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Communism has evolved. Remember the old Soviet system?  It crashed in 1991.  In place of markets, Soviets used quotas, fashioned by committees.  Never mind what citizens actually wanted—or needed—stuff was chosen for them by bureaucrats, instead. Of course, when the price system is undermined, disastrous consequences may follow.  For the Soviet system, economic and political […]

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Let’s get down to basics.  The Washington swamp must be drained, NOW. Sound familiar?  Right out of Donald Trump’s play book? Right out of father’s play book, also.  Throw the bums out; in the Sawyer household was a familiar refrain.  Fundamentalists like Buss reduce Technicolor-like complexity, to black and white simplicity.  The only thing in […]

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Buss was a complex character. I eavesdropped on father as we were closing our neighborhood store—the night before Christmas—marking the end of the busy shopping season.  Just then a man entered, distraught, and engaged Buss clumsily.  Next, spontaneously, he exploded in tears. With a large family, he couldn’t afford presents for his kids.  Disabled and […]

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Mom, as she required I call her, was actually my paternal grandmother. At sixteen, a Texan, she ran off with a Missourian; Dad, as he required I call him. Today, George probably would be busted for carnal knowledge—even child rape. He was five years Nora’s senior. First they ran to turn-of-the-century Cheyenne where Nora lost […]

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In my family of origin, father did not consider it irrational–or unethical—to…act out…politically, contrary to long-term self-interest. Buss did so, repeatedly. It had profound consequences for his wife and kids, however. Adam Smith, capitalism’s founder, was a moral philosopher, actually. He asked and answered questions about what constitutes moral behavior; both for individuals and for […]