A little British snark

D.H. Lawrence was not a big Franklin fan. Image courtesy of wikipedia.

El Cabrero has been amusing himself, and, he devoutly hopes, the Gentle Reader, lately by thumbing through the pages of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. This week I've been looking at his quest for moral perfection.

It's hard not to like Franklin, even when he's taking the whole Protestant Ethic/Spirit of capitalism thing too far. But there are those who manage to dislike him. One such person was the British writer D.H. Lawrence.

When he was able to tear himself away from writing about sex, Lawrence put together an amusing but venomous look at American literature in which he singles "sturdy, snuff-coloured Doctor Franklin" out for singular abuse.

In his discussion of Franklin's list of virtues and his practice of them, Lawrence accused him of attempting to fence in the human soul:

Who knows what will come out of the soul of man? The soul of man is a dark vast forest, with wild life in it. Think of Benjamin fencing it off!

Oh, but Benjamin fenced a little tract that he called the soul of man and proceeded to get it into cultivation. Providence, forsooth! And they think that bit of barbed wire is going to keep us in pound forever? More fools them...

And now I, at least, know why I can't stand Benjamin. He tries to take away my wholeness and my dark forest, my freedom. For how can any man be free, without an illimitable back-ground? And Benjamin tries to shove me into a barbed-wire paddock and make me grow potatoes or Chicagoes.

Chicagoes?

Rave on, D.H. For all his quirks, old Ben lived a full and generally useful life. I'm not sure it would have been better spent writing highbrow erotica.

VOLUNTEERING AGAIN. Here's an interesting news story about the growing number of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteering to help civilians displaced and harmed by the war.

TAKING IT PERSONALLY. Here's an interesting article about how AIG executives who received post-bailout bonuses are feeling the scorn and ire of many people.

EAT IT. Are big changes coming to America's industrial food system? When an organic garden is about to be planted at the White House, anything is possible.

URGENT WHALE GENEALOGY UPDATE. Hippos may be their closest living relative. I was thinking maybe wolverines...

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Would you settle for the appearance of humility?

Arpad, aka Vanilla Iceberg, has mastered the appearance of humility.

El Cabrero has been having fun here lately with American founder Benjamin Franklin. This week's focus is on his quest for moral perfection.

(Been there, done that, put "Mission Accomplished" on the old aircraft carrier.)

As mentioned earlier, he had a little trouble with the virtue of humility, although he did make progress on seeming to be humble:

I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it. I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself, agreeably to the laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing to be so and so; or so appears to me at present.

Well, that's a start. But his method does have some practical merit:

When another asserted something that I thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there appear'd or seem'd to be some difference, etc.

It paid off:

I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner; the conversations I engag'd in went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I propos'd my opinions procur'd them a readier reception and less contradiction; I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily prevail'd with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the right.

I guess you could call that strategic humility.

EVERY MOUNTAIN SHALL BE BROUGHT DOWN, said Isaiah, but this isn't probably what he meant.

INVISIBLE WOUNDS. Brain injuries often dismissed as concussions are likely to be the most pervasive combat wounds suffered by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

SILVER LINING? Here's a tiny bit of economic good news.

GREEN JOBS. Improving energy efficiency could create thousands of jobs in Appalachia. And probably everywhere else too.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

The magnificent thirteen

Wu practices moral perfection every day.

As mentioned in earlier posts this week, the intrepid Benjamin Franklin set for himself the task of attaining moral perfection. (El Cabrero is far to modest to say in passing that I accomplished this long ago.)

In his methodical way, he came up with a list of virtues, along with a brief maxim for each. He then set about working on one virtue per week until he ran through the list and then started over, even making a chart to note his progress. Here's the list:

1. TEMPERANCE
Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.


2. SILENCE
Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.


3. ORDER
Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.


4. RESOLUTION
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.


5. FRUGALITY
Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself, i.e., waste nothing.


6. INDUSTRY
Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.


7. SINCERITY
Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.


8. JUSTICE
Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.


9. MODERATION
Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.


10. CLEANLINESS
Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.


11. TRANQUILITY
Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.


12. CHASTITY
Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13. HUMILITY
Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

I don't know where to start with a list like that. I think things like industry, moderation, resolution and sincerity are OK, in moderation. But half the fun of speech is trifling conversation. As a cradle Episcopalian, I have some serious problems with including temperance on the list. And don't even mention order. Finally, since this is a family blog, I will leave venery to the Gentle Reader's imagination.

