My Quest for Truth and Liberty
Savannah
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Posts by Savannah
Path of Grass Excerpt
May 5th
One of the other nuns came to relieve me. I laid down for a few minutes and fell asleep. Sometime in the afternoon I woke up and went to check on the men. Most were sleeping. Franz wasn’t. He beckoned me to come near.
“Yes?” I said.
“I am lonely. I haven’t talked to anyone in ages.”
So I sat down to listen to him.
“Do you know how long this war has lasted? It isn’t over yet, either, I can tell you that. Have you ever hated anyone? In this army, we live on it. My father was murdered by the Allies. My mother and the rest of my family died of starvation. I was so young then, and I remember watching them die away, like flowers wilt and are gone. They’ve done that to us…it is their fault we are in this now.” He clenched my hand so tightly I nearly cried out in pain. “My mother, she was so kind and so beautiful. I loved her with all my heart. She was so full of life and vigor, always ready for a game with us children. But little by little all her strength drained away. She worked, she toiled to let us survive. When I was very young, I remember her laughing gaily. But as the English, the Russians, and the Americans sucked our very life away, my mother became weak and tired. She didn’t laugh and romp with us. If she had the energy, she slaved for a bit of bread, but the energy died. She sat listlessly, with hollow eyes, watching us scavenge for food. Then one morning she didn’t wake up. And it was all because of them.” He nearly started crying. After a moment he regained his composure. “After this war, my dear,” he said hesitantly, “we’ll do something together. We can start a life together, can’t we? After we pound the Allies to pulp, then we’ll live in riches and victory, just you and I.” He squeezed my hand again. I was thoroughly embarrassed and had no idea what to say. I just sat silently, and he took that for an agreement. I heard someone moaning from the other room and left Franz for a moment.
It was the man with the strange melancholy gaze who was making sounds.
“Are you alright?” I asked him.
“Do you ever feel a dull aching right about here?” He put his hand over his heart. “That is my ailment. What is your name, child?” He spoke so sadly and so gently.
“Adele. I mean, Catherine.” I cursed myself for saying Adele; I didn’t know why that came out. I hadn’t called myself Adele for years, at least not out loud.
“Do you forget who you are?” He said with a queer smile. “You aren’t the only one.”
- From Part One, Chapter 14
For Mises Students, Part 2
Apr 30th
Israel brought up some good questions related to my first post, so I thought I’d address those here.
The first thing, “aren’t there Youtube videos that summarize these required readings and can’t we get Greek history from movies like Troy?”
I’m sure there are Youtube videos that explain some of what these works cover, but probably not systematically. The youtube might be on “Socialism vs. Capitalism” and might cover some of the points that Mises makes in his books, but I doubt that there are Youtube videos made as summaries of these works. I have an idea on this, however, and will let you know as I think it through a bit more.
This also fits into the whole “the medium is the message” debate. I tend to side with people like Postman and tend to think that it is good to actually read things. My mental skills have degenerated to the point that I find it extremely hard to listen/watch anything on my computer for a long period of time (more than 10 or 15 minutes) without being distracted by browsing Facebook, Mises.org, etc…so I like having the discipline of having to read a book because if I’m on Facebook instead, I can’t say “well, I’m studying too…” which I can argue if I’m listening to something. So I just prefer reading.
Then Israel asked if it would be good to do any writing along with the reading. Yes, I didn’t mention in the previous post that I do take notes on whatever read. I’m infamous for being a speed-reader, in a negative way, in that I read so fast I don’t get anything from the book. So it has been a struggle to slow down, but if I’m taking notes, I am forced to actually “digest” what I’m reading. However…some books are so good, I want to write down every sentence in my notes, which means it takes me forever to finish reading it because I’m essentially copying the text into my notes…lol…
If I’m writing on paper and not typing, this is how I take notes. I use my own version of the Cornell system of note-taking. I’m not sure how the original was meant to be, maybe what I do is close to that, but I’m not sure. I divide my page into two columns, the right one being slightly wider than the left one. This right column is where I write all the details, quotes, numbers, data, etc…and on the right side I write the summary of what point I’m trying to remember. For instance, on the left side I might write, “WWII didn’t end Great Depression” and on the right side I would put “GDP rose more dramatically after the war ended than when it began” (don’t quote me on that one…I don’t think it is correct b/c gov’t spending is included in GDP, so that would have decreased, but real measures of prosperity would have increased after WWII) and any numbers or references like, “Murray Rothbard’s The Great Depression.” Why do I do it that way? I keep notes because I like to look at them again if I’m studying that subject again. Having a summary on the left side makes it easy for me to skim through pages of notes and find exactly what I need without actually having to read every single line. I also use the far left margin found on most lined paper to put page numbers. If pages 20 through 25 are on “WWII didn’t end the Great Depression” I would write that down on the far left. I also found that with traditional notes, if I wrote line after line after line of notes, there was no room to insert additional comments afterwards. With this two-column approach, the summary on the left takes up much less space than the details on the right, so if necessary, I can come back and write on the left and just connect it to the details with an arrow. And speaking of arrows…I use them a lot. I use arrows to show what sentences are connected and how each step is ordered. Sometimes I go a little overboard with my arrows, but hey, it isn’t the worst thing I could do.
