First, let me admit I’m on the opposite end of the political spectrum from you, Tom. Of course the spectrum is really a circle, and the farther one goes in a particular direction, the closer “the other side” gets.

Like everything you write, this was a pleasure to read. I hadn’t thought about that pencil in years, although I’ve never been a fan of Friedman’s ideas. But that’s the point of civil discourse, isn’t it? We have to read and engage with others who are not like us.

The lesson of much of history is that “It instructs us to suppress our hubris, temper our ambitions and bear constantly in mind that what we know is infinitely less than what there is to know.” Bravo.

This brought me back to my time working in shoe and box factories where the fragmentation of production was evident. I’m curious about what you think of cottage industries, and whether you think they have any place in the modern economy. Having taught at an environmental college, I knew a lot of young people who were enraptured with entrepreneurial, decentralized production like sheep farms where the farmers also spun and sold wool.