While I find the quest for moral perfection amusing in the highest, I do agree with Ben on this: one virtue at a time is plenty. Maybe even too much.

A LITTLE FRUGALITY when it comes to military contracting might not be a bad idea.

BATTLE OF THE BUDGET. The federal budget proposed by President Obama will be the first stage of the struggle for universal health care.

UNIONS AND UNEMPLOYMENT. Economist Dean Baker takes on misinformation about the Employee Free Choice Act.

WV ITEMS. A collective bargaining bill for public employees has been introduced in the state senate. Mountaintop removal opponents are pushing the Obama administration to take steps to ban it.

ANIMAL MAGNETISM. Stop the presses! Cows tend to line up along a north/south axis.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Oh yeah, humility

Seamus McGoogle takes great pride in his humility.

As noted yesterday, as a young man Benjamin Franklin, whose Autobiography is the theme lately at Goat Rope, took it upon himself to achieve moral perfection.

It would be hard to say something like that today with a straight face...

Not surprisingly, he found his task difficult:

I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct.

From his reading and further rumination, he came up with a list of requisite virtues to pursue which he committed to writing. The first list included temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, and chastity.

He showed the list to a Quaker friend, who

having kindly informed me that I was generally thought proud; that my pride show'd itself frequently in conversation; that I was not content with being in the right when discussing any point, but was overbearing, and rather insolent, of which he convinc'd me by mentioning several instances; I determined endeavoring to cure myself, if I could, of this vice or follow among the rest, and I added Humility to my list, giving an extensive meaning to the word.

Leave it to a Quaker to bust your bubble...

SPEAKING OF RELIGION, here's a discussion of the results of a recent survey on religious identification in the US. There have been some major changes since the 1990s.

ON A RELATED NOTE, here are some reflections on religion, morality, and the idol of unfettered capitalism.

SERENITY NOW! Anger and hostility are bad for the heart, especially the male heart.

YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS. If you can.

URGENT RENAISSANCE VENETIAN VAMPIRE UPDATE here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Moral perfection

The era of the Enlightenment, sometimes called the Age of Reason, reached its peak in the 18th century. It was characterized by a cooling of homicidal religious zealotry and the growth of science and technology and a growing optimism about human possibilities.

Benjamin Franklin, the theme at Goat Rope lately, was nothing if not a child of the Enlightenment. A constant theme in his Autobiography is the quest for self improvement, which became a kind of American mania.

Franklin took to to a degree that probably seems comical to modern readers, jaded as we are by the terrors of history in the centuries that followed. Can you imagine writing something like this (with sincerity)?

It was about this time I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I know, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.

(Where are Augustine and Calvin on those extremely rare occasions when you actually need them?)

He found it to be no easy rowing:

...I soon found I had undertaken a take of more difficulty than I had imagined. When my care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason.

Not being a person to easily admit defeat, he determined to resort to a systematic method, about which more tomorrow.

THE WANING OF THE AGE OF CULTURE WARS? Maybe. Would that it were so.

ALSO WANING, in the wake of the economic crisis, is the well-being of many non-profit organizations. This one hits a little close to home for El Cabrero.

WAXING, the opposite of waning, could happen to labor unions with the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. Lawmakers in WV are contemplating changes in funding for this program. El Cabrero and others are also pushing for the state to expand benefits in order to be eligible for more federal stimulus money.

MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL mining is the subject of this NY Times editorial.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS. A book mentioned last week about Darwin and Lincoln, Angels and Ages was written by Adam Golpik, not David. My bad.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Scour the anchor

Image courtesy of wikipedia.

Perhaps the Gentle Reader has noticed that people who are actively engaged in doing productive things tend to be less quarrelsome that those who aren't.

El Cabrero came across a similar sentiment in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. When Franklin was working with a group of men on defensive preparations during the war between England and France in the 1750s, he noticed

...that, when men are employed, they are best content'd; for on the days they worked they were good-natur'd and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's work, spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with the pork, the bread, etc., and in continual ill-humour, which put me in mind of a sea-captain, whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at work; and, when his mate once told him that they had done every thing, and there was nothing further to employ them about, "Oh," says he, "make them scour the anchor."

GETTING IT RIGHT. Can we avoid the Mother of All Depressions? Can we make instead the Second Cousin of All Recessions? Only if we do just about everything right.

