Date: Sun, 07/18/2010
Author: Mark Grannis
Some correspondence this morning with a friend who teaches economics reminded me of this 1946 essay/short story by Leonard Read. It's called "I, Pencil," and in it an unusually literate pencil substantiates the surprising claim that no one person on earth knows how to make a pencil, despite the fact that billions are made. The story is so simple that a kindergartener can understand it.
This is, of course, a celebration not of pencils but of human genius and of the remarkable way in which people in free economies coordinate their activities to produce things that are beyond the capacity of any single mind. The implications for centralized regulation of our natural productive capacities are clear enough.
Voting is one way to change public policy, and of course I hope everyone who reads this will vote for me and for other candidates who recognize how vital our economic liberties are to our well-being.
But if you want to improve our public policy not just for a couple of years but for decades to come, read this story to your younger kids and have your older kids read it themselves. It's short -- just 28 brief paragraphs that barely run to five typewritten pages altogether. Do yourself, your kids, and your country a favor and print it out.
www.grannisforcongress.org
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