2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #252 "TIMELESS TRUTHS"

Issues and ideas come and go, but many “Timeless Truths” always remain.  What are some of these?  Here is a short Libertarian list:

·         The Law of Unintended Consequences: Life is complicated, and almost every time a law or regulation is passed it results in some or even many negative consequences that were not intended.  An example?  The minimum wage laws directly put many people they were intended to help out of work.  Why?  Because the reality is that some people are not (yet) worth $15 per hour.

·         The Law of Diminishing Returns: If a little is good, a lot is better?  Well, most of the time it is not.  Ask any managers or owners of companies.  Sometimes there are slight imperfections or flaws in products that could be addressed and fixed.  But after a while it is simply not cost effective to spend an extra $100,000 to fix a problem that ultimately will only cost a customer or the company combined only a much smaller total amount in delays or problems.  

·         The answer to most questions is: It Depends!  Once again, life is complicated.  So, for example, in answering the question “Should cheating at cards be a crime?” The answer is “It depends.”  Why?  If a person is playing for money and cheats, that would be a fraud and could, depending upon the circumstances, appropriately result in criminal prosecutions.  But if people were playing solitaire at home, they might be cheating themselves but, otherwise, they should be left alone.  So unless one is talking about a situation involving core values, (Should we sponsor another Holocaust?  The answer is not “It depends!) the realistic answer is as stated above.

·         The Law of Supply and Demand: The First Rule of Economics is that there are never enough goods and services to meet the demand, and the First Rule of Politics is to ignore the First Rule of Economics.  Thus Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand” of economics is always a part of every commercial transaction, and always will be.  This means that people acting in their own economic self-interest – both as producers and buyers – will always be a part of the equation.

·         Murphy’s Law: “If anything can go wrong, it will.”  O’Rourke’s Corollary to Murphy’s Law: “Murphy was an Optimist.” 

·         Incentives Matter: If people are able personally to profit in some meaningful way from their work and other actions, they are much more likely to pursue them.  Of course, this rule applies equally to negative sanctions like punishments.

·         Dr. Milton Friedman: “We should judge our programs by their results, not their good intentions.”  Following that advice would bring a positive revolution to governmental programs.

·         Dr. Milton Friedman again: “There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.”  When I buy my contact lenses solution the box includes a plastic lens holder “at no extra charge.”  But, since this “gift” holds about three times as much solution as the one I normally use, and probably costs the manufacturer a maximum of two cents, if only one person in ten uses it, the result will be the purchase of more solution and, thus more profit for the manufacturer sponsoring the “gift.”  So, yet again, TANSTAAFL applies.

As my US History Professor Dr. Keith Berwick at UCLA once told us in his lecture, “There is a definite limitation to the profitable elaboration of the obvious.”  So, with that, I will stop.

Lament of the Week: “Dear Algebra, Please don’t continue to insist that I find your X because she’s not coming back.  And don’t ask Y.”

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on my website at www.JudgeJImGray.com, Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.  In addition, my new book entitled “2 Paragraphs 4 Liberty: Solutions that are Practical, Effective, Responsible, Libertarian, is now available at Amazon.com.   Please read and discuss it with friends, and send in a review.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #219 "THE TEACHINGS OF 'I PENCIL'"

     “I Pencil” is an essay by Leonard Read that was first published in The Freeman in December of 1958.  The full title was “I Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read.”  The point of the work is to provide a first person account of how a pencil is manufactured by first harvesting and then refining the raw materials of cedar, lacquer, graphite, ferrule, factice, pumice, wax and glue, and then assembling them into a pencil.  Obviously large numbers of people are involved in this process, including the person who sweeps out the factory and the lighthouse keeper who guides the shipment into port.  But none of those workers are directed or forced to cooperate.  They do so because of the “Invisible Hand” of working for their own economic benefit.  Ayn Rand described this phenomenon by saying that “Greed is good!”  Unfortunately, that comment has been misconstrued, and Libertarians have thus been tarred for generations as approving of greedy people – which is a totally different concept.  But instead this means that, to the degree possible, creative energies should be left uninhibited so they can be productively harnessed – for the benefit of the actor, and of us all.  Or, as Leonard Read encouraged us, “Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand.  This faith will be confirmed.”

                Actually this is basic economics, which focuses upon supply and demand, and is based upon the incentives of allowing people to be able to profit from their own labors and creativity.  But this concept is vastly under-taught and misunderstood in our society today. In fact, in many ways, it is vilified.  But, as Dr. Milton Friedman taught us, no society has ever raised itself up out of poverty except through a system of free enterprise combined with private property rights.  So how can this historically beneficial system be under attack today?  Because numbers of politicians are simply pandering to the voters.  Why?  Because in politics, reality is irrelevant – it is only the voters’ perception of reality that matters.  So that leaves it to the rest of us to stand up and proselytize the teachings of “I Pencil.”  And if you do, you will be performing a great service for our country and, especially, our children!  

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise!  The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss these and other timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.