LABOR GOES GREEN. Here's a post from the AFLCIO blog on green jobs and good jobs.

ON THE SUBJECT OF READING CLASSICS, here's a cute item.

SPEAKING OF A CLASSIC, here's Nobel winning economist Amartya Sen's take on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments.

DARWIN AND LINCOLN, not necessarily in that order, are the subjects of David Gopnik's Angels and Ages. Here's an interview with the author.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

The little sacrifice of vanity

Benjamin Franklin, whatever else you can say about him, possessed a lot of social intelligence which he used to great effect in pursuing his various interests.

Yet another example of this can be found in how he approached gaining support for a lending library. At first, when he solicited subscriptions, he presented the library as his own idea (which it kind of was). But...

The objections and reluctances I met with in soliciting the subscriptions, made me soon feel the impropriety of presenting one's self as the proposer of any useful project, that might be suppos'd to raise one's reputation in the smallest degree above that of one's neighbors, when one has need of their assistance to accomplish that project.

From then on,

I therefore put myself as much as I could out of sight, and stated it as a scheme of a number of friends, who had requested me to go about and propose it to such as they thought lovers of reading. In this way my affair went on smoothly, and I ever after practis'd it on such occasions; and, from my frequent successes, can heartily recommend it. The present little sacrifice of vanity will be amply repaid.

According to Lao Tzu,

...the sage works without recognition.
He achieves what has to be done without dwelling on it.
He does not try to show his knowledge.

CLASS WARFARE? Jim Hightower thinks conservatives don't have a clue about it.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, here's another take on it.

GOING TO WASHINGTON. El Cabrero just finished and highly recommends Van Jones' book The Green Collar Economy. I just found out he's on his was to DC to work with the Obama administration. Here's an interview.

FORECLOSURES were up in Feb. over last year's levels.

HEALTH CARE. A business group issued a report that shows the US health care system is a liability.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Asking for a favor

Franklin at his printing press. Image courtesy of wikipedia.

The last few weeks at Goat Rope have been spent with Benjamin Franklin. The focus lately has been on his considerable diplomatic skills. You'll also find links and more or less snarky comments about current events below.

Whatever else you can say about Franklin, he had, in most areas of his live anyhow, social intelligence out the wazoo. One example of this in action came early in his career when he obtained the position of clerk of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

The post was agreeable to Franklin in terms of income, social contacts, and opportunities to drum up printing business. But it was a yearly appointment. One year, a wealthy and influential new member of the assembly made a speech against Franklin's reappointment in favor of another candidate.

Here's how he dealt with the problem:

I therefore did not like the opposition of this new member, who was a gentleman of fortune and education, with talents that were likely to give him, in time, great influence in the House, which, indeed afterwards happen. I did not, however, aim at gaining his favor by paying any servile respect to him, but, after some time took this other method.

The method was very simply to ask the gentleman for a favor:

Having heard that he had in his library a certain very scarce and curious book, I wrote a note to him, expressing my desire of perusing that book, and requesting he would do me the favour of lending it to me for a few days. He sent it immediately, and I return'd it in about a week with another note, expressing strongly my sense of the favour. When we next met in the House, he spoke to me (which he had never done before, and with great civility; and he ever after manifested a readiness to serve me on all occasions, so that we became great friends, and our friendship continued to his death.

Here's the punch line:

This is another instance of the truth of an old maxim I had learned, which says, "He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged." And it shows how much more profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent, return, and continue inimical proceedings.

Pretty slick.

HARD TIMES. Here's a good overview of a bad scene from USA Today.

GOVERNMENT-PROVIDED HEALTH CARE? Economist Dean Baker argues here that in a fair fight it would win out over private insurers.

CHICKEN LITTLE, REVISITED. Corporate America is having another hissy fit over the Employee Free Choice Act.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Information and improvement

This conversation improved and entertained both participants (although the one on the right has since shuffled off this mortal coil).

Goat Rope has recently been spending time in the company of Benjamin Franklin. Well, actually with his autobiography, but you get the idea.

Franklin achieved remarkable success in many of his endeavors thanks in no small measure to his skill in dealing with other people. As noted in yesterday's post, he made it a habit to avoid not only arguing with and directly contradicting others but also to state his own views in a modest and unassuming way.

