And, by the way, how come all the people who were so in favor of unilateral nuclear disarmament are so opposed to unilateral protection against nukes?

A dugout is much superior to a conventional manufactured canoe because you can get soaking wet without bothering to capsize it.

Maybe a vague president and an incompetent and somewhat corrupt administration is what the nation needs.

Civilization is an enormous improvement on the lack thereof.

Think of what big governments have gotten up to in this century : not one, but two world wars, the gulag, the holocaust, aerial bombing of civilian population centers, the Berlin Wall, nuclear explosions, the post office. A wicked individual might want these, but he wouldn't have the cash and connections to get them. A villainous corporation could afford them but has to market the products. The Vietnam draft would be a tough sell for even the most fiendish businessmen. "Get shot! Get killed! Get diseases from foreign women who despise you in their hearts!"

Adam Smith's huge failure was the fact that he did not foresee the industrial revolution.

I had grown up as a feature writer, and basically my career had been in The National Lampoon and as a magazine editor, and I'd never been a reporter.