So generally, when taking notes on a book, I try identify ahead of time what I’m trying to get out of my reading. And most of the time my goal is to have a summary of the book for my own future reference. So I have in mind that I need to document where in any given book an important idea is discussed. My notes narrow it down to a specific book like “The Great Depression” but by putting a page number or chapter down, I don’t have to read the book all over again to find that section. I also like condensing any examples or illustrations in the book down to a sentence or less, just enough to trigger my memory because examples are very helpful in remembering a concept. I will also sometimes try to come up with my own example to further embed the information in my mind.
Last question, “what are the questions on the quiz like?” I don’t want to give everything away, but I’ll say what I remember. Some of the questions are historical, like “what was the first book Mises wrote?” Some were kind of tricky cause and effect things, “if A happened in area B, what would be the effect on the entire economy?” or something like that, and they weren’t straightforward “If the gov’t prints more money, what happens to the economy?” All of the questions are multiple-choice, but among some of the choices there are very fine nuances and they aren’t like, “If the gov’t prints money what happens? A) economy prospers B) economy experiences inflation” so you have to read everything really carefully. And some of the questions are just general economic theory definitions, “what is ________?” and so forth. What I didn’t know (thanks to my homeschool education…probably the only drawback to being self-taught) is that especially with multiple choice tests, you can ask the professor about the questions if you don’t know what it means. My friend did that after I finished my test, so I know that at least last year it was allowed, and that would have been really nice for me, because some of the questions were rather unclear.
Hope that helps all y’all thinking about taking the exam…I haven’t decided yet if I will. Also hope to see you there…at Mises U 2011!! 
Path of Grass Excerpt
Apr 29th
But I had a dream. I was sitting on my cot, and a soldier came in. He stomped his way over to me and stood over me, smelling of beer, cigars, blood, and sauerkraut. I cringed and tried to turn away. He grabbed my neck and mumbled something in garbled German. He took out a sharp, shiny knife.
“This is for those who lie. Those who are self-centered. Those who pretend they are righteous but are not. Those who take food from the mouths of the innocent. I shall either use this,” he ran his finger across the blade, “or burn you alive in this room.” I shook at the thought of dying in a fire. He took advantage of my fear. “I think that is the best way to remove hypocrites from the world.” He took a match from his pocket, pulled the blanket off my bed, and made a pile in the middle of the floor with it. He snatched my father’s books from the shelf. “Perfect tinder,” he muttered. He crumpled the sheets up on the blanket. “I’ll light the match, and as soon as the paper has caught fire, I’ll leave and lock the door after me. I’d better tie you up so you don’t escape.” He used his belt to wrap me to the bed frame. Then, holding the match firmly, he lit it and carefully dropped it in among a treatise on the development of civil law. The greedy flame consumed the first sheet within seconds, and then the man left. I heard him bar the door. With agonizing awareness, I watched the fire spread and grow. It charred the blanket and crept closer to the bed. Then in a moment it caught the mattress and the straw inside. Another moment, and it was inches from my body. I could feel the intense heat, and I screamed.
I woke up, sweating and throwing the covers off me. I looked around desperately for the fire, but there was none. The fear choked my throat; I could not swallow. Oh, no—I can’t live like this. Please, I must escape; I must do something to get away. It will be like this every night. Every night I shall be haunted by what I have done. So I worried and fretted until morning came.
- From Part One, Chapter 10
For Mises U Students
Apr 27th
The Mises Institute strongly encourages all students attending Mises U to be familiar with the Required Readings found here. Whether I go to Mises U or not (still hoping it will work out!) I will try do the readings. Last year I wrote out a schedule for getting through all the books, and I thought I would post my updated version for the students I know who wondering how to tackle it. Anyone else is welcome to read through all this too.
Theoretically I would start the reading in March. However…that didn’t happen this year. But my schedule starts in March anyways. These are just suggestions and are based on what I was doing last year. I’ll be changing this to fit my life this year. I just hope it helps you to come up with a definite plan so we aren’t trying frantically to read everything the day before Mises U starts, a plight I narrowly escaped last year.
