Prejudice means making up one’s mind before getting to know the whole truth about people, things, or circumstances. It is looked upon as a character weakness, but rather than being a flaw, prejudice is a powerful survival mechanism and is evident in the life of every person. As advanced, thinking beings, we have developed, over the expanse of human history, the ability to distill a rapid awareness of things that may be a danger to us from an overwhelming flood of signals from our environment.

Gwyne Dyer, in his 1985 book, “War,” noted that the problem with history is that there is too much of it. He was addressing military history in particular but it is clear that the same holds true for all branches. It isn’t possible for a single person to get his or her mind around human society of all times, places, and circumstances. Much of history isn’t even recorded because historians necessarily need to be selective. A great deal of what happens is considered unimportant, but that unimportance reflects the prejudices of the historian.

Shelter is a fundamental human need. It is important for the safety and well being of nearly all people. It is essential for human society. Thus, it is a very appealing target for do-gooders and special interests. In spite of being subject to many regulations and manipulations, however, American housing markets still operate with a fair degree of freedom. People in most localities can generally choose the size and quality of their homes, where they want to live, and what they are willing to give up to pay for it.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That is a common idiom because it is so true and obvious. Different people value things differently. That is quite evident during summer mornings with the perennial warm weather phenomenon, the yard sale. Sellers put their goodies out for sale because they no longer have a use for them or they got something better or they are moving to a different home or simply because they like to have yard sales. Whatever the reason, if you drive around on a warm summer weekend, you are likely to come across someone with something to sell.

Albert Einstein said “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” That applies, in a very profound way, to economics. Most of the transactions between human beings are not measurable, yet they are extremely important for understanding economic phenomena and results in society. Marriage and family involve some of the most important and far-reaching economic relationships in life, the adding of value to others by mutual cooperation, yet most of those transactions are not measured or measurable.

Two men from a century and a half ago gave us a template to use against modern policies that wage war on freedom in America.

Various people have commented over the years about what they view as anti-intellectualism in America. They believe that a large number of people despise intellect and brilliant minds. Certainly, anti-intellectualism can be dangerous for any society, since progress comes from ideas put into action. There really isn’t any significant portion of American society, however, that is truly anti-intellectual, in the sense of being against people who think.