Zimbabwe and political and economic freedom

If this case does not convince you of the evils of repressive political, economic, and other policies, I have no clue what will.

Mugabe blames Zimbabwe's troubles on Britain, whites, foes

"HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe devoted his first major speech since the unresolved election three weeks ago to denouncing whites and former colonial ruler Britain, an attempt to convince Zimbabweans their political and economic troubles stem from abroad.

The scene at the official 28th Independence Day celebration Friday had all the pomp of old, with air force jets sweeping overhead and Mugabe, bedecked in sash and medals, striding past soldiers at attention.

But any private observances by ordinary Zimbabweans were likely muted — prices for food, gasoline and drinks have more than doubled just in the past week amid an economic meltdown that has emptied store shelves and idled four of every five workers.

"There are black people who are putting prices up, but they are being used by the whites," Mugabe said, promising to tighten laws that set prices and to crack down on — and possibly take over — businesses that break the rules."

This is not only a country with serious and deadly shortages of food and other basic needs, it is a country that, as of yesterday, had an inflation rate of 165,000%, the highest recorded rate since Weimar Germany, by many credible estimates I have seen.

Zimbabwe's unemployment rate is at 85%. And food and basic need shortages are at intolerable levels.

There is a reason why the most recognized poverty and famine economist in the world, Amartya Sen, favors free trade and free economies.

And this situation in Zimbabwe reflects that reason better than any other case in the world, perhaps, right now.

May we find the wisdom and the courage to listen to reason.

Quality people

I have to say that the best part of this job - for all of its frustrations - is the people I work with.

It is kind of a lesson in cream rising to the top, within any particular situation. Because my administration, I think, are really some of the most quality people in the building and some of the most quality people I've met in my life.

This work is really hard. And anyone who sticks with it for that long has a lot of respect from me.

But it really nice to have people in positions of authority and even colleagues who I can talk with, openly, who listen and have constructive advice to offer, generally, and who are not so stuck on themselves and self-preservation that they become more of a burden than they do a help, as my administration, and too many teachers were, last year, for me. I've made my own mistakes as a teacher to be responsible for. But working with people who are always dragging you down and making life hell is really the worst thing for a person to experience on a job.

And the strongest quality about this school is the quality of the people I work with. It's one if not the least threatening environment I've ever work in, so I can talk with colleagues and administrators and they are generally people who care more about kids and the work than most teachers and administrators I've work with, up to this point.

I'm frustrated. Because I feel like I'm offering help to kids that don't want the help much of the time. They need it. But they don't want it, often. And it gets tiring dealing with the defenses of teachers as well as kids for why kids are behaving so poorly rather than just saying, "Who knows all the reasons these kids act so badly. We care about them. And we are sticking by them despite all of that because we care. And someone has to teach them to behave better, or else there really is very little hope for these kids. And if they were my kid, I would want them to have teachers who cared that much, no matter what explanation we could come up with for their behavior."

But there is a part of me who also misses, badly, the experience of succeeding and achieving on my own merits and not having it dependent on the efforts of those who are least prepared to achieve, who have contempt for that kind of achievement, often, as much as resisting it, who often have few intentions of really turning that around because life doesn't seem so bad as a badass or because school or growing up just isn't that important to them, and whom everyone around them seems more committed to defending their behavior than correcting it or working to improve their behavior.

There is a part of me who misses working for excellence and having it recognized. Where caring is seen as a strength (although, the truth is that caring seems to always be taken as weakness, no matter where you are, when everyone is rationalizing what shitheads they are). I miss achieving excellence on my own merits, or even failing on my own merits, but having any recognition, awards, or other reinforcements being based on my own abilities and not on the vagaries of the behavior of others that I have very little if any control over.

Special education feels, often, like one long catch-22, where everything I do, because it never gets us to a goal that is always elusive is never, ever good enough. And that wears on my heart, after awhile. If I didn't care about the kids so much, I wouldn't put up with any of it, is the truth. The behavior from the kids, the behavior of parents, the half-ass reasoning and commitment of too many teachers, the abuse from administrators that I dealt with last year, and all of the bullshit I have experienced in this career.

That's why I'm always thinking about other options.

I want to love this job like my last relationship where I never thought about anything else because I loved that relationship that much. I want to either love my job, that much, to be rewarded, in lieu of loving a job that much, or know that I am doing something that really matters that much.

Right now, I'm not getting enough indication that this work really matters that much to anyone, really. Certainly not to the kids, most of whom would love to see me quit, at this point, I'm sure, since I guess I have something of a reputation as the tough teacher in the cluster. And many of the teachers would write me off as yet one more reason that there isn't much hope with these kids anyway. I know that all of the teachers and administrators at this job care more than most teachers or administrators I've encountered, because they treat me and everyone more decent than any crew of teachers or administrators I have ever worked with.

But it is discouraging that so many of these same people seem to act like they really don't think this work matters.

Because, after awhile, when most people you are working with think that your work doesn't really matter, maybe it really doesn't. If it doesn't matter to the people who are doing the work - either kids or adults - maybe it really doesn't. Maybe I need to let people live their lives day-to-day and stop getting in the way of that and go live a life that has integrity but which is less frustrating, with more rewards, and less dependent on the vagaries of the behavior of others.

