidential candidates once election day was imminent. However, now that I’ve begun defining my fiscal beliefs, I can assess the candidates’ rhetoric for pieces that I am looking for, amidst their myriad wild promises.
This is a frontier for me, a huge expanse of understanding I hadn’t yet considered embarking towards nor even considered worth indirectly exploring. The slightest inspiration from a Nobel Laureate economist was enough to encourage me off the pier and into an expeditionary spirit. It’s a satisfying feeling.
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Which leads to the question… what are your fiscal beliefs?
January 27th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
i believe they are what is known as “libertarian”, for a reasonable definition.