Think Little

Particularly apropos in light of Congress’s vote today on healthcare, and the ongoing sabre rattling of our President and other elected officials.

For most of the history of this country our motto, implied or spoken, has been, Think Big.  I have come to believe that a better motto, and an essential one now is, Think Little.  That implies the necessary change of thinking and feeling, and suggests the necessary work.  Thinking Big has led us to the two biggest and cheapest political dodges of our time: plan-making and law-making.  The lotus-eaters of this era are in Washington D.C., Thinking Big.  Somebody comes up with a problem, and somebody in the government comes up with a plan or a law.  The result, mostly, has been the persistence of the problem, and the enlargement and enrichment of the government.

Wendell Berry, “Think Little,” The Art of the Commonplace