Every once in a while I read a dead tree newspaper. Someone wrote a letter to the editors of the Moscow/Pullman Daily News this last weekend that could not go unanswered. I wont bore you with its contents, but you’ll get a good idea of it by reading my response, submitted today to the same newspaper:
Dear Editors,
Regarding Mark Winstein’s letter entitled “Lets Not be a Big Box Town” printed in last weekend’s edition: I will point out to your good and thoughtful readers that in Mr. Winstein’s opinion, the last people who should be making decisions about land use are the actual land owners, the last people who should decide what is and what is not a “sustainable approach to the economy” are those who have their own capital at risk in a given venture, and by rights, the very last people on Earth who should decide where to shop are the shoppers themselves.
Apparently, there is a new field of study at the U of I, known as “Helping Make the Economy More Reflective of Ecological Values”. I might like to meet one of the Doctorate Professors in this new Helping Make the Economy More Reflective of Ecological Values Department. However, between taking care of my family and minding my own business instead of advocating the use of force in minding other people’s business, it would be hard for me to justify the time.
Now I want to propose an entirely new concept– one that Winstein may not have ever considered: Maybe we could advocate the protection of other people’s rights (even if we dislike them). It might be interesting if people could make their own decisions in what I will call a “Free Society” (I might enjoy entertaining the Dean of a “Free Market Solutions to World Problems” College). I understand that this is a new and terrifying proposal (for some) but it may be worth considering, given that if our neighbors have the Right to Choose, perchance it would follow that we too would be afforded the same right at some stage.
For anyone who’s been held captive in a North Korean prison camp for the last ten years: “Big Box” means Wall Mart.
I’m going to be using the term, “Free Market Solutions” more often in the future, most especially because no one ever seems to think in those terms. The Left, naturally, always views a free market as the problem rather than any sort of solution to anything, and naturally, they couldn’t be more wrong if they tried.