One of the reasons I’m reading, studying, listening to the Bible is to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of my own civilization, culture, history. I love reading or hearing a passage that makes me think, So THAT’s where that comes from. The starkest example so far is John 15:15, where Jesus tells his disciples

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

I heard that while driving to Philadelphia on Thursday night, and I thought So THAT’s why the Quakers call themselves “Friends”!

But while I felt confident that my guess was right, I wanted to confirm it. I figured I’d get online at the hotel that night and look up the chapter and verse on Google, combined with the word “Quaker” and see who said what. A little later in the drive, I reported this hypothesis and plan to my wife, who said she was at a computer and could look it up for me. I walked her through the steps I had planned — first find chapter and verse at newkreation.com, then Google the rest — and sure enough:

They thought of themselves as friends of Jesus and referred to themselves as “Friends of Truth” (from John 15:15). Later, they became known simply as “Friends”.

Jeffrey Tucker on “the whole trickle-down thing”:

For years, free market theory of one sort or another has been caricatured as “trickle down economics.” The idea is that we believe that if society protects the wealth of the rich, and let’s them keep more of their money, the blessings will eventually trickle down to the poor and middle class. In some ways, it is not an entirely indefensible view, but of course the phrasing is designed to somehow elucidate the elitist absurdity even before arguments are heard. One thing I’ve learned is that when anyone says your position amounts to trickle-down economics, there’s not much else they are willing to discuss.

But it occurs to me that there might be a way to turn this phrase back on those who push for government intervention…

Read the rest.