March:
- “What is Austrian Economics?”
- “Economic Science and the Austrian Method” – Hoppe
Why: The first reading is pretty much the basics. It is good to start with this. Hoppe’s book is a nice complement to it because 1) it is a little deeper reading and 2) it really shows exactly why the Austrian school is different than all the other schools; not so much in what they teach but in how they obtain knowledge. This helped me understand why the Austrians are so much more awesome than everyone else 
April:
- “Social Science and Natural Science” – Mises
- “Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics” – Gordon
Why: The Mises work, as I recall, builds on and complements the Hoppe reading from March. The Gordon piece is a natural progression from “What is Austrian Economics?” in March.
May:
- “Intro to Austrian Economics” – Thomas Taylor
- “Realism and Abstraction in Economics” – Roderick Long
Why: From “What is Austrian Economics?” David Gordon focused on the history of it and now the Taylor essay/book is explaining what makes Austrian economic theory different from other schools. I found the first few pages of “Realism and Abstraction in Economics” to be totally fascinating and I absolutely loved the beginning. As a side note, there are some books that I struggle through at the beginning (like Moby Dick) but end up enjoying. Other times I start a work enjoying it, but then get lost by the end. That’s what happened last year with Long’s work, no offense at all to him. I’m hopeful that this year I might pick up a bit more of it. But it is balanced with the more purely economic Taylor book and that helps.
June:
- “Liberty and Property” – Mises
- “Middle of the Road Policy Leads to Socialism” – Mises
- “What Has the Government Done With Our Money?” – Rothbard
- “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth” - Mises
Why: I graduated from highschool in May of last year, and so obviously had much more time in June for reading which is why I allocated more work for the summer months. That would also be the case for any college students. The Mises works listed this month are fairly short and they are balanced by an easier (but longer) Rothbard book. As you probably noticed, all the Mises essays have to do with socialism and private ownership of property. I haven’t read the Rothbard one yet (I think they added that since last year…or maybe I read it online last year, I have the hardcopy now) and so I’m not sure how well it fits into the socialism vs. free market subject that the Mises essays address.
July:
- “Praxeology and Understanding” – Selgin
- “Historical Setting of the Austrian School” – Mises
- “Mises and the Role of the Economist in Public Policy” – Mises
- “Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays” – various
- “Against Intellectual Property” – Kinsella
Why: I can’t remember what I was thinking about these works last March…so I can only assume they were the only ones left after I had distributed the rest in other months. The Kinsella book has been added since last year, so I just threw it in here. I’ve already read it this year, so I don’t have to worry about it.
Path of Grass Excerpt
Apr 25th
After a futile attempt at sleep, I went back downstairs, where my aunt was sitting and drinking warm water as a poor substitute for tea.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“No.”
“In the convent, did you hear any news of the world?”
“Some of the nuns had acquaintances outside who would give them news, but I didn’t really hear anything. The nunnery really was its own little world.”
“Do you know anything about our history? Do you know who Hitler is?”
I shook my head.
“Here’s a cup of water. It might calm you down. Pretend it is hot cocoa or something nice.” She handed me a mug and continued, “You weren’t around to remember the Great War. It was horror beyond imagination. It was just a big fight between everyone. But we lost. The winners made us pay for everything. They made us give them our factories, our food, our money; they forced us to kneel down before them like nasty sniveling little creatures begging for their lives. I watched everyone around us die. We all withered away, just barely clinging to life. All because of them…they ground us into the dust. It was humiliation and shame you can’t imagine. Then Hitler rose up. He came to save his people. He promised freedom, life, and happiness. And look at us now…” she laughed a little wildly, “we can’t speak our thoughts to any other living being. We can’t whisper rebellion to our pillow at night without being thrown in prison. People are dying like flies, all over, everywhere. And this is happiness. If this is happiness, I don’t want to see unhappiness. So that’s why we are here.”
Uncle Gottlieb came into the room, and my aunt cut off her lecture. I had a feeling he preferred not to speak any more than necessary and wanted everyone to follow his habit, too.
We didn’t go outside that day. It started snowing a little, and the streets were littered with soldiers and people—dead and alive. I walked all over the house, trying to stay a little warm and trying to keep my mind off the terror of the night. It didn’t help very much.
