Most now don’t remember the Symbionese Liberation Army. They were the ones who kidnapped Patty Hearst and held her hostage. One of their first acts of bravado was to request that food be given to the poor. Randolph Hearst, who was Patty’s father, complied. The first giveaway was successful, but subsequent giveaways were not.

The members of the SLA made several bad career moves, deciding to rob banks rather than continue to feed the poor. They did rob the banks at a time when this was possible, the mid-1970s. It would not be possible now. It would be possible now, to subvert the system by feeding the poor.

Fake canned food at Kennicott never spoils

This is what was and still is called messing with the free market system. Any time you give away something for free, you are subverting the monetary system. The more you give away, the more you are subverting it.

The Bright Lights Book Project has to be having an effect on the local free market system. How could it not? Palmer is a small town. It’s also a crossroads for a large number of books of all types and genres. It has two bookstores, one, Fireside Books, is on Main Street. The other is a small bookstore consisting of two rooms – books there are very, very cheap. Neither place is giving away books. It stands to reason that because we are giving away books that we are affecting them financially. However, it can be argued that in the long run, we’ll increase their revenue streams because by having books be accessible, we are creating a stronger local readership. If, for example, someone reads a book by an author they like, and we don’t have other books by the same, they will go to the above-mentioned bookstores in search of their work. And at this time other books by this or other authors might catch their eye.

There are some out there who don’t like what we’re doing – they argue that like everything else, books should cost money. Never mind that the books that we take in will have a shorter shelf life if we don’t get them into the hands of appreciative readers. This is just plain wasteful.

Food distribution is much the same in that it’s shelf life is limited, and there is more than enough of it to go around. I recently read that 40 percent of the food consumers purchase in the U.S. goes to waste. Forty percent. A part of the problem is that people stuff their very large refrigerators full but don’t eat all they have on hand. I’ll talk more about food waste another time.

Some hoard books, but books, as opposed to food, have a much longer shelf life and no expiration date.

I sometimes feel some remorse when I put a valuable book out on the shelf, say, at Vagabond Blues. And I have a hard time passing out books at events. So I am, I must admit, also a product of the not-so-free market system.

Next: 227. 8/19/23: Parade Day