Reply To: Entangling Alliances

#16845
Jason Jewell
Participant

This page has links to a series of blog posts I wrote about Adler’s How to Read a Book: http://westerntradition.wordpress.com/recommended-resources/

As to your other questions, a full answer would require a book-length treatment. I guess it depends at what social level you’re talking about, although all the things you mention are valuable.

At the individual level, I’m a believer in relatively low consumption and a high savings rate to provide a foundation of self-sufficiency that reduces the temptation to be dependent on the State. A big influence on my thinking in this respect is Aristotle, who argued that one cannot really pursue the good life and develop the necessary habits of virtue without reaching a certain threshold of wealth. I’ve recently been won over to Bob Murphy’s strategy for financing one’s major goals through dividend-paying life insurance, a process that does not inflate the money supply: http://consultingbyrpm.com/uploads/HPBRW.pdf

Joel McDurmon (of Ron Paul’s homeschool curriculum) likens individuals and families to mice who are tempted to walk into the State’s mousetrap by the cheese of some welfare benefit. His slogan is “Don’t Take the Cheese.” I think that’s a useful phrase to keep in mind, whether it’s “free” public education or whatever. To a great extent we can secede from these systems if we’re willing to make some financial sacrifices, and it’s much easier to do that if we’ve developed the financial discipline I mention above.

There are lots of other things we should do, too, but these are some thoughts off the top of my head upon seeing your message.