- From Part One, Chapter 9
Path of Grass Excerpt
Apr 22nd
So two days later I was ushered out of the nunnery, out of the big hollow room through which I had first come. Through roundabout ways my aunt’s address was found. I had only to find the street. I stepped out into the street with too-large shoes on, and a very bland baggy dress. I pulled the door closed behind me and then regretted it. The streets were full of people shouting and crowding all over. I didn’t want to walk out into it, but it was too late to go back now. I took a deep breath and pushed my way through. I walked in the path of least resistance for a while, just trying to get my bearings. The stores were empty, the windows dirty and bare. Children ran around begging from everyone. I was frightened when they came near me, and at last I made them see I had no money or food either. Infants were crying from all over. The big houses were disheveled and crumbling. Most of the people I passed had a listless, hollow look in their eyes. They gazed at the city, but they really didn’t see it. They didn’t want to see it; they tried to block it out. But others were livid, and their eyes were full of hate and scorn. I was scared of those people. No one ever looked like that at the convent. I had never seen anyone glaring with disgusted gleams of revenge. I shuddered and quickly passed the people like that. I stopped and asked a few women for directions. I wouldn’t speak to the men; they were too loud and rough. After walking for what seemed like all day I found Aunt Matilda’s house. I was shocked to see it just as dilapidated as everything else. I had the strange idea that her home would always be the same. There was no wooden door, just a dirty ripped sheet. I walked in very slowly. If the houses could change so much, maybe my relatives could, too.
“Hello; is anyone here? I am Catherine from the convent. Auntie, are you here? Hello?”
I walked into the kitchen, where there were pots strewn all over, but not one had anything in it. A dog barked, and I almost screamed. The little thing jumped out from behind the stove and ran at me. It made ferocious sounds and nipped my ankles. I grabbed its neck, I am afraid to say, and muffled it in a bucket until it stopped barking.
“What are you doing?” A voice from behind me sounded. I turned around, still keeping a tight hold on the dog. It was a gruff man staring at me. “That’s my dog. Let go of it. What are you trying to do, kill it?”
- From Part One, Chapter 8
Path of Grass Needs Your Help
Apr 21st
From the Path of Grass blog:
I got an estimate today for typesetting Path of Grass. I would greatly appreciate any help in covering these costs. I am prepared for some of the expense, so my goal is to have $100 donated because I will be taking care of the rest. If more than $100 is donated, I’ll be using the extra funds to compensate the volunteers who have so kindly offered to help with various aspects of publishing Path of Grass.
Please consider making a donation to help publish Path of Grass. Why?
Path of Grass is part of a bigger cultural revolution that will change the way people think about government and liberty. This revolution isn’t coming from within government, we are changing the world from within society. There are many approaches to doing that. Path of Grass is one of them. People like novels. They like good stories. We can present them with the message of liberty in a non-threatening and enjoyable way. That’s Path of Grass.
Path of Grass is on the forefront of a new age. We are changing the way books are published and distributed. Instead of Marxist editors controlling everything, we are connecting the author and the consumers. Writing and publishing a book is no longer a lonely, solitary effort. It is a community project. It brings people together from all over the world. We can do this together. Will you help?
Head on over to PathofGrass.com to make your contribution.
To show my appreciation for your help, if you donate $25 or more, I will mail you an autographed copy of Path of Grass when it is published.
Biblical Law vs. Common Law? (Part 2)
Apr 20th
In the first part of these posts I argued that Common Law isn’t contrary to Biblical Law but it is a natural extension of the Bible that allows us to live with and interact with those who have no respect for the Bible.
And while I do have respect for the Reconstructionists and what they’re trying to do, I must continue to disagree with them. I’m bothered by this movement to use the Bible as a guide to everything we do. The Bible isn’t primarily a guide to this life, it is a guide to life everlasting. There are all these books and pamphlets, “what does the Bible say about…Economics? Math? Astronomy? Education? Changing a Tire?” (Okay…that last one was totally made up, I confess). And in one sense, it is good for us to consult the Bible and use it as a measure for the rest of life. But on the other hand, I think that type of thinking trivializes the point of the Bible. Here’s an example. Last fall I did an 8 week class on economics for my sisters and a couple other children from our church. I occasionally took examples of economic principles from the Bible. Such as the principle of saving and not consuming everything…the story of Joseph in Egypt was a perfect story for that. And that was fine, but I used the Bible sparingly in our classes. Why? Because the story of Joseph isn’t about how we should save some money for a rainy day. The story of Joseph has a much bigger scope and is about so much more than a principle for allocating our money. The story of Joseph is a picture of salvation. It points us to Christ, and if we’re so caught up in reading all these little details into the Bible, we miss the glorious message. In other words, if we’re consulting the Bible about chemistry, math, economics, politics, etc…we’re missing the forest for the trees. The purpose of the Bible is tell us the Good News, to tell us of our sin, of our need for redemption, of the Savior who gave His life for us, and of the Way to eternal life.
