Archive for Donald G. Smith

Reflections on a Failure

Mr. Smith is a freelance writer residing in Santa Maria, California. The waning days of the twentieth century will undoubtedly bring a spate of books and articles on the people and events that shaped the era. Certainly the two world wars will be high on the list for examination, along with radio and television, air [...]

1Oct1997 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

The One-Minute Shed

Mr. Smith is a freelance writer living in Santa Maria, California. A friend of mine once spent a weekend building a cabana for the guests who would be using his pool. A neighbor must have objected because a building inspector arrived early on Monday and told him that it had to come down—no building permit. [...]

1Aug1996 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

Electability

Mr. Smith, a frequent contributor to The Freeman, lives in Santa Maria, California. I would like to be known as a former President who minded his own business. —Calvin Coolidge My favorite President is Rutherford B. Hayes. Almost unknown by the American public, Hayes served one term (1877-1881) in which there were no wars, no [...]

1Oct1992 | Donald G. Smith | 1 comment | Continued

The $100 Tree Fern

Mr. Smith, a frequent contributor to The Freeman, lives in Santa Maria, California. I once owned a $1,000 dog. I got him for $2 and a $998 cat. —old vaudeville joke Our house in Los Angeles featured a rather impressive planter area adjacent to the front porch. The builder—it was a new house—had put in [...]

1Aug1992 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

The Rifle by the Door

Mr. Smith, a frequent contributor to The Freeman, lives in Santa Maria, California. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. —Woodrow Wilson Our Founding Fathers were not saints. In spite of the Fourth of July oratory that tends to put them in the holy robes of the anointed, they were not this at [...]

1Jul1992 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

Microcosm: The Decline of U.S. Competitiveness

Mr. Smith, a frequent contributor to The Freeman, lives in Santa Maria, California. During my long stint in the aerospace industry, I spent ten years as a publications supervisor. I was responsible for the production of reports, proposals, manuals, technical papers, and slide and chart shows. In those Great Society years of 1965-1975, ominous changes [...]

1Jun1992 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

A Most Sensible Man

Mr. Smith, a frequent contributor to The Freeman, lives in Santa Maria, California.       Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest in his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of’ [...]

1May1992 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

Sports: The Great American Surrogate

Mr. Smith, a frequent contributor to The Freeman, lives in Santa Maria, California. There are many who trace the birth of big government to Franklin Roosevelt. While there is some merit in this, serious investigation will prove that the New Dealers were pikers when it comes to all-pervading, suffocating, nose-in-your-business big government. The real monster [...]

1Mar1992 | Donald G. Smith | 1 comment | Continued

Mr. McAllisters List

Mr. Smith, who lives in Santa Maria, California, frequently writes for The Freeman. Ward McAllister, a 19th-century social climber, coined the term “The Four Hundred” to determine who was, and who was not, among the social elite. The term had great relevance for him because it determined the other 399 people who could be comfortably [...]

1Feb1992 | Donald G. Smith | 1 comment | Continued

First-Person Singular

Mr. Smith, a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, lives in Santa Maria, California. There are two kinds of people; those who divide everybody into two kinds of people and those who do not. —Robert Benchley Any society is filled with conflicts. There are those who fight to keep what they have and those [...]

1Jan1992 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

A Toast to the Holidays

Mr. Smith is a writer living in Santa Maria, California. He has been a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal. The holiday season means many things to the divergent complex of human beings who constitute our Western civilization. For some it is a deeply moving religious experience, for some it is a round of [...]

1Dec1991 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

The Big Nag

Mr. Smith is a writer living in Santa Maria, California. He has been a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal. On January 4, 1977, I smoked my last cigarette. For anyone interested in further details, it happened in Burbank, California, at precisely 11 A.M., and the cigarette was a Lark. It was tough going [...]

1Nov1991 | Donald G. Smith | 1 comment | Continued

Freedom Is Not Elected

Mr Smith is a writer living in Santa Maria, California. He has been a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal. There seems to be a lot of confusion about freedom. Many people tie it to democracy or, to be more exact, representative government. The idea is that freedom is safe as long as elected [...]

1Oct1991 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

How to Be an Individual

Mr. Smith is a writer living in Santa Maria, California. He has been a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the capitalistic system is the emphasis placed on individual worth. Socialism herds people into classes, a practice which is repugnant to anyone who thinks of himself as a [...]

1Sep1991 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

Karl Marx: An Irrelevant Man

Mr. Smith is a writer living in Santa Maria, California. He has been a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal. I remember reading Karl Marx in college. The assignment was, to understate the case, a tedious experience. There is a quality about this ponderously dull man that makes the eyelids heavy, and his work [...]

1Aug1991 | Donald G. Smith | 2 comments | Continued

Hitting the Phantom Curve

Mr. Smith is a writer living in Santa Maria, California. He has been a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal. My son developed an interest in sports at an early age. As I recall, he was throwing a ball in the playpen while ignoring his stuffed animals. A born competitor, he grew up seeing [...]

1Jul1991 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued

The Locker Room Is Private Property

Mr. Smith is a writer living in Santa Maria, California. He has been a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal. In the past few months we have all read a lot of words on the subject of female reporters in men’s locker rooms. I am familiar with the contention of the reporters that they [...]

1May1991 | Donald G. Smith | 0 comments | Continued
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