My friend Jim sent me (and the others on his list) an extremely interesting article titled “Zimbabwe: A Fresh Start.” (To read it, go to http://www.kitco.com/ind/Field/nov112009.html.) With others, Jim thinks that the U.S. dollar is going to “go Zimbabwe.” Maybe so, maybe no. History is rarely predictable, and almost never apocalyptic. But, who knows, maybe this is one of those times. One would hope that the economic gurus would be able to see a danger so obvious. In fact, it is inconceivable — literally — that they would not. On the other hand, think of all the things obvious to us on the ground that is apparently opaque to the experts in finance, politics, industry, the “news” media, etc., etc.! We’ll see. My interest in this story centered on two aspects scarcely mentioned: One is the unanticipated consequences of activism, and the other is what we might call Southern Christianity.
Continue reading Two lessons from Zimbabwe’s past and present