If, as he believed, conversation is about informing others and being informed in turn and pleasing and being pleased by others, then stating opinions in a dogmatic way tends to shut things down. He said,

For, if you wish to inform, a positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may provoke contradiction and prevent a candid attention. If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fix'd in your present opinions, modes, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error. And by such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire. Pope says, judiciously:

Men should be taught as if you taught them not,
And things unknown propos'd as things forgot...

Many years before Franklin, Lao Tzu put it like this:

A good soldier is not violent.
A good fighter is not angry.
A good winner is not vengeful.
A good employer is humble.
This is known as the Virtue of not striving.
This is known as ability to deal with people.
This since ancient times has been known
as the ultimate unity with heaven.

GOT THE DIPLOMA. NOW WHAT? This isn't the best of years, economically speaking, to graduate from college.

HUNGRY COUNTRY. The nation's food banks may need a bailout if things continue as

DREAM ON. Research suggests that people interpret their dreams selectively.

RELIGION ON THE BRAIN. Adaptation or accident?

A LITTLE GOOD NEWS. Blenko Glass plans to resume limited production after closing earlier this year.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

The Tao of Ben

The late great Benjamin Franklin had considerable diplomatic skills whether he was pursing his many interests or that of his country. One insight that greatly contributed to his success was an early insight that arguments and forcible assertions seldom convince other people and may even have the opposite effect.

It's the old fact that if you push people, they usually push back.

In his early years, Franklin admitted to a fondness for argumentation. After reading about the life of Socrates, he even experimented with the Socratic method:

I was charm'd with it, adopted it and dropt my abrupt contradiction and positive argumentation, and put on the humble inquirer and doubter...I found this method safest for myself and very embarrassing to those against whom I used it; therefore I took a delight in it, practis'd it continually, and grew very artful and expert in drawing people, even of superior knowledge into concessions, the consequences of which they did not foresee, entangling them in difficulties out of which they could not extricate themselves, and so obtaining victories that neither myself nor my cause observed.

After a while, however, he gave up the practice,

retaining only the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence; never using, when I advanced anything that may possibly be disputed, the words certainly, undoubtedly or any others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to me , or I should think it so and so for such and such reasons; or I imagine it to be so; or it is so, if I am not mistaken.

And that made all the difference:

This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion to inculcate my opinions, and persuade me into measures that I have been from time to time engag'ed in promoting...I wish well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or receiving information and pleasure.

NOT GOOD NEWS. The unemployment rate jumped to 8.1 percent in February. Here's an analysis of the numbers by Dean Baker.

WAS IT ENOUGH? In light of that and other bad news, recent efforts to jump start the economy may not have been bold enough.

REUNITED. Efforts are in progress to reunite labor unions into a single, large umbrella organization.

EITC. Here's an op-ed by yours truly on the effort to enact a state Earned Income Tax Credit for families with low and moderate incomes in WV.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Book it

The Library Company of Philadelphia. Image courtesy of wikipedia.

El Cabrero has been musing lately on the long, active and generally useful life of Benjamin Franklin. His life is, among other things, a textbook example of the usefulness of social capital in making good things happen.

As mentioned in previous posts, Franklin and friends formed a discussion group called the Junto to discuss important issues of morals, politics, and such. Sometimes these discussions yielded very practical results. One such discussion mentioned yesterday led to the formation of a pretty sophisticated volunteer fire department.

Another such outgrowth was a lending library. During one of the Junto meetings around 1731, Franklin recalled that

a proposition was made by me, that, since our books were often referr'd to in our disquisitions upon the queries, it might be convenient to us to have them altogether where we met, that upon occasion they might be consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we should, while we lik'd to keep them together, have each of us the advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole.

That arrangement worked well enough for around a year, at which time he took the idea to a different level:

And now I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that for a subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got them put into form...and, by the help of my friends in the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company was to continue. We afterwards obtain'd a charter, the company being increased to one hundred: this was the mother of all the North American subscription libraries, now so numerous. It has become a great thing itself, and continually increasing. These libraries have improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies in defence of their privileges.

The Library Company of Philadelphia is still in existence today and these early subscription libraries helped pave the way for US public libraries as we know them today.

Not too shabby.

A GOOD FIRST STEP. The recovery package recently passed by Congress might help stem some job losses in the states, but more remains to be done.

UNCOVERED. A new report from Families USA found that one out of three Americans under 65 was uninsured at some point last year.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, there is also the issue of the under-insured, i.e. those with some coverage but not enough to cover basic health care costs.

