The fundamentals

By -
"When it's the data that rule, all things can be proposed, but are not all possible. When it's the fundamentals, all things can be understood, even when not observed."
I read this quote in an article on the Mises.org website and found it well stated and profound. I would love to live my life by this pricinciple- that my fundamental knowledge would guide me rather than being swayed to and fro by whatever the current and fashionable data at hand.
The relation is a bit of a stretch, but I may as well mention that last night I interviewed a midwife and after discussing it with Drew I have decided to hire her to deliver our child at home. I am very happy and at peace with this decision; a decision which is based on my deep-seated belief that birthing at home is normal and safe, because birth itself is normal and can be safe. I thank God for this opportunity to be an active participant in the birth of our second child, rather than being zoned-out and told to push.
Right now it is illegal, but Nov. 12th markes the beginning of the veto session in the Illinois General Assembly, and homebirth supporters will convene on the state capitol to again lobby the bill for licensure for direct-entry midwives. Perhaps soon my principles will not be forced to be accomplice to the class 4 felony of practicing medicine without a license.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On Teabagging and Other Oral Servitudes

By -
This blog post by John T. Simpson On Teabagging and Other Oral Servitudes was especially refreshing on a frustrating day like today, when it seems like no one really wants to take the tea party/liberty movement seriously. I particularly enjoyed this part of the rant: "I will not lean across the aisle in order to teabag Obama and the Left on the massive frauds of amnesty, climate change, the government takeover of health care, and all the other budget-busting and power-grabbing LibDem Lefty scams that will have us all teabagging the government in abject serfdom for the next thousand years."
Read more

Less formalism in economics, more understanding.

By -
Russ Roberts discusses here http://cafehayek.com/2009/10/a-turning-point.html how economists across the board are seeing that there are serious deficiencies in the field, and how it is a very exciting time to be an economist. I would add that it is also a very exciting time to be an armchair economist. Decades ago Ludwig von Mises laid out a comprehensive methodology for approaching economics. It seems to me that it is in this tradition that the Ostroms are crafting their research. I remember coming across the name back in graduate school in comparative politics. Apparently the work of Elinor Ostrom (and her husband) are more known in that realm. But it is appropriate that she be recognized for her work in economics- her work is a perfect example of what economics should be, indeed what Mises defined the study as, which is the study of things such as the rules that humans follow.
Read more

EPIC POLICY FAIL

By -
"When we change policy- when we add a rule, change a rule, or adopt some new set of rules- we are in effect running an experiment based on more or less informed expectations about the likely outcome. It is important to recognize that the complexity of the biological and socio-economic environment, combined with the complexity of institutional rules, makes it fairly likely that any proposed changes of rules will fail." Nobel Prize winning economist Elinor Ostrom
Read more