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Show 4A Emery County Progress Castle Dale, Utah Tuesday March 6, 2001 Commentary CONFUSED Old People Are Cool ESy JAMES L. DAVIS Old people are cool, a fact that most young people don't realize until one day someone younger than they are calls them old. Which is a sad thing. Its sad because if I had known how cool old people were when I was young, then I might have taken their advice a little more, which would have resulted in my making far fewer stupid mistakes in my life. Hut I didnt heed the wise council of my elders and therefore I made many of the same mistakes my father tells me he made years before. In fact, I can recall on several occasions when my father sat me down and told me that he had made enough takes mis- in his life to fill sev- eral lifetimes, so I should be able to walk through life a without mak-ing- single blunder, as should my children. But I didnt listen and went out and immediately made even more mistakes. The only comfort I draw from those experiences is that the Davis family quota of mistakes should be filled well into the next millennium. If I can just get my kids to listen, which of course they wont because to them I am old...and not cool. Which is also sad. The older I the more I find myself not only listening to my elders, but seeking them out for advice, advice that I even, on occasion, take. One of my favorite kernels of advice was dispensed by my father on numerous occasions when I was younger and told him I was too sick to go to work. Upon hearing that my father looked me straight in the eye and said: Poor people cant afford to be sick. Go to work. So did and have been doing so pretty much ever since because, unfortunately, I am still poor. Young people, (of which I still consider myself a card carrying member, even if the card has gone through the washing machine a few times) are generally too busy looking at the road ahead to pause and say Heh, somebodys already been down that road and they drove off a cliff. But the coolest thing about old people is not the advice that they have to give, but the experiences they have to share. Because I think you only realize how interesting a life youve had when youre old enough to look back over your shoulder at all of the things youve seen. I know this because on the occasions when Ive sat and listened to my fathers generation Ive been amazed at the adventures theyve lived. Of course, they are usually quick to point out that it wasnt an adventure to them when they were experiencing it. They generally think it was pretty dull at the time. Ive been after my dad for years to write a book about his life, but he wont. Hell tap his head and say something along the lines that he cant remember all the details, all the adventures he has lived that were mere annoying routines when he was young. Which is why I think the greatest gift you could ever give future generations is to write a journal of your life. Just notes from the day, observations made about your normal, boring life. Since my dad wont write a book himself, Im thinking of sneaking a tape recorder into my pocket the next time we sit down for a nice, long talk. get 1 Because I Firee Mairkefts By SHELDON RICHMAN One of the great myths of the Industrial Age is that businessmen generally like free markets. That myth has deep implications and consequences. For example, someone who buys into it will tend to believe that proposals to deregulate markets are simply favors for special interests and inimical to the interests of most people. Advocates of deregulation are typically dismissed as flaks for POLITICALLY CORRECT great, great grandchildren will even think that Im old.. .and cool. By Tim Huber corporate interests. But that conclusion crumbles when we realize that businessmen histori- cally have opposed laissez faire. The same is true today. Stephen Labaton, writing in the New York Times, vividly pointed this out in a discussion of regulatory policy in the Bush admin- istration. The Times noted, for instance, that Microsoft, which did everything it could to defeat the antitrust suit brought by the Clinton administration, nevertheless favors restrictions on AOL in its merger with Time Warner. Microsoft Microsoft! has complained to the government that AOL is trying to monopolize instant messaging on the Internet. Such positions make it hard to interpret as a matter of principle Microsofts opposition to the antitrust suit. As the Times article pointed out, There are broad areas of the marketplace in which the government will remain active, not least because of demands from American business itself. Preston Padden, Disneys top lobbyist, was quoted saying, Sometimes a highly regulated administration is helpful and sometimes it is not helpful. What I would really like is the Gore administration to be regulating my competitors and the Bush administration to be regulating me. Padden is unusually blunt, but his position is par for the course. Businessmen, going back at least to the era of mercantilism 400 years ago, have typically embraced government as an effective tool to protect themselves from competitors. The word protectionism is usually restricted to d barriers to cheap imports. But the term has far wider applications. Business interests have long favored all kinds of regulations and taxes to hamper existing and potential competition. Taxes that make it difficult to accumulate capital to expand or set up businesses clearly favor established business leaders even if they have to pay the same