My father, for as long as I can remember, watched the 500 club, Rush, and espoused Free Market Capitalism. It was his overarching concern. Taxes are evil, he would have been able to pay for more things and send us to better schools if he didn't have to pay them, government is done through the means of a gun. I heard this over an over for years. My Dad did, and still does, value his beliefs more than than actually talking with, rather than to, his own kids. So one day when I was about 18 (I am twice that age now), we were talking about my concerns about corporate dominance of the US.

He was going on and on about efficiencies, innovation, etc. which I didn't disagree with. I simply thought that some firms get too large and there should be some mechanism for that. The disagreement went back and forth till I made a rather extreme remark. "We should revoke all corporate charters... Let for-profit co-ops take care of large research and development needs...corporations exist at the whim of the people whose interests should be considered first." He was floored. He had been waiting for me to make a case for government takeover. I know this because he sputtered incredulously on the verge of yelling several times "What?? you want GOVERNMENT to take it over??" He simply wasn't prepared for a lateral approach to the problem.

18 years later, and even then, I don't think it was the answer but I am to this day astonished and saddened that my father, the man who was supposed to be my role model, didn't have the ability to think for himself. I learned a lot then. First and foremost that while my father was, and remains, a very principled person, he isn't a thoughtful person who thinks for himself. As a result I've adopted a more principle driven pragmatic approach to thinking and life. I also learned the importance of reading original text and further understanding the limitations, no matter how great the individual, and motivations of the author since my father always went on about...yep, the Founders.