More of the same...

Not much new to report. The work routine continues. My PT routine is getting back on track. All is good I guess.
I've blown through all my magazines and am now working on three books. Two I keep by my desk and one I keep in my hooch to read before bed. At my desk are a book on Criminal Law that was recommended to me by a professor at the Law School I'll be attending and Al Gore's Assault on Reason. Assault on Reason is the title, not the action, though just like the prior sentance, it is a little unclear at times.
In my hooch is a philosphy of religion book that my wife sent me.
Anyway, the law book is mostly my standby when I have time and no other books or magazines. I'm pacing myself on the philosphy book to finish it shortly before I leave.
I should be done with Al Gore's book within a week. I'm about a third of the way through it now. I've ranted at the low level of discourse in the world, so I agree with him there. I disagree with him about the novelty of it though. I'm sure he's hired lots of research assistants and done a lot of his homework on the issue, but can't help but think that the end product reflects assumptions he started with.
I don't think it was poor people publishing pamphlets in Eighteenth Century. I don't think wealth and power were ever truly separate in American history, or anywhere else (which of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence was not a rich white guy?).
In short, at least based on the premise he appears to be working from, I have some fundamental disagreements with him. I think individuals are responsible for themselves, even they aren't necessarily the rational actors that exist in some many theories. I also think that the market works, whether it is a market for a physical product or ideas. We as a population don't demand better, so we don't get better. Television didn't kill debate. Nanny government isn't able to pass a law that will restore it.
Lazy people who would rather keep grazing let it die and without so much as emitting a "baaa," and people have the same power to revive it. It's not particularly complicated, it is just takes effort.
I compare it to the market for weight loss. I have the secret: burn more calories than you take in. I know, it is really hard too. But while we spend billions on easy solutions, our obesity numbers increase. I'd be more sympathetic, but I was fat once.
I am trying to avoid rants, but it was on my mind and details about work are off limits.