Geoff Graham

I think a lot of folks rightly observe and articulate the problems of modernity—atomized communities, deteriorating metabolic health, ever-more industrial consolidation, etc—and assume they result from the natural progression of a humanity imperfectly directed by a central planning authority. In their view, fixing them requires a better authority rather than no authority at all. Examples: Wendell Berry advocates for price controls in agriculture and different types of price supports, many New Urbanists seek new/different land use prescriptions and federal infrastructure subsidies, etc. My sense is they advocate for these things with a kind of resignation: "It's just too that bad people, if left to their own devices, can't freely collaborate toward a better world. It's just too bad that people must have some sort of authority giving them direction." But the more I pick at any failure of modernity, the more it seems to me that it is precisely the authorities' inevitable misdirection that caused the problem. In the case of land use and the changing patterns of human settlement (an area about which I know more than a little) it seems so inescapably obvious nowadays that even those who are politically inclined toward central planning reluctantly acknowledge it. And the more I learn about agriculture, the more I see the same pattern repeating itself there. So, I don't quite get the pessimism. We don't need to try to solve the unsolvable problem of creating a better authority. If someone hangs on to that as the necessary path, I can see why they'd be pessimistic; history shows us that can't be done! But we can begin cutting Gordian knots. Ending intervention. Ending interference. Ending micromanagement. Ending central planning. Etc etc. When enough people appreciate that the central planners caused the problems, we will end the central planning. And more people appreciate that now than a decade ago. And more appreciated that a decade ago than the decade prior. So while I hear weariness and pessimism in the voices of some wise and battle-scarred critics of modernity, I'm optimistic: The path forward seems so obvious to me, and every year that passes, it seems to become increasingly obvious to more and more people. Before one can walk the way, one needs to know the way.

@atlanticesque @aarmlovi We *ought* to and used to live in a market economy wrt land use (housing, transportation, etc), but it is probably the furthest from that of any market in America. It is probably even more manipulated than healthcare.

The question isn't whether Americans prefer space or density. We live in a market economy and people can choose among different alternatives, according to price. The question is whether one side of a nearly 50/50 split should be able to ban the other side's preferences entirely

@18dixiedean78 @AgileJebrim @atlanticesque @MorlockP I don’t think the real John C Calhoun would have agreed with you. I believe he would have endorsed a state’s ability to impose zoning—as well as other abridgements of constitutionally protected rights, including 1A and 2A.

@AgileJebrim @atlanticesque @MorlockP Only via covenants. Zoning should be prohibited especially by Counties or the State.

@MoundLore In America, because user fees cover less than half of the cost of infrastructure maintenance and the rest is funded via federal debt, the further a good travels the more subsidy it receives.

Had a nice chat with a buyer of a large national grocer. Most food in the U.S. isn’t grown close to where it’s eaten. It’s simply shipped. Some items travel over 1,000–1,500 miles before reaching a shelf. Harvested early. Stored cold. Moved constantly. Often it looks fresh. Thing is that doesn’t mean it is. Flavor doesn’t travel well. But preservatives do. We built a food system that prioritizes distance over taste.

@edwest 😬

I'm definitely going to this x.com/visegrad24/sta…

@aarmlovi Graeber and you were probably my watching the same things. 2001: Thomas: He’s a very useful engine 2011: Debt: The First 5000 Years

Ah yes, chapter 7, definitely where I got this idea 👀 x.com/i/status/20351…

The urge to be useful, and the desire to behave honorably, is very real When someone asks how they can help, giving them something useful & then recognizing the contribution is usually the polite choice Waving them off--"no, I don't want to put you out"--often diminishes them

This is a very Jane Jacobs-y observation. 🎯

@ElijahForCA 🎯 This is a very Jane Jacobs take.

Also, transhumanism is functionally the central planning of the human body and environment. If man can’t plan economies, why should libertarians think we can “plan” the human mind, form, and setting?