A Mises Weekend, Part 2
Apr 19th
So we finally got a table at the Berghoff and looked at the menu. I wasn’t terribly hungry, so we decided to get one appetizer, one main dish, and maybe something on the side, and we’d just split it. My dad wasn’t really interested in the German food, so we went with the seafood. I ordered a smoked salmon appetizer, he ordered stuffed sole, and we got potato pancakes on the side. When the plates arrived, my smoked salmon was served on a small wooden cutting board with pieces of salmon on a bed of lettuce and onions. My first thought was, “wow…that salmon is pink!” I inspected it closer and realized it was not cooked. Our waiter came back to the table and we asked about the salmon. He said it was not raw, it was smoked. But it wasn’t cooked. I guess there’s a very fine distinction between fish being raw and being smoked. But I knew one thing for sure: it was not cooked. Now this wouldn’t be a big deal for the people who have their hamburgers rare. But I’m really picky about this. I want my meat cooked. I hate making meatballs because I have to handle raw meat. At least I don’t have to eat them raw. So I sat there looking at my smoked (but not raw…lol) salmon wondering what I’d do. My dad tasted the salmon and said it was good. I was in an adventurous mood. Hey, I was in Chicago at this cool restaurant. I couldn’t walk out of there without even tasting the darn stuff. So I took a small bite, desperately trying to keep my mind off the fact that I was eating practically raw fish. And it was actually quite good. It did taste smoked. It had a wonderful flavor. And with the onions it was delicious. I think there were four or five pieces of salmon, my dad had a couple, and I had the rest…minus one bite which I just could not finish because I was so full. The lettuce which came with the salmon had this amazing vinaigrette dressing that was really, really good. And my dad’s stuffed sole was also quite good. It had little shrimp in it too. The first time I had shrimp was at Jekyll Island, and they were served cold with a cocktail sauce. I did not like them at all. But I liked them hot with the other cheesy, yummy, stuff in the, well, in the stuffing.
After dinner we went back to our hotel room where I sat eating fudge and watching Indiana Jones. I’ve heard a great deal about the show, but never seen it. At first I was intrigued by the oldness of the film, and at first I thought it was going to be interesting…but that was before the excitement started. For the next hour I was bombarded with these fantastical escapades and predictable last-second rescues from various deathly situations. We thought it would end at 9pm, so we watched until then. It kept going…till 9.15 when it seemed there would be no end at all, so I gave up on seeing the end because I knew what would happen anyways.
My dad spent about 20 minutes setting an elaborate system of alarms, quiet enough so it wouldn’t scare the life out of me, and loud enough that we wouldn’t sleep in all morning. As it turned out, we both woke up before the first alarm even went off. We were some of the first ones downstairs at the Mises Circle. It took us a while to find a good table because there were these giant pillars scattered around the room that would completely block the view from certain places. We claimed a couple seats at one of the best tables and started talking to people. After a few minutes some of our friends from the Rockford Mises Circle showed up. Our table rapidly filled up. And more came. It was a really nice event for me because I knew quite a few people, but not everyone. There were enough familiar faces that I didn’t feel completely lost but enough new people to talk to that it wasn’t boring or just like a reunion. It was fun getting to know others, and after Doug French made an announcement about our Rockford Mises Circles, all sorts of people wanted to talk to me, so that was nice.
I had heard several of the speakers the day before, but Jacob Huebert was a new speaker for me. I had heard Roderick Long at Mises U, but never had heard Jacob Huebert. He was amazing! A very bright, intelligent, and talented speaker. While some afterwards were talking about how depressing his speech was, I found it very inspiring and yet realistic. It is easy for me, as a young person, to be swept away by grand and unrealistic ideas, so it is nice to have a balance. And yet we can’t give up on liberty, we can’t just surrender and ever try to achieve more freedom.
Lunch was delicious, and afterwards there was a spirited Q&A with the speakers. The question of immigration came up…and never left. I think nearly the whole time was spent discussing various aspects of the immigration debate, it was quite interesting.
Afterwards we stayed for a while. And stayed. And stayed. By the time we left, the only others there were Mises staff members clearing up the book shop and the recording equipement. We consulted our train schedule and found we could catch a 3.30pm train, and we were so ready to get home we didn’t stop for anything to eat. The train was packed when we got there. It took us some time to find our seats, and it was sweltering inside. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long for the train to get started. However, it stopped at every little place along the way, so it took forever to get back to Harvard. But at last we got there, and discovered it was a beautiful day. Warm, sunny, springy, lovely. I got to drive all the way home, and we survived, as this blog post is proof of, and spent a couple hours filling the family in on all that we did.
So that was my Mises weekend
