About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

The Cooperation That Is The Free Enterprise Market

Thanks to a long time subscriber who specializes in philanthropy & higher education in America for sending the link for the modern adaptation of Leonard E. Read's 1958 classic essay I, Pencil.  The video provides a tremendous example of the cooperative effort that goes into making something as seemingly simple as a lead (actually graphite) pencil.
 
Many have seen the cover of his book Free To Choose in which Professor Friedman holds a pencil in such a way that begs the obvious question "what's with the pencil?" – the above video provides the answer.
 
In the book Professor Friedman writes "It is even more astounding that the pencil was ever produced. No one sitting in a central office gave orders to these thousands of people. No military police enforced the orders that were not given. These people live in many lands, speak different languages, practice different religions, may even hate one another -- yet none of these differences prevented them from cooperating to produce a pencil."
 
Click here to hear Professor Friedman explain the cooperation that is the free enterprise market

2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh! Fascinating video, and explanation of the free market....a simple pencil....this is thought provoking, and even inspirational. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Excellent lesson. Used the video.

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