Comments (20)

• Greg Ransom

  Hey. That's my fish aphorism.

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:09 AM

• Greg Ransom

  Great minds think alike. ;-)

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:13 AM

• Tim Kern

  "So what's so weird about an Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk "Structure of Production" t-shirt?" Well, you asked.

  Might I offer that compared to Barack, Eugen's name and image recognition are perhaps a bit lower...

  I still think it's a great idea. Without education, we're all sheep. Or pigs, depending on whose side we're on.

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:13 AM

• Roark

  I wonder if those wearing Obama and Che tees are enraged that the producers of those shirts are "exploiting" them by earning profits on said t-shirts....

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:37 AM

• Roark

  I wonder if those who buy and wear Obama/Che shirts are enraged that they are being "exploited" by the producers of those shirts?

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:39 AM

• Roark

  Whoops, sorry about the double post everyone!

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:41 AM

• fundamentalist

  What about a Hayekian triangle t? That would cause some puzzled looks!

  I have been thinking about the worship of Obama and reading Hayek's "Counter-Revolution in Science" and think I may know why people worship him. Saint-Simon, the father of socialism, worhipped science and scientists. He wanted the smartest scientists in France to get together and guide the country in all things. It seems that socialists since then have always worshipped intelligence and believed that our salvation can only come from us submitting totally and uncritically to the smartest people as absolute monarchs. They respect democracy only to the degree that it permits the smartest people to rise to leadership.

  It's similar to the belief among many scientists that the planet, and consequently the human race, is doomed to destruction unless we somehow manage to contact ET, who by definition is smarter than us and can show us the way out of our folly. Again, the emphasis is on intelligence that is greater than ours.

  That's why Democrats have always portrayed their candidates as being the smarter than the Republican candidate. Republicans don't get it it. They respond with "Oh yeah!" But intelligence is the only thing that matters to socialists. It is the sole criteria.

  That's why Democrats must attribute to Obama super-human intelligence. He's clearly a smart guy. He's a lawyer. But how smart can he be? After all, he's a lawyer! And they worship him because they understand that once the smartest human being on the planet becomes the ruler, their sole responsibility is to submit to him.

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:43 AM

• fundamentalist

  On the other hand, libertarians won't give you two cents for smart. We believe in the rule of principle. So we will criticize our leadership and each other for violating principle. Socialists take that to mean that we don't think we have the smartest people, else we wouldn't criticize them.

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:46 AM

• Sukrit

  It's not even about intelligence so much as it's about seeming smart. Both Obama and Bush are equally dumb, but one is just better at hiding it because he's more articulate.

  The fact is, Obama made no substantive contributions while he was a professor of law. His whole life has been about seizing power; even his quick jump from the Senate to the Presidency demonstrates his sole ambition has been to rule.

  Published: June 17, 2009 10:25 AM

• Art Carden

  Greg--really? That's pretty cool. I'll start citing you when I use it elsewhere.

  Published: June 17, 2009 10:29 AM

• Dennis

  "So what's so weird about an Eugen von Boehm-Bawerk "Structure of Production" t-shirt?"

  The Obama worshipers have little understanding or respect for the process of production. To them, the major economic issue is distribution, or more accurately, how to use the violence of government to redistribute production to the politically powerful. When they do talk about production, they concentrate on the erroneous notion that production can be increased or brought up to an acceptable level if aggregate demand is increased.
  

  Published: June 17, 2009 10:37 AM

• ShedPlant

  I was wearing my red LvM shirt (available in the store) today and it was recognised by a fellow libertarian! It made my day :).

  Published: June 17, 2009 10:55 AM

• Current

  That reminds me....

  Give a man a fire and he will be warm for an hour. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.
  

  Published: June 17, 2009 11:08 AM

• Matt

  I've had a few people ask me about my mises.org t-shirts. The red Mises shirt gets the most attention. For some reason several people think it's a picture of Stalin. I don't know what mixture of funny and sad that is.

  Published: June 17, 2009 11:40 AM

• l4k

  Two comments -

  Great fish quote. I will use it and not give proper attribution in the future.

  Regarding the t-shirt . . . and you wonder why some people think you guys are part of some strange econ cult?

  Published: June 17, 2009 12:14 PM

• Alexander S. Peak

  http://www.cafepress.com/murrayrothbard

  Far better than an Obama shirt.

  Cheers,
  Alex Peak

  Published: June 17, 2009 4:16 PM

• Greg Ransom

  Art -- I posted the idea on my PrestoPundit blog a few years back.

  What you want to do is attribute the idea to Churchill or Einstein .. or (if you are bold) to Jesus.

  Art writes:

  "Greg--really? That's pretty cool. I'll start citing you when I use it elsewhere."

  Published: June 17, 2009 7:46 PM

• Tomás

  fundamentalist,

  you're spot on. I've often told others it's not so much intelligence that counts, but whether or not you're a moral person. Murray was so right when he wrote his Egalitarianism essay, the old right/classical liberals need to take back the moral high ground from these utilitarian charlatans that wouldn't know a tyrant even if it stomped their face!

  Published: June 17, 2009 9:44 PM

• Nuke Gray

  Ditch all this altruism!
  Sell a man a fish a day, and you've got a repeat customer for life! Don't give your fishing secrets away!
  A Better T-shirt quote, which I made up, but which you can attribute to any wise being of your own choice, is "The only good tax, is a dead one!"
  With the anti-IP crowd, there are too many altruists around here!

  Published: June 18, 2009 12:21 AM

• Vanmind

  I get quite a few positive remarks about my red Mises and (especially) black Rothbard t-shirts, but I wouldn't wear a B-B shirt even if someone paid me. Decidedly un-cool.

  Published: June 18, 2009 4:22 PM