So, John says that the free market is better than central planning, and Robert opines that we all think that the things we value the most shouldn’t be subjected to free market forces, and both of them have missed the point. I said nothing about central planning, and I mostly have no use for it. …

So, Robert opines that education and health care are the two fields where there is the most government money and the least competition, and that that explains the soaring costs. But I don’t think so.  I think the government money is reflective of the fact that medicine and education are two fields badly suited to…

And more of the kind of thing that makes me think the country is not trending in the direction Robert thinks it is.  Also, this is about what I was talking about a couple of weeks ago, about an earthquake coming in higher education. It’s also from the only blog I read, called Critical Mass. …

This week-end, the part of my family that has been in Connecticut Forever–longer than the Indians, if you listen to some of them–fulfilled that part of their family mythology that they seem to be proudest of:  they have now had at least one person die in every war the United States has ever fought.  The other…

I’m having one of those mornings where I think  I ought to be in another business, because I seem to have so much trouble getting things across. Robert complains that he’s looking for a Cincinnatus and I’m refining a curriculum, but I’m not. What I found interesting in the VDH  piece had nothing to do…

So, anyway, here I am finally, for real.  John said: >>>Intellectually I believe we evolved from animals whose behavior was governed by instinct. And I don’t believe in a personal God who takes an interest in human beings. This means I can not say “God saw that humans had evolved intelligence and discovered agriculture, so…

I’m going to write a real post later today, really  I am, but for the moment, this http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_4_classical_education.html is a link to  Victor  Davis Hanson’s essay on the future of the humanities from  City Journal. I’ve been waiting for it to come online for months, and John has the print edition and has already read…

So, now I know. If I want to shut you up, all I have to do is start talking about saving your souls. Ha. Anyway, Cheryl said: >>>So – if I’m following all this, there’s something especially difficult and unique about being human, and it’s not something we do instinctively. We need guidance, whether we…

Cheryl worries that the Dalrymple is really on another topic, but I don’t.  I’ve got to admit I don’t think of myself as having topics here.  I’m just sort of going with whatever is in my head. That said–Robert points out that the canon of the Old Testament has “changed,” but the fact is that…

The new essay is up at City Journal http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_4_otbie-british_character.html on England, the law, civilization, public drunkenness and finally the superiority of the USA.