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| MAYBE, MAYBE NOT |
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| SOAPWORT |
Soapwort, Saponaria officinalis, AKA bouncing Bet, is a rather attractive perennial herb native to Europe and probably a garden escapee with us. The flowers can be pink or rosy as well as white. I have not found it to be aggressive. The common name denotes the presence of saponin in its flowers and roots, which when mixed with water produces a soapy lather. Whether it was ever actually much used as a soap I am not sure. Until recent times an extract of the roots was used in the treatment of syphilis. It is in the Caryophyllaceae, the Pink family, and there are a number of somewhat similar roadside plants, but soapwort flowers are quite distinctive. The Old English word, wort, simply means herb, or plant.
The President is truly anti-business, and particularly anti-small business, which he evidently does not understand at all, and certainly has no respect for. In a speech on Friday he chided business owners, saying, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” He was alluding to the role of government in building infrastructure, the role of teachers, of the fact that there are many smart and hard working people who aren’t “in business.” And that is certainly true.
But he does not understand, or refuses to believe, that the entrepreneurial spirit is what produces wealth and innovation, and that its spirit thrives in a free society. He does not understand the motivation of those who want to build something of their very own, to put themselves and all they have and are into something unique and personal. He obviously does not understand freedom. He does not understand personal independence. He does not understand America, and yet we have him, by some quirk of fate, as our President. It is truly tragic that he never had so much business experience as having a paper route. Maybe he should start a lemonade stand. On the White House lawn.
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