WORKING WITH THE MEDIA. Here's a how-to guide to getting attention to issues that you think are important.

LOSING ONE'S EDGE. Sometimes mindfulness can be boring.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: IMPASSABLE

The more we get together

St. Florian, patron saint of fire fighters.

In this blog, El Cabrero has often referred to the research of Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam about the importance of social capital for solving all kinds of problems. Social capital can be defined as all the different ways people associate with each other in formal or informal settings.

The era of the Enlightenment was one that saw the blooming of social capital in many settings. Just one example of this is the Junto formed by the young Benjamin Franklin and friends (see yesterday's post). Short version: Franklin and pals would meet regularly to discuss and debate various issues of general interest "on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy."

Sometimes these discussions led to tangible results. Here's a major example taken from Franklin's Autobiography:

About this time I wrote a paper (first to be read in the Junto, but it was afterward publish'd) on the different accidents and carelessnesses by which houses were st on fire, with cautions against them, and means proposed of avoiding them. This was much spoken of as a useful piece, and gave rise to a project, which soon followed it, of forming a company for the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual assistance and removing and securing of goods when in danger. Associates in this scheme were presently found, amounting to thirty. Our articles of agreement oblig'd every member to keep always in good order, and fit for use, a certain number of leather buckets, with strong bags and baskets (for packing and transporting of good), which were to be brought to every fire; and we agreed to meet once a month to spend a social evening together, in discoursing and communicating such ideas as occurred to us upon the subject of fires, as might be useful to our conduct on such occasions.

The idea proved its usefulness and let to the formation of many similar companies throughout Philadelphia. Over time, the Union Fire Company procured fire engines, ladders, fire-hooks and other equipment. Writing more than 50 years after the original founding of the fire company, Franklin wrote

...I question whether there is a city in the world better provided with the means of putting a stop to beginning conflagrations; and, in fact, since these institutions, the city has never lost by fire more than one or two houses at a time, and the flames have often been extinguished before the house in which they began was half consumed.

THE STATES AND THE RECESSION. Here's a good source for state foreclosure and unemployment information.

RIGHT TO ORGANIZE? Employees fire pro-union workers in one out of four organizing drives, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

THE CHEERFUL GIVER. This item discusses the psychology of giving.

MORE SUPREME FUN. Here's yesterday's NY Times on the Massey Energy/Don Blankenship/WV Supreme Court case that was argued Tuesday before the US Supreme Court and here's the latest from the Charleston Gazette.

EXERCISE IS GOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN, especially as you get older.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

The Junto

The American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia was an offshoot of Benjamin Franklin's Junto. Image courtesy of wikipedia.

Lately Goat Rope is hanging out with founding father and all-round interesting guy, Benjamin Franklin, but you'll also find links and comments about current events. The series started last week with Poor Richard's Almanac if you feel inclined to take a look.

For the next few days, I'll be combing though his autobiography for interesting nuggets.

One of the characteristics of Franklin's era of the Enlightenment in Europe and what would become the United States was the growth of civil society, which can be understood as voluntary associations outside the realm of government and commerce. It's an important example of social capital (search the Goat Rope archives for an earlier series on that).

People, usually men of at least middling means, would gather in clubs, coffee houses, and other locations for fellowship, conversation, self-improvement and social betterment. Such gatherings helped create the public sphere, as the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas has noted. They also paved the way for greater democratization.

Franklin was a social capitalist extraordinaire, founding and participating in all kinds of groups. One of these he called the Junto. As he put it,

...I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the JUNTO; we met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company; and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory; and, to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.

The club endured for several decades and span off several similar groups, including the American Philosophical Society. Franklin and others found that such gatherings polished their thinking and communication skills and were directly or indirectly useful in their business and public affairs.

It was an early illustration of Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam's idea that social capital is the building block of other kinds of success. It's a sad fact that many indicators show that social capital has declined in the US beginning in the second half of the 20th century. And we're paying the price for that.

DEPRESSING NEWS. Here's Dean Baker's latest on the economy.

RETHINKING NATIONAL SECURITY. It's way more than terrorism.

MORE SUPREME FUN. Here's an AP article and something from the Gazette summarizing debate at the US Supreme Court in the Massey/Blankenship/Benjamin saga. I missed this NY Times editorial on the subject that ran Monday. It could be months before the court reaches a decision.

