Off Topic

Periodically, I run across things that catch my attention. (In the interest of focus, maybe I need to set up a second blog.) Nonetheless:

A Biographical History of the Georgist Movement



“The grey heads and bald heads are in the majority. The problem that confronts those of us who want the torch held up in the future, is to fill up the ranks. In order to do that many things must be done, but we must not depend on the old or middle-aged. Somehow or other we must devise a way to reach the minds of the young people – when their minds are open, when they are ready for new truths.”

Mr. Rose, of Kansas City, Missouri (from a speech at the 1928 Henry George Foundation Congress, Chicago. Reprinted in: Land and Freedom, September-October 1928)

George's theories once were the basis for a mainstream political movement, but they have been largely forgotten in this century. George started by observing that people get rich just by owning land and the natural resources it contains, and need not ever contribute any productive labor or ideas to society. It was his view that you should get to keep what you actually earn by productive activity, but society should tax away whatever is "earned" merely by gaining control over scarce resources that should belong to us all.