Quotations

We see a lot of people talking about the inadequacy of planning prior to Katrina. Whatever merits this critique may have, it is not possible to foresee everything and to plan for everything. So, what is it that mitigates disaster? Resilience:

A strategy of resilience … requires reliance on experience with adverse consequences once they occur in order to develop a capacity to learn from the harm and bounce back. Resilience, therefore, requires the accumulation of large amounts of generalizable resources, such as organizational capacity, knowledge, wealth, energy, and communication, that can be used to craft solutions to problems that the people involved did not know would occur. Thus, a strategy of resilience requires much less predictive capacity but much more growth, not only in wealth but also in knowledge. Hence it is not surprising that systems, like capitalism, based on incessant and decentralized trial and error accumulate the most resources. Strong evidence from around the world demonstrates that such societies are richer and produce healthier people and a more vibrant natural environment.

(From here.)

One reason that I am pro-immigrant is that I think that many immigrants — and certainly the immigrants I most want to encourage — are highly appreciative of the American system. Coming from countries where government controls more of the economy and where public officials are more corrupt, they are often grateful for the opportunities that our economy provides.

In contrast, as the school year begins, my daughter in high school is being inundated with the typical anti-American propaganda of the Left. She is bombarded with lessons claiming that America “controls” too much of the world’s wealth, that we are racist and uncaring, that we spoil the environment, etc.

Arnold Kling (here)

(Some of the same points I was making here.)

After finishing the work I do to earn a living, I don’t have much energy or motivation to do anything but sleep. I’ve never worked harder in my life. But at least I don’t have to work in an office under insane rules of management. That’s a big plus in this modern world. I don’t think I could make it through an interview for an office job–or a job of any kind–without breaking out in mad laughter. I’m simply no longer fit to be part of the American working world.

Thomas Ligotti (and here.)

Powerline for the fourth gives Lincoln’s speech & Coolidge’s. The letters of the Adamses are on U.S. Constitution.

The government structure of the Internet, too, is highly libertarian. Most of the critical work consists of defining standards, and these are hammered out by ad hoc engineering task forces on a “just-in-time” basis. When I first heard Vint Cerf proselytize about the Internet in 1993, what sold me was not the network structure. It was the political structure. I remember thinking to myself, “My goodness, this is how government really ought to work. When a problem comes up, a task force gets together and proposes a solution. When the solution is adopted, the task force dissolves. How refreshing!”

Arnold Kling, “The Collectivist Feeling”.

Quiz question: How does this comment apply to our recent discussions about the EU?

(The Arnold Kling article is exceptionally good, BTW, so be sure to RTWT.)