Politics and Tea

This Denver Post article http://www.denverpost.com/harsanyi/ci_13671790 argues that you would have to be drunk to buy into the claims surrounding the 1,900 pg health care bill

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."

Today I had my first day as a campaign manager with Al Reynolds campaign for State Senator for the 52nd district of Illinois. He cares about the constitution and there is little more that needs to be said. He is the organizer for the East Central Illinois Tea Party Patriots, and now connecting himself to the campaign of Adam Andrzejewski, which I think is great. Stay tuned for more details as Reynolds for Illinois Senate gains momentum!

Well, I had an absolutely fantastic time at the Students for Liberty Midwest Conference on Saturday. Drew watched the kids so that I could go all the way up to the University of Chicago for this all-day event. For some reason the Students for Liberty let me in, even though I am not a student. I got so many good tips and good ideas for continuing and expanding my political activism. I learned successful strategies for coalition building and marketing. And I got to hear Peter Leeson (who is a professor at George Mason and author of "The Invisible Hook: the Hidden Economics of Pirates") speak on capitalism, which was pretty freekin awesome. I heard the name Mises invoked more times than i thought possible at one space in time. There was free food and free beer. I just can't imagine a better planned event. Between this conference and Midwest Liberty Fest, which our little family attended last weekend, I am feeling very energized to jump right into the mess that is politics in...

Just as I finished reading a synopsis on the work of newly anointed Nobel prize winner Elinor Ostrom on concepts such as management of the commons. I came across this amazing website which is a perfect example of citizens spontaneously organizing an institution. Examples like this disprove the harmful notion that all organizing action must come about only via The State. And it just fits perfectly with the theories implied by Ostrom's research. http://seeclickfix.com/government

I'm going to make this cake for small group tomorrow night, since I have a couple of pears in the fridge and really don't want to go shopping Carmelized Pear Upside Down Cake For the topping 2 medium firm-ripe Bosc pears (about 1 lb.) 1 recipe Basic Caramel 2 oz. (4 Tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces For the cake 6-3/4 oz. (1-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour 1-3/4 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. table salt 1/2 cup whole milk 1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 4 oz. (8 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350?F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x2-inch round cake pan (don't use a springform pan, as the caramel might leak out during baking). Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment and butter the top of the paper. Make the topping Peel, core, and cut the pears lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the ...

"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

http://www.mercatus.org/uploadedFiles/Mercatus/Publications/Rethinking%20Institutional%20Analysis%20-%20Interviews%20with%20Vincent%20and%20Elinor%20Ostrom.pdf I especially liked this part in explaining how "capitalist" systems easily turn into "socialist" ones: " Individuals who pay attention only to market prices in determining their choices may soon become vulnerable to political arguments such as that "workers and peasants" could achieve greater advantage by expropriating private property and instituting a socialist society. The naive maximizer might select the option offered by those who make the biggest promises."

Going to make these delicious-looking breadsticks for Drew's stepdad Steve tonight. He just got home from the hospital after a 2 1/2 week stay following his stroke, and just got his feeding tube removed yesterday. Needless to say he is craving delicious food. And these breadsticks have good stuff to keep him healthy now like olive oil, flaxseed, and wheat flour. Recipe here: http://www.5dollardinners.com/2009/05/homemade-italian-breadsticks.html

Here is Mario Rizzo on Ostrom and what her broader notion of rationality really means to understanding economics and how people behave: http://thinkmarkets.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/elinor-ostrom-and-the-relevance-of-economics/

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.

This article by Gary North shows some of the things scholars should consider when planning their assault on the absurdity of the conventional economic thinking. I really like all of his specific multimedia suggestions, although I don't know how much any of this applies to me, since my aspiration is to teach at a community college! But, I would love to see this kind of content created. http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north768.html