Investment has a calling for me, for that reason. Once you get your head around it, Warren Buffet's $62 billion is not too much of a mystery. It's just investing with intelligence and integrity. That's why Benjamin Graham called his book the Intelligent Investor. And Buffet can live his life working with one partner, his best friend, who he trusts, make a shitload of money, and be dependent on only those businesses and partners he trusts. He can give his money to good causes. But he is not dependent on his charity work to achieve important things in the world.

And if this work really doesn't matter that much, maybe that would be a better route for me.

That and some writing.

I don't know. I'll keep chewing on it.

Famine, food shortages, and economic freedom

Hand to mouth

"THE rising cost of food is being felt around the world, by the poor especially and, in turn, by politicians. Greater demand from China and India as more people switch to rich diets is lifting prices, which had been low for some 30 years. Last week the prime minister of Haiti resigned in the face of a mob angry at the cost of food, while the Philippines made hoarding rice a crime punishable by life imprisonment. The price of wheat rose 77% in 2007. Since January the price of rice has jumped by 141%. But growing more food takes time, and as the land available for production has decreased, governments and farmers must look to improve crop yields."

That kind of fairly typical reaction is exactly why Amartya Sen argues, I think wisely, that though governments can be helpful in crises to provide emergency relief and in providing basic needs, freer markets, not less free, are the best way to address hunger and famine.

Governments can and probably should help in emergencies, when no other actor is helping or can provide enough help quickly enough.

But repression, limiting freedom, in the face of crises is the $64 million fuck-up of humanity throughout it's long history.

We've just somehow distorted that long established fact of history into some kind of rationalization for power and a solution that has never really been a solution.

Why? Because that is the fairly typical reaction for people to have when they get scared. To get aggressive. To use force. To strike out. At something. Someone. Somewhere. Someone has got to pay.

It's fruitless. And counterproductive. But we fuck it up over and over and over again and again and again. Each time we have a new name for it. Each time its the same old fuck up.

People and societies that take the principle of freedom seriously, even in the face of emergencies - which happen fairly frequently, you may notice, and will happen frequently enough for the length of humanity's stay here on earth - tend to be stronger, safer, more successful and deal with such crises less.

If the dire situation in places like Zimbabwe do not convince us of this fact, I do not know what will.

What I know is that free trade is not a slogan, an accident, or a conspiracy.

Political and economic freedom are the foundations of a strong, decent and prosperous society.

If we only have the courage to take them as seriously as they deserve.

Doing something with my life

Much of the problem with the world, I'm convinced, is that most people are so lost in their own bullshit - their rationalizations for why they want whatever they want whenever they want it, right now - that they have a really hard time understanding the consequences that follow. I've been guilty of that plenty in my life. But I also tend to take responsibility better than most people, is the truth. And I get tired of dealing with people who won't or don't, much of the time, because it's just too challenging for them to face up and face themselves.

I need a life where I deal with more people who take responsibility more often.

And for some strange reason, I chose two fields - education and politics - where taking responsibility is the exception much more than the rule.

And I think I'm insane if I do that for a lifetime when I have so many other choices that don't involve staying lost in the bullshit, so much. I'll still teach my two years of my scholarship. I'll still write my book, probably. But I'm preparing myself for something else, long term, I think.

Because I'm just not willing to live my life lost in someone else's bullshit into eternity because they are just too chickenshit to face themselves and the choices they make.

I am not willing to work, my entire life, in fields where victims are the rule and grown-ups are the exception.

But, for now, I can do some good, while I get started on something that at least does more good for me, if everyone else isn't really terribly interested in doing something better with their lives.

That used to be academia. But I have to say, that, for the first time in my life, I'm not so sold on the nobility of academia. Not because it's not noble. I think it is. But because it's completely clear to me that universities, like everywhere else in the world, are places where bullshit overwhelm honesty far too much. And if honesty is not something I can count on in academia - as much as I can count on it more, there, generally, than other places in the world - then there really is no fuckin' point to that route.

And so the door of life is completely wide open to whatever I think would make me happiest, for me, at this point.

Because I have done my part. I have done my duty to lift up humanity. I will write at least one book to add to that contribution.

But I need something for me, too, and not just a life trying to make everyone else feel good when everyone else are not necessarily committed to such a fate.

If people want to be unhappy, I say so be it. If people want to be bitter, cynical, self-righteous, or any of the rest, I say, so be it. If you want to be happy or achieve something with your life, go fuckin' do it and stop whining about it.

Me. I think I've done my bit for humanity. I think it's time for me to do something for myself and not just be thinking about everyone else, all the time. God knows a lot of people could give two shits about me, or anyone else besides themselves, for that matter.

I'm tired of thinking so much about everyone else when everyone else is not really thinking much about me, most of the time.

I'm tired of trying to help others find a route to happiness and success that they just don't really think they can bring themselves to get their minds or hearts around.

The one thing I have complete control over is me being happy and successful.

And that is something I plan on doing with my life, with or without anyone's help.