Transhumanism provides no meaningful gains in freedom. Freedom for a human being is defined by the human condition, it isn’t this abstract concept of agency or the number of choices one can make in their life, an inherently beneficial quality that always meaningfully and tangibly increases as one’s abilities increase. More important to the human psyche and wellbeing than abstract freedom are individual autonomy, greater self reliance in providing one’s necessities, and the satiation of social, material, and sexual instincts in a way that is fundamentally natural and sustainable; in a fashion aligned with what those primal instincts seek. What makes human life meaningful is natural subjugation to organic conditions, everything the human yearns for exists in that context, every desire and object of freedom exists in that context, every instinct and emotion exists in that context and makes no sense outside of it. The more the human isolates himself within a sphere of artifice, the more he suffers, or at best, becomes numb to the joys of his new abilities or artificial body and environment. In replacing his human name with a bunch of letters and numbers (because names are “collectivist constructs”), Esfandiary didn’t create a new transcendent identity for himself, he became a dehumanized set of characters nobody can remember off the top of their heads. In severing himself from tradition he died alone and unloved. His heaven is a cold tube somewhere in Arizona that houses the smooshed remains of his brain.

@aarmlovi Graeber described this dynamic in his book Debt, I think in Chapter 2: The Myth of Barter, and again in Chapter 7: Honor and Degradation.

@RolandGunnTN I have fifteen acres, and am kinda sorta glad I only have fifteen.

People who have never owned land don’t really understand the upkeep involved in maintaining it at just a basic level, at least in the Southeast. Clearing downed trees, grading roads, bush-hogging etc. in the South if you don’t maintain land ecological succession comes quickly.

@cognazor How are your fruit trees after that big freeze a couple weeks ago?

Walking around a slight bit drunk in my field, ama

@FSP_QC @bigridgemtnclub You’re right. Dang. I completely left off the money shot!

@ggraham @bigridgemtnclub Geoff, you got to show the actual lighting up part at the end!

🤣This is a hilarious montage of Chuck Norris jokes. If you think about it, he really was the first 80’s action hero and pretty much started the genre of 80’s and 90’s action movies.

Excellent people. Spoke w Patrick and Seth in @yeomanpodcast #24: yeomanpodcast.com/2025/07/25/ort…

@grok Scrutinize this a bit more. My sources show the project qualifies for and uses federal-aid highway funds through the Surface Transportation Block Grant program for construction and utilities phases, plus National Highway System and Surface Transportation Program (STP) / High Priority Project (HPP) funding for preliminary engineering and right-of-way. Total federal dollars are about 80%.

The pic likely shows GDOT's US 441/SR 15 widening north of Clayton (PI 122090, ~7.5 mi to 4 lanes). Budget: $51M (2024 state excess funds allocation; full est. $118M incl. ROW). Federal dollars: ~0% (state + local T-SPLOST). Rural tourist corridor w/ seasonal congestion/curves; GDOT cites growth/safety needs. Studies (FHWA, TRB, KY/IL analyses) find rural lane/shoulder widening cuts crashes 20-50% on 2-lane roads but often low cost-benefit at <10k AADT vs. cheaper fixes like rumble strips.

This is your monthly reminder that congress gave @PeteButtigieg $2 TRILLION to fix infrastructure and nobody knows where the money all went. That’s 135 nuclear aircraft carriers worth of cash. Poof.

@johnkonrad @PeteButtigieg @grok What is the budget for the Clayton GA project in the picture, estimate how much of it is paid for with federal dollars, and assess the necessity of this road widening given the rural setting, traffic, and the efficacy of rural road widening in general.

@ggraham @PeteButtigieg Something tells me that didn’t cost $2T in labor and materials

It is impossible to overstate how much protectionist and bureaucratic creep undermines our rights and erodes the health of society. @IJ, by supporting worthy plaintiffs, is successfully waging war against those forces, and winning victory after victory. More of this, please.

"...Goodness, Truth, and Beauty experienced here on earth can point us, even lead us, to heaven. Ought we not then cultivate such beauty in and around our homes? And what might it look like? Part of the answer might be that it looks like an orchard..."

"Even in fallen earthly terms, we might think of paradise as a place where many generations are born, grow up, live, and die, the physical surroundings becoming saturated with the family’s history and culture, the capital of which grows and deepens like the soil there."