Depending....
29 July 2006
Editor, The Washington Times
Dear Editor:
Victor Davis Hanson laments that "By historical standards, [Americans] are pretty helpless. Most of us can't grow our own food, don't know how cars work and have no clue where or how electricity is generated. In short, few have the smarts to survive if the thin veneer of civilization were lost" ("Fragility of the good life," July 29).
Well, yes, but the only way to avoid this situation is for us to revert to living in a 'society' whose complexity never extends beyond campfires, mud huts, and the trapping of wild game. While under such primitive conditions each person would know how to produce and maintain everything used in that 'society,' everyone who manages to survive would also be perpetually hungry, filthy, ill-clothed, and - ironically enough - inconceivably ignorant.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Washington Times
Dear Editor:
Victor Davis Hanson laments that "By historical standards, [Americans] are pretty helpless. Most of us can't grow our own food, don't know how cars work and have no clue where or how electricity is generated. In short, few have the smarts to survive if the thin veneer of civilization were lost" ("Fragility of the good life," July 29).
Well, yes, but the only way to avoid this situation is for us to revert to living in a 'society' whose complexity never extends beyond campfires, mud huts, and the trapping of wild game. While under such primitive conditions each person would know how to produce and maintain everything used in that 'society,' everyone who manages to survive would also be perpetually hungry, filthy, ill-clothed, and - ironically enough - inconceivably ignorant.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday April 24, 2007 at 1:47pm
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