Two lectures of note have been announced for the Omaha area. Even if you’re not from this area, I recommend the speakers and their books to you.

The first is a presentation by Dr. James K. Galbraith discussing "The Great Crisis and the Predator State." The talk is based on his book, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too."

The lecture will take place Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at the Holland Performing Arts Center, 13^{th and Douglas in Omaha and is part of the Holland Lecture Series.}

More information is available at this link. www.firstuuomaha.org/files/HollandLecture.html

The second lecture is by Matt Miller, giving the annual Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities at the Joslyn Art Museum. Miller’s topic is based on the thought a yoke of dead ideas is choking the US economy. The topic is from his book, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Unleash a New Prosperity.

The lecture takes place at 7:30 on Nov 4, 2009. The lecture is free to the public and proceeded by a reception and supper for $125.

More information is available by emailing ^{nhc@nebraskahumanities.org or calling 402.474.2131. An article about the lecture was in the Money section of the Saturday, October 17, 2009 edition of the Omaha World-Herald.}

I’m very much interested in the message of these two men because I think they may be expressing something I’ve been struggling to find a way to properly express myself. The dynamics of our economy have changed and we are failing to react to those changes politically. Indeed, we cling to certain political ideologies based on the assumption the old circumstances are still in place when those circumstances have changed.

Unlike the marketplace, our political system stifles innovation and we are trapped in a two party system unwilling and/or unable to react to the change around us. Accordingly, this is why I continue to advocate changing the rules of our political system to allow true competition from third parties.

I’m looking forward to reporting on the content of these two talks.

I’m wondering if Health Care Reform might lead to a return to a methodology in our society we seem to have left behind. Here is what I mean by that. Let me begin with a story.

As a young man, I was attending a Christmas time high school basketball tournament held in (what was at the time substantial) the field house for the major public college in town. Smoking was not allowed in the seating areas, but was allowed in the hallways.

This was a time in America before Vietnam had divided the country. There were a lot of World War II and Korean Veterans walking around still in robust health and unafraid of asserting themselves in various situations. In other words, if they saw someone doing something rude, foolish or unsafe, they were unlikely to pass by without comment.

Later in life, I confess to . . .