Jordan Peterson & the Economics of Christmas

I still plan to blog more about Jordan Peterson’s book, but here is column I wrote for Townhall.com that the book inspired”

In his book, “Twelve Rules for Life,” Jordan Peterson ties in the ancient practice of ritual sacrifice to the basic economic practice of delayed gratification.

“When engaging in sacrifice, our forefathers began to act out what would be considered a proposition, if it were stated in words: that something better might be attained in the future by giving up something of value in the present. […] Prosaically, such sacrifice—work—is delay of gratification, but that’s a very mundane phrase to describe something of such profound significance. The discovery that gratification could be delayed was simultaneously the discovery of time and, with it, causality (at least the causal force of voluntary human action).”
p. 164

While I’m not convinced by Peterson’s secular evolutionary narrative explanation, he is right to see a relationship between the religious ritual of sacrifice and basic economic thinking. In Exodus and Leviticus, sacrifice to God, tribute to God, redemption, and repayment with money all go together. See, for example, Exodus 30:11-16, where silver coins were given to God as a “ransom” and “atonement” for the lives of the men of Israel. Or Deuteronomy 14:22-27, where it is acknowledged that one can sell the items that one owes God, bring the money to God’s sanctuary, and buy the things to offer to God. Sacrifice is a kind of investing in the future.

Integrity & Love in the Intro to the 2nd Book of Proverbs

Proverbs 10.1-5 form an introduction to the second book in Proverbs, which begins with the inscription “the Proverbs of Solomon. Those verses lay out foolishness and wisdom as basic choices related to whether one will plunder or produce. The next seven verses are a second stage introduction which adds to the choice between plunder and productivity the issue of speech:

6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
- 8 The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.
  - 9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.
- 10 Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, and a babbling fool will come to ruin.
11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

Blast From the Past: Four reasons to memorize Proverbs

I wrote this post on my personal blog back in the summer of 2012:

Credentials to speak on the subject:

Until recently, I worked as a truck driver. Not really. I was a sanitation engineer. Not really. I was a portapottie guy.

But it involved driving a truck at about forty minutes at a time. And it had a CD player.

Using CD burning tech on my computer, I went into the truck with Proverbs 10, then 11, and 12. I memorized all three chapters so I could say it all in order from start to finish.

#ICYMI New Year’s resolutions that don’t plan for failure will fail

I originally wrote this piece on January 8, 2019 about forgetting to make New Year’s resolutions. Here it is with minor changes and updates for before the commencement of 2020!

Here’s the key point: if your resolution doesn’t have failure built into the plan then you will probably fail to keep the resolution.

Some people make New Year’s resolutions and others don’t. Some forget their New Year’s resolutions before February comes. Some realize two weeks into January that they forgot to make any resolutions and feel they missed an opportunity.

The Anti-Dominion Mandate

[This was originally posted at Townhall Finance.]

Star Parker recently wrote that “Marriage and Family Reduce Crime.” According to Parker,

There’s a general assumption in public policy discourse that economic policy and social policy are separate universes.
When economic policy is the topic, we think about taxes, government spending, business, jobs, etc. When social policy is the topic, we think about marriage, family, children, abortion, etc.
But, in reality, the line between economic policy and social policy is ambiguous, if it exists at all.

She cites a study that suggests that pregnancy is an amazingly effective intervention reducing the parents’ propensity for criminal behavior.

Other studies have shown similar correlations. And some have pushed back against such studies. A couple of years ago, The Federalist published an essay, “Why It’s Cruel and Stupid to Politicize Marriage and Hard Work as ‘Racism.’”

Homestead Yourself

[Originally posted at TownHall Finance.]

Some Libertarians like to talk about how each person is a “self-owner” and then derive political (or anti-political) conclusions.

I don’t agree with that method of deriving political ethics, but the model of self-ownership can be useful. Consider another piece of Libertarian theory: homesteading. The idea is that a territory becomes your personal property once you “mix your labor” with it. When you have transformed a field by working it, then anyone who tries to take over that field is a robber violating your rights.

New Podcast: Who Is Proverbs Written For?

Spoiler: Everyone, but especially to young men.

Uri Brito recently interviewed me for the Kuyperian Commentary podcast.

Here it is:

Be a Wise and Unified Ruler of Your Self, Your Life

When a land transgresses, it has many rulers,
but with a man of understanding and knowledge,
its stability will long continue.

via Passage: Proverbs 28:2 (ESV Bible Online).

As I’ve mentioned before (most recently, I think, here), Proverbs is written to a prince–a young man who is going to inherit a kingdom. But Proverbs obviously is written to everyone. It seems that, in an important sense, we are all kings called to rule over responsibilities, most basically over our selves.

With that in mind, Proverbs 28:2 applies not only to a land but to a person.

Stray Thoughts on Hezekiah & Solomon

My forthcoming book is not a commentary on Proverbs so it doesn’t address all the questions I have about the book. It addresses nine major lessons that Solomon says we should learn.

But there is a lot more to explore about Proverbs.

The Illusion of the Pyramid Society

The “pyramid society” is a well known concept–the architectural analogy for the totalitarian state managing all of society and making it function better than it ever could without such a controlling political authority. The few at the top guide the rest beneath them.

But the power of the image relies on a hidden reversal of reality. The pyramid is supposed to represent a stable society in which the top directs the rest.