Many college kids are home this weekend, beginning a full week out of classes in order to celebrate the most American of all holidays. My two arrived home last night.

At mid-day, one son was on his way back from the airport after picking up a former neighborhood buddy from ten years ago when we lived in another state. The buddy is coming to our area to join cousins for Thanksgiving and a reunion of sorts among childhood friends, my two sons.

These three boys were “best friends” during their wonder years. They built forts in the woods, formed and were the leaders of neighborhood clubs, and conducted “training” and “drills” in defense of their community against unknown and unseen enemies. This is how they played. This is what boys do.

At mid-day, the other son was with me at home when I determined the most important use of my precious time for the remainder of the day was to answer the call to stand up for freedom. The note had passed through facebook, “Capitol, east side, 1 p.m.”

The boys are big now. All “off to college” and off to some of the freedoms of living away from parents, and moving to what they initially think is liberation from the old-fashioned values of their parents. However, they have been paying attention. Now they have seen a tiny bit of the real world and perhaps some of the heartache and self-destruction of others that result from abandoning the tried and true. Now we learn that perhaps we have been successful in building them into men of true character, who will also answer the call to do the right thing in defending the ideas of the nation that they call “home.”

I call the son on his way back from the airport. They have stopped for lunch. I ask if they would be interested in going to the Capitol to protest the impending Senate action to enact the government take-over of healthcare. They say yes.

» More: One Day in The Battle for Liberty

Going Rogue was waiting on the doorstep when I arrived home this evening. I don’t think I will have time to actually read it anytime soon, however. But, that’s O.K., because I pretty much already know what it contains. I mean this in a complimentary way – unlike her zealot detractors who hate her for her sincere, and committed decency. My delay in reading will be due to competition for my time among things I must be doing to assist in the reclaiming of America from an approaching oblivion of intentional national destruction.

Sarah inspires because she not only touches the essence of America, but she is part of that essence. Those traditional, folksy, timeless features that include hard work, fair play, helping out your neighbor, and a firm recognition of a source of morality that exists outside of man. Within the history, and real culture of America, she is everybody’s nicest girl. Another reason she is despised, by some, is because she is nice.

Quickly leafing through the book, something quite interesting caught my attention, something that displays that she is one of us, in a genuine and unashamed way. Going Rogue has several pages of photographs, as one might expect in this type of book. However, these photos are different from what one would find in the book of a “politician.” Most of these photos are family snap-shots, just like the ones you and I have, stacked up in boxes in the back of a closet, appreciating in value, over time, to a value that cannot be assessed. These are the images of family, home, adventure, children, school friends, and genuine, normal people making lives for themselves, in every way that they can. They are photographs of normal days, graduations, camp-outs and holidays. Some are out of focus, the color off a little bit, and someone’s back is to the camera, but these “flaws” only add to the genuine character of normal.

My favorite picture: Little Sarah, wearing a cloth diaper as a scarf! Why my favorite? This photograph captures the ability of the American spirit to endure, to challenge the assumptions, to make something out of nothing, to be proud of small victories, and to be shameless about our convictions toward decency while at the same time being loving toward those who we might, for a moment errantly, think are below us.

Sarah is human, and she undoubtedly has flaws, as we all do. Though I think we would even trade some of the “perfections” of other women of household recognition, for some of the “flaws” of Sarah.

Thank you Sarah, for rising to the challenge of this day.

Part 2 in a series on commerce, the engine that literally feeds us, and a topic area where many Americans are stuck on stupid. (Part 1)

A Cheap and Cheesy Pic for a Thrifty Blog

Robert and Anne, proprietors of the R&A Potato Ranch, a growing private enterprise, took a wagonload of potatoes to the market. Wanting to diversify their diet beyond the exquisite Pomme de Terre (“Apple of the Earth” – French for “Potato”), they traded 20 pounds of potatoes for one pound of goat cheese, a product of the J&H Goat Ranch. As we learned in Part 1, through that transaction both parties benefited by acquiring a product that was of higher value to the purchaser than was the product that they transferred in payment to the seller. As a result of the transaction where the value of each item was increased, overall wealth within this society was increased.

Back at the ranch, Robert and Anne have been working on a home remodeling project. They are building an addition to their home, a second room! They have collected many of the required materials from the bountiful land of their ranch, however they have determined that it may be more efficient for them to trade for some of the building materials, particularly the nails.

At the market, Robert and Anne inquire with several blacksmiths (the industry that transforms raw metal into useful things). They find that there are several blacksmiths to choose from, and most of them offer adequate quantities and qualities of nails for the home expansion project. However, Robert and Anne discover that other producers of potatoes have already traded potatoes for metal goods from each of the blacksmith shops.

» More: Potatoes for Cheese, Cheese for Nails - Part 2 in a series

Part 1 in a series on commerce, the engine that literally feeds us, and a topic area where many Americans are stuck on stupid. (Jump to: Part 2)

Preface: The talking heads on the financial shows may have fancy degrees, extensive and successful experience in the financial markets – but how often do they consider, or talk about The Basics? Never. Politicians talk about “stimulating” the economy and “creating jobs,” but can government actually directly deliver on either of those promises? No. The purpose of this series is to use a building-block approach to describe and explore The Basics of commerce and economics. Through our experience and intuition we can rediscover the consistent natural laws of commerce and economics that have been demonstrated to be governing features within any society.

———–

Please meet Robert and Anne. Robert and Anne both come from lines of potato farming families. They are beginning the new generation of making a living for themselves with a dream of self-sufficiency, providing for themselves through the “fruits of their labor.” They own and work the “R&A Potato Ranch.”

Mmm Mmm Good!

On the other side of town, please meet James and Helen. James and Helen both came from lines of goat farming families and are similarly in the early years of building a life for themselves. They own and work the “J&H Goat Ranch.”

"Baaaaah!" From Cranberry Ridge Farm

Helen, James, Anne and Robert apply physical labor, knowledge, creativity, thrift, frugality, and even love to their work as they produce goods that are useful to their own physical health. To simplify, let us call all of these inputs, “labor,” but we must not forget that this includes important, intangible elements (e.g. knowledge) beyond physical labor.

The R&A Ranch achieves some measure of success in producing potatoes and the J&H Ranch achieves some measure of success in producing goat cheese. Yum, yum! We are already workin’ up an appetite after a long day of work on the ranch!

Of course no one wants to live on a diet of just potatoes, and any good mama would tell you that “no man can live on goat cheese alone” (or something like that). Eureke! We have an opportunity for commerce!

» More: Potatoes, Cheese and A “Win-Win” Transaction - Part 1 of a series

Thinking about Gramps today. He fought his way into the Army - He was too old and had too much family for them to take him initially, but he knew that he must go.  He went to North Africa, and then on to Italy and up “The Boot.” He lead men who fixed things, a company of mechanics.

I miss him. This country misses common men of uncommon character. He left this world several years ago. I was in Korea, working at being ready to defend the weak from the oppressor, and ready to march to the sound of guns.

The human spirit longs for liberty, and in this world, that liberty is occasionally secured by men and women who are ready and willing to run into a fight, to defend what is good and right and true. To be truly human is to be ready to give greatly of yourself in the defense and liberation of another.