Karlo rather than Groucho Marx for once

Of course, many of us recall what Karl Marx said at the beginning of The Eighteenth of Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (I must admit to finding it quite useful when I was doing history O level): History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.

Actually, that is a meaningless statement for if the first event, the tragedy, is history repeating itself, then there must have been an even earlier one. In his view Napoleon I was the tragedy and Napoleon III, the farce. But what came before that?

However, there is no getting away from the fact that all historical parallels one can draw for present events in Greece and Italy show the situation up as farce. For the time being, anyway.

So accurate

Eamonn Butler's e-mails from and on the activity of the Adam Smith Institute are always a joy to read. I strongly recommend that people should subscribe to them. Today he quoted Adam Smith from Book II, Chapter III of The Wealth of Nations:

Great nations are never impoverished by private, though they sometimes are by public prodigality and misconduct. The whole, or almost the whole public revenue, is in most countries employed in maintaining unproductive hands.

That, of course, is the answer to all those who are weeping at the suggestion of the slightest cuts in the public sector. That is all we have had so far: suggestions and a great deal of waffle about "fairness". But then, Adam Smith would have included politicians among the unproductive hands.

A new blog and a good quote

The blog is not exactly new but I have not come across it before. It is called Pileus and it describes itself:

Pileus is a group of scholars who examine public policy and philosophy in light of our respective disciplines. We differ in many ways but share a commitment to liberty and personal responsibility.

I shall return to it without doubt, even though I have a personal aversion to people who blog under the name of a historical figure, such as Grover Cleveland. His co-authors clearly use their real names.

I found this blog through Instapundit who linked to this story of gratitude to four black men and a gun bt Marcus Cole.

At the top of Pileus I found a quote from Samuel Adams. On October 14, 1771 he either said or wrote:

The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom and defended it as they ought.

I appreciate that this is a very Anglospheric sort of comment made by a man who looked around a world where liberty was appreciated if only in theory at times. There are many parts of the world where this comment would cause either derision or a sad sigh of impossibility. But it is a good sentiment to remember.