Does Anybody Understand This Stuff?: Part 2, Biblical Economics – A Thumbnail Sketch of 4,000 Years of Economics
Read Part One Here Read Part Three Here Don’t do it! Don’t turn your brain off at the sight of the word “Economics”! Give me a chance to explain this in such a way that I promise—economics will be exciting. Our modern understanding of economics comes from a long-term developmental process, albeit, most of us […]
Thanksgiving: A Proclamation
How many of us know the origin of Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving celebrations began as early as 1541 along the eastern seaboard of North America. Most of us relate to the celebration at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. The Pilgrims, having survived their first winter (during which about half of them died), invited their local Indian friends to […]
Why Hebrew?, Part Three: Hebrew Competes With Greek
Read Part One Here Read Part Two Here Competing Features Now, consider possible ways in which Hebrew will compete with the Greek heritage, and vie for the dominant eye. For some things there cannot be two masters; one, and only one, must be granted superiority. In The Republic, Plato identified three classes of citizens in his […]
Does Anybody Understand This Stuff?, Part One: Deflation
Read Part Two Here This is one of several blogs in a series called Does Anybody Understand this stuff?, concerning economics and our future. There is no way to honor the blogging rule of 600 word posts when we are talking about the economy, so I will try to keep them short but no […]
People Who Live at the End of Dirt Roads: Monte and Laura Bledsoe – Quail Hollow Farm, CSA
Six years ago one of my former mentees decided to try growing vegetables on a tiny patch of ground. She thought, “what a nice little hobby I will create for myself.” Her vision was to grow and provide a little food for a few other families. She was not willing to commit to more than […]
Why Hebrew?, Part Two: Hebrew Compliments Greek
Read Part One Here Must an education be limited to completing a checklist of courses in order to receive a certificate of conformance to present as evidence to a prospective employer of having met a minimum standard of proficiency in practical, productive job skills? Is an education limited to passing through a “liberal arts” program […]
Why Hebrew?: Part One
Contributing Author – James Malmstrom, Monticello College Faculty CHOMRONG VILLAGE, Nepal – 2011 – I was sitting in the courtyard of Chomrong Cottage, a charming lodge and the second stop of a 10-day trek into the Annapurna mountain range. The towering snow-capped Himalayan peaks in the distance guarded the gateway to our final destination, a valley at the […]
Montesquieu: Luminary of the Enlightenment
(Please excuse any errors. I am writing on the fly from New York and time is limited). Cicero said, “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” To paraphrase, he who only knows his own generation is an unwitting slave to those who have a knowledge of the past and an eye on the […]
What Sort Of Despotism Democratic Nations Have To Fear
The debate of the Federalists and the Anti-federalists is not our debate. Their argument was centered on how to create a system that maintained the strength of sovereign states and create a strong, independent general government. We now have the opposite, weak quasi-sovereign states with a run away all-powerful federal government. The central government debated […]
The Courage of Washington
George Washington was not a great president. He was an average farmer and a loyal but solitary if dispassionate husband and neighbor. When it came to people and relationships, public speaking, pressing the flesh, and gushing, Mr. Washington had a lot of room for improvement. It’s a good thing Washington’s mission was none of those […]