> He throws a lot of inadvertent time-traveling grenades at his modern
> fans, doesn't he?
>
He does. This is what I love about Smith, and why I always try to beat his modern fans over the head with him. It often doesn't work, but it is still pleasant to put them in the position of disavowing "the father of capitalism" and etc. But the truth is (okay, limited-experience observation, here) that a lot of them really don't go further back than the Austrian school, and if Smith and the Austrians disagree, that's because the Austrians have modernized him or something along those lines.
I'm yoinking that quotation for FB, Doug. I haven't read Smith in any significant way since high school, when I read the whole of The Wealth of Nations. I think it is probably time to go back and do so. Although the Theory of Moral Sentiments might be more worth our time in some important ways.
But either would be time better spent than reading Rand.
:)
j