taxes. The same is true for regulations. Older and bigger firms can more easily business-supporte- contend with such burdens than newer, smaller ones can. IBM and AT&T have bigger legal and accounting departments than some nascent garage operation. Many ideas for new businesses never get off the ground because of the regulatory and tax barriers. What the critics of capitalism have never realized is that there is nothing conservative about capitalism. Even most conservatives dont realize this. the Capitalism market economy respects no established interests. Why is that so? Because the driving force of capitalism is the consumer. For a business to do well, it must please consumers. Businessmen understand that. But there is a problem: we consumers are a fickle bunch. A business can be riding high in April, shot down in May, as the old Frank Sinatra song said. Look what consumers did to Toys R Us, Boston Market, and an untold number of companies that were once hot properties and even dominant in their fields. We consumers dont care how good a business was yesterday. Whats it done for us lately? You often hear it said that the model retailer, puts other stores out of rt business. Nonsense! never put a single store out of business. Its consumers who put stores out of rt business. True, makes it attractive to shop there. But Ive yet to hear of forcing even one person into the store. On the other hand, Ive many times Wal-Ma- low-co- st rt, Wal-Ma- Wal-Ma- Wal-Mar- ts heard of businessmen asking govern-- . ment, in effect, to force other companies to stop serving customers as well as they would like to. Businessmen know their fate is in the consumers hands. They know there is no safe harbor in the free market which is wrhy so many companies try to get government to adopt that is, anti-mark- anti-consum- er et regulations, and taxes. Its the only way to prevent consumers from switching to a competitor they like better. Once we understand that capitalism is not but proconsumer, we will understand that it is time to dump the regulatory state we have labored under for so long. (Richman is senior fellow at The pro-busine- ss Future of Freedom Foundation in Fairfax, Va.) HOME MADE What Makes A Nuturing Family? By PAULA WELLNITZ Back when I began writing these columns I suggested that there are four things a family needs to do to be a happy, nurturing family. I did not say they were the only things, but these four essential things are: 1. That each person living in your home accept himherself as a basically good person who is ready to learn and try to be a more whole person. 2. Persons in the 4. Persons in your home have to decide how to relate with the many other groups in your lives; school, work, church, TV, government, etc. so that these groups will be helpful to your homemaking. I have ahvays felt, without trying to check it out, that I wrote little about the fourth one. I tried to check today. Certainly at that time, I did say a little about it. Here and there I may have brought up a topic that expanded ways in which a family deals with the world outside itself without alluding to the principle. I have long been aware that with these four basic ideas there should really be a fifth one listed as well. That one is: How do the members of this family grow in spirituality? There was a time when one did not generally touch on this subject outside of certain situations. Spiritual life was seen as a whole separate category. It was not recognized how spirituality, or its lack, permeates and effects all of life. Fortunately, for the last several years it has been more and more admitted among most disciplines that the living of a truly spiritual life as an individual or family is important to all health and happiness. This is so, since we are a complete person that includes body, mind, emotions and spirit. We cannot neglect any aspect of self, if we wish to be happy and whole as individuals or as a group. So you can add that to your list of characteristics of a nurturing family that develops whole people, if you will. In the next few weeks lets see what may be some ideas to be discussed about numbers four and five. If you have any ideas you want to contribute, let me know. want my great, great grandchildren to know how cool my dad is. I might even start a journal of my life, as painfully boring as it may be. Maybe, Just maybe, my (Somiseirvaftive ireimJti: Letters to the editor should focus on public issues rather than private personalities or entities. All submissions must be verified prior to publication. Th j Crrrry Ccvty Progress reserves the right to edit letters not on'y to satisfy space constraints, ' but potential liability concerns. T V Emery County IProgiress VOICE OF EMERY COUNTY SINCE 1900 Administration Sylvia Nelson ClassifiedLegal Kevin Ashby Publisher Linda Thayn . Office Manager Darla Lee Circulation Editorial James L. Davis Editor Patsy Stoddard Staff reporter Ryan Peacock... Sports writer Advertising Sue Mosher. Jenni Fasselin Patsy Stoddard Director Office Display Classified Sylvia Nelson Receptionist v jvui ueuverea oy earner m Liarbon and Emery counties; $27 in Utah; $30 outwy of Utah per year by mail. n00"'! TUe8dBy Friday 9:00 8 m- t0 6:00 p m- at 190 Eaflt Eecl:aK,OUUh8:0 - Classifieds Deadline; Monday at 10:00 Fax (435) Telephone: (435) 381-243- padnacL(tVeSSi(!7U129, - a.m. for Tuesday's publication. 381-543- i88Ued nC6 progress etv.net. Bt Ca8tle Dale' Utah Wek Postmaster: Send change of address to RO. 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