DREAM ON. Messing with sleep patterns messes with your metabolism.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

A reasonable creature

They do eat other fish, after all.

There are plenty of amusing interludes in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, but one of my favorites has to do with his resolution as a young man to become a vegetarian.

He kept to his resolve pretty well for a good stretch, until he was on a boat journey from Boston when people began catching cod.

...Hitherto I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion I consider'd...the taking every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them had, or ever could do us any injury that might justify the slaughter.

The problem was, those cod looked and smelled pretty good as they were being cooked. While he considered his vegetarianism as reasonable, there was this little issue:

...I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and, when this came hot out of the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanc'd some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then thought I, "If you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you." So I din'd upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet.

Here's the punchline:

So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do.

Roger that.

HEALTH CARE NOW? Bring it on.

GREEN JOBS, good jobs.

MORE FUN WITH THE SUPREMES. Here's the Washington Post on the Massey Energy/Don Blankenship/Brent Benjamin/WV Supreme Court saga now before the US Supreme Court.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

An American original

Image courtesy of wikipedia.

If there is such a thing as an American archetype, it might be the idea of the nation as a place where one can remake oneself and create one's own destiny. It was never exactly the case for many people, but it did seem to happen often enough.

If that's the case, then the original model for such a person may well have been Benjamin Franklin. Last week, Goat Rope took a look at some nuggets from his Poor Richard's Almanac. It only seems right at this point to give a shout out to his famous and enjoyable Autobiography.

Now every autobiographer is arguably by definition an unreliable narrator, but Franklin's would be worth a look even if it was a work of fiction. It is also an early example of America's long love affair with self-help books, since it is chock full of advice and axioms for self improvement.

Franklin began writing it in 1771 at age 65 while residing in England. He returned to it in 1784 and worked on the later sections in 1788. The work was uncompleted and ends abruptly sometime in the 1750s, well before his role in the American Revolution.

Over the next few days, Goat Rope will serve up a plateful for the Gentle Reader's consideration.

BUBBLE, BUBBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE. Here are some thoughts on the origin of the economic crisis.

THE DESERVING POOR. Times like these put a different face on poverty.

SUPREMES. Here's the latest on a case now before the US Supreme Court regarding the propriety of a justice elected mostly due to the money from Massey CEO Don Blankenship ruling on cases involving Massey. And here's background.

PORN AGAIN. A study of credit card receipts finds that the states that consume the most pornography tend to be the more conservative and religious.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Regarding that upon which even kings must sit

Franklin loved to pretend to adoring Parisians that he was a backwoods sage. Image courtesy of wikipedia.

El Cabrero has been thumbing through Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac lately in search of bloggable nuggets. The ever busy Franklin began publishing it as a young man in 1733 and kept it up for around 25 years.

Even when he ceased writing for it in 1758, his career as a revolutionary was still a good way off. However, you can find some healthy skepticism about monarchy and the pride of the powerful in the Almanac.

Here are some samples, beginning with my favorite:

The greatest monarch on the proudest throne
is oblig'd to sit upon his own arse.

In the 1930s, the late great Woody Guthrie reminded us that some will rob us with a six gun and some with a fountain pen and in the 1980s Bob Dylan sang that "steal a little and they throw you in jail/steal a lot and they make you king." Poor Richard got there first:

Robbers must exalted be,
Small ones on the Gallow-Tree,
While greater ones ascend to thrones,
But what is that to thee or me?

And here are some more:

In rivers and bad Governments
The lightest things swim at the top.

Many princes sin with David
but few repent with him.

You may give a man an Office
but you cannot give him discretion.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BUDGET BATTLE. President Obama's proposed budget represents a dramatic break with the Reagan legacy (it's about time). Here's Krugman's take.

OUCH. The latest unemployment numbers are worse than many expected.

CLEAN COAL? Not so much.

THE HUMANITIES are up against it in the wake of the recession.

URGENT BOUNCING PSYCHEDELIC FISH UPDATE here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Poor Richard on piety

Ben Franklin's amigo François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire (1694-1778). Image courtesy of wikipedia.

El Cabrero has been combing through Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac lately in search of bloggable nuggets. I found a few items on the subject of religion that seemed worth a look.

Franklin, like many people in his generation, tended towards Deism, a rationalist outlook that believed that God figuratively speaking wound up the world's clock and then got out of the way (although he tried not to antagonize those with more traditional beliefs).

Most Deists rejected miracles and any revelation other than reason, although they tended to support rational moral virtues and many believed in some kind of afterlife. They tended to believe that God did not intervene in the world's affairs, other than by giving people the use of reason. As Voltaire put it,

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Deism can be seen in part as a rejection of the dogmatism and fanaticism that led to so many of the wars and religious persecutions in European history. This quote from the Almanac pretty well expresses that:

Many have quarreled about Religion
That never practiced it.

Ain't that the truth?

Here are some more:

A good example is the best sermon.

None preaches better than the ant,
and she says nothing.

(Ben had the Protestant work ethic out the wazoo...)

Here's one for the road:

Don't judge of men's wealth or piety
by their Sunday appearances.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BUDGET BATTLE from those waged during the Bush administration looms. The NY Times reports that President Obama's proposed budget will call for closing tax breaks for the wealthy to expand health coverage and a serious approach to climate change.

ECONOMISTS TALKING SENSE. Thirty-nine prominent economists have signed on to a statement in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. They also took out a full page ad to that effect in the Washington Post.

BANK ON IT. El Cabrero is a fan of the work of Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. Here's his take on the banking mess. And here are his words of wisdom:

Indeed, the incentive system put in place by financial companies has produced the worst possible economic system mankind can imagine: capitalism for the profits and socialism for the losses...

No incentive without disincentive. And never trust with your money anyone making a potential bonus.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE. The economy may be tanking, but shark attacks are down.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Fish and visitors

This week El Cabrero is combing through Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac in search of wisdom, wit and entertainment. As is the case with the work of many of the founders, quite a bit of his work holds up pretty well. Enjoy. And for less witty links and comments about current events, scroll on down.

Here's one for anybody who has had company overstay their welcome:

Fish and visitors stink in three days.

(I'm not sure that's always the case, but sometimes it doesn't take three days for either.)

But Poor Richard often pointed out that our biggest problems weren't caused by others but by ourselves:

He that composes himself
is wiser than he that composes books.

Who has deceiv'd thee as oft as thy self?

He that won't be counsell'd, can't be help'd.

TRUTH SQUAD. Media Matters is exposing misinformation about unions, workers, and the Employee Free Choice Act.

INDULGENCES (of the religious variety) are making a comeback.

HEALTH CARE COSTS now exceed $8,100 per person in the US.

DON'T FORGET RECESS. Play and nature time is important for children's learning.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Poor Richard, old Ben

You know who. Image courtesy of wikipedia.

Many of the founders of the United States were brilliant and colorful people, but few had as interesting and varied a life as Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Author, revolutionary, entrepreneur, scientist, diplomat, citizen, innovator...the list could go on and on.

Before he was an actor on the world stage, Franklin published the popular Poor Richard's Almanac between 1732 and 1758 under the pseudonym Poor Richard or Richard Saunders. It contained all the usual calendar and weather stuff we associate with almanacs, but is best remembered today for Poor Richard's wit and wisdom, which ranged in subject from religion and politics to marriage, love, money, and lots more.

Along with the usual links and comments about current events, we'll be sampling a little of Poor Richard's fare this week at Goat Rope.

Why don't we start with the subject of foolishness?

The World is full of fools and faint hearts, and yet every one has courage enough to bear the misfortunes and wisdom enough to manage the affairs of his neighbor.

Some things never change. But wait, there's more:

He's a Fool that cannot conceal his Wisdom

That reminds me of what a friend said about a certain politician, to wit "He's usually the smartest person in the room but isn't smart enough not to show it."

Poor Richard particularly enjoyed poking fun at educated fools:

A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.

The most exquisite Folly is made of Wisdom spun too fine.

It's unlikely that we'll ever be rid of fools or our own foolishness, which leads to a dilemma:

It is Ill-Manners to silence a Fool
and cruelty to let him go on.

BANK ON IT. Paul Krugman discusses nationalization here.

WHITHER CAPITALISM? In this op-ed, Benjamin Barber muses on the future of capitalism.

NICKNAMES, MESSIAHS AND MORE are discussed in the latest edition of the Rev. Jim Lewis' Notes from Under the Fig Tree.

MORE SUPREME FUN. El Cabrero missed this one last week. Here's a cover story from USA Today on the Don Blankenship/Massey Energy/WV Supreme Court saga.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED