Nothing like a little doggerel to fill the space between Christmas and New Year’s. Thanks to Lynne Kiesling for the inspiration and Sarah Skwire for her poet’s expert eye.

Author’s disclaimer: I do not exempt myself from what follows.

The Rhyme of the Libertarian Binaries

Come gather at the fire we burn
To build a light so we can learn
About the troubles of a tribe
And the false binaries they inscribed

Although they struggled mightily
Beyond binaries they could not see.
Trapped by the limits of each pair
They sank into great despair

Help them find their liberty
By repeating each vexed pair with me:

Statist versus anarchist
Radical v. minarchist

F. A Hayek v. von Mises
One step versus many pieces

Rothbardians versus Kochers
Traditionalists versus tokers

Full reserve v. central banking
Purity v. weak think tanking

Flyover versus DC
True hard core versus PC

Politics v. ivory tower
Markets v. big statist power

Maybe as the years do turn
Our binary-bound friends will learn
There’s something better they can do
Than fight and re-fight Red v. Blue

The world they all would like to free
Has nuance far as all can see.
Thinking just in black and white
Produces noise but little light.

If economists can write refrains
You can break your binary chains