Market Correction

1 September 2008

Mr. Michael Kinsley, Slate

Dear Mr. Kinsley:

You’re correct that Sarah Palin has no more experience in the ways of Washington than does Barack Obama ("No Experience Necessary," August 31). But you miss the fundamental point: experience in such matters is undesirable. Any man or woman experienced at politics is a man or woman experienced at dissembling while lightening the purses of, and tightening the shackles upon, unsuspecting citizens.

If I must be lorded over by politicians, I much prefer that they be inexperienced - for the same reason that I'd prefer that the assassin who stalks me or the kidnapper who holds me captive be inexperienced.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

1 September 2008

Editor, New York Post

Dear Editor:

Your letter-writers today are understandably appalled by the adulation poured on Barack Obama by uncritical pundits and giddy crowds (Letters, September 1). But let's be clear: although John McCain has no talent for rousing the masses into an hysteria seldom experienced since John, Paul, George, and Ringo were belting out "yeah, yeah, yeah," he panders and pimps no less than does St. Obama. What H.L. Mencken wrote 80 years ago remains true today:

"The only way to success in American public life lies in flattering and kowtowing to the mob. A candidate for office, even the highest, must either adopt its current manias en bloc or convince it hypocritically that he has done so while cherishing reservations in petto. The result is that only two sorts of men stand any chance whatever of getting into actual control of affairs - first, glorified mob-men who genuinely believe what the mob believes, and secondly, shrewd fellows who are willing to make any sacrifice of conviction and self-respect in order to hold their jobs."*

Such is the politician.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

* H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: A Selection (Baltimore: Hopkins ed., 1996), p. 102.

1 September 2008

Editor, Washington Times

Dear Editor:

Diane West offers a refreshingly clear-eyed take on "Obama the Great" and his "plywood Parthenon" (September 1). But what is perhaps the finest description of the unfolding phenomenon of Barack Obama was written by H.L. Mencken, who died more than 50 years ago:

"It is the popular theory, at least in America, that monarchism is a curse fastened upon the common people from above - that the monarch saddles it upon them without their consent and against their will. The theory is without support in the facts. Kings are created, not by kings, but by the people. They visualize one of the ineradicable needs of all third-rate men... and that is the need of something to venerate, to bow down to, to follow and obey."*

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

* H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: A Selection (Baltimore: Hopkins ed., 1996), pp. 147-148.

31 August 2008

Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Editor:

Saturday Night Live once did a comedy skit called "The Stupid Family." It featured people who accidentally burned themselves on the kitchen stove or drank sour milk, and who, after screaming in pain or disgust, immediately forgot the sources of their distress and committed the identical blunders again. And again. This skit was uproariously funny.

Many political commenters remind me of The Stupid Family. Today's exhibit is Ruth Marcus ("A Heartbeat Away From Cynicism," August 31). She's surprised and disenchanted that John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate has a purpose no more lofty than to help him win the election. Why the surprise? What else did Ms. Marcus expect of McCain? He's a politician - and politicians are creatures who routinely say and do whatever they believe will win them the most votes. Surely in her career Ms. Marcus has encountered such self-serving stratagems countless times. To be offended that McCain's V-P choice is calculated and "cynical" is, well, stupid.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

30 August 2008

Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Editor:

From across the country activists have converged on San Francisco for the 'Slow Food Nation" rally ("As Food Becomes a Cause, Meeting Puts Issues on the Table," August 30). These activists insist that consuming non-local foods harms the environment, exploits workers, severs community ties, and numbs our taste buds.

Overlook the fact that these claims are contradicted by empirical research, and let's get into the rally's spirit, which refuses to be dampened by reason and facts. Start by asking: why reject only non-local foods? Why not also reject non-local news - such as this very report from San Francisco? And why not also reject non-local culture? Surely we Washingtonians would be happier and more in touch with ourselves if we read only novels written by locals such as Christopher Buckley and not those written by the likes of Milan Kundera, Margaret Atwood, or Larry McMurtry. And what's with the Kennedy Center bringing in performers from outside the Beltway? How much CO2 is unnecessarily emitted into the atmosphere whenever the Kirov Ballet flies in from St. Petersburg or when James Levine comes down from Boston? And how many local artists do we overlook in our thoughtless insistence on seeing non-local acts performed on our local stages?

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

29 August 2008

Editor, Topeka Capital-Journal

Dear Editor:

Politicians typically use pronouns deviously. Case in point: Joe Biden says about a President Barack Obama that "He'll invest in the next generation of teachers" ("Transcript of Joe Biden's convention speech," August 28).

Well, unless Mr. Obama plans to use his own private wealth to finance teachers' education and career development, no such investing will be done by HIM. What he WILL do is to force other people (i.e., taxpayers) to "invest in" (i.e., rain money down upon) "the next generation of teachers" (i.e., the next generation of an incredibly powerful special-interest group).

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
Enterprise Hall
George Mason University™

29 August 2008

Editor, Newsweek

Dear Editor:

Robert Samuelson is correct: regardless of which party wins the White House or Congress, Uncle Sam is unlikely to get his fiscal affairs in order ("The Rise of Fantasy Politics," September 1).

In principle, government's core responsibility is to prevent Jones from benefiting by his imposing costs on Smith without Smith's consent. In practice, government acts as Jones's agent in securing benefits for Jones by imposing costs on Smith.

Government's modus operandi today is to bestow goodies on politically powerful interest groups, and to pay for these goodies by taxing politically unpopular groups (e.g., oil companies) and politically impotent groups (most notably, future taxpayers). The bottom line is that, through government, Jones imposes costs on Smith without Smith's consent.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

28 August 2008

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

To the Editor:

Take note of a small item buried in your story about Apple Inc.'s dealings with music producers: "At the start of this year, iTunes became the largest retailer of music in the U.S., surpassing Wal-Mart" ("More Artists Steer Clear of iTunes," August 28).

Remember this fact whenever someone insists that preventing today's 'dominant' firm in some market from crushing competition and harming consumers requires antitrust regulators. Wal-Mart, naively felt by many persons to be 'invincible' because of its large share of the retail market, finds itself today losing market share in music sales to a process of retailing that's only five years old.

As Joseph Schumpeter pointed out, competition is a sharp, multifaceted, vigorous, creative, and unpredictable process - one that antitrust intervention only dulls and never sharpens.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

27 August 2008

Editor, The New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036

To the Editor:

David Allan Coe satirized country-and-western music by insisting that no song could be the perfect C&W song unless it mentioned "mama, trains, trucks, prison, and gettin' drunk." Coe then told how a songwriter, Steve Goodman, followed this advice and wrote a verse that indeed created "the perfect country and western song." Here it is:

I was drunk the day my mom
Got out of prison

And I went to pick her up
In the rain.

But before I could get to the station in my pick-up truck
She got runned over by a damned old train.

These lyrics came to mind when I read Hillary Clinton's Denver speech. Was she spoofing hackneyed political oratory in the same way that Coe spoofed C&W songs? Seems so, for how else to explain this hilarious cliché-filled line?

"I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism. She didn't have any health insurance, and she discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head, painted with my name on it, and asked me to fight for health care for her and her children."

I congratulate Sen. Clinton for her blazingly brilliant satire!

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University