Tom Swihart from a couple of years back on “water wars” rhetoric, Florida style:
Avoiding water wars in Florida?
Easy as watching the tide come in. There have not been and will not be any water “wars” in Florida. We misuse this violent metaphor if we call our rather mild water disputes a “war.”
Jeez, John,
If you keep on questioning conventional wisdom like that, we won’t have anything left to say to each other with a wink and a nod. The other day you debunked the cherished ‘truth’ that “Water flows uphill to money.” Now it’s the whole notion of water wars! I bet you’re about to tell us that Mark Twain never said that thing about “Whisky’s fer drinkin’; