Seeing What's There Lindy Davies Progress.Org / 2005 One Afternoon
Seeing What's There Lindy Davies Progress.org / 2005 One afternoon, back in the days of the great bloom of New York City panhandling in the early 90s, I made the by-then reflexive plunge into my pocket, and found nothing but a twenty-dollar bill. I explained to the beggar that the twenty was all I had, and I couldn't afford to give it to him. A conversation ensued, which, the guy told me, meant a lot more to him than the money. "When so many people walk by and don't seem to see you," he said, "you start to wonder if you might really not be here." I often think of that moment as I ponder the plight of the Georgists. Having been given the responsibility of acquainting the world with a radically important insight, they go out and find that people simply cannot see them or, if they can, they refuse to admit it! That makes the Georgists sound rather pathetic. But, despite their lack of honor in their own country, I'd suggest that the Georgists are not the most pathetic players in the field of political economy. True, they lack sophisticated training, popular support and institutional funding. Nevertheless, Georgists can accomplish one thing that most of today's credentialed economists have a great deal of trouble with: they can discern the obvious. A highly-skilled stage magician can make something huge -- the Statue of Liberty, say -- seem to disappear. Yet if that magician were to actually start to believe in his own smoke and mirrors -- if he actually expected the statue to be gone -- our feelings about his performance would shift from awe to pity.
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