Sentinels Past

"But choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you."
--Grail Knight (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)

One of my favorite reads is classical liberal writing from the 1920s thru the 1940s written not by 'professional' economists but by people in other fields. Their non-economic background facilitated a common sense, 'on the ground' perspective.

Henry Hazlitt may have been the most famous (notorious) of the bunch. But the list also includes Albert Nock, Isabel Paterson, and Garet Garrett. Garrett was for many years a writer and editor for the Saturday Evening Post. Like others in this group, his elegant literary style took aim at describing what he saw as the problems of the day. His critique of the New Deal and of our entries into WWII and Korea made him quite literally an unpopular fellow.

Here's one example of his thought processs. Note his reference to the Constitution's 'common welfare' clause we discussed a couple of missives back.

Garrett clearly understood the irreversible nature of government intervention. Once loss of liberty is rationalized for whatever reason, the proverbial slippery slope awaits.

I believe the contributions that Garrett and the rest of this group made to the historical record are underappreciated. For those people seeking a better sense of how todays problems connect with past actions, writings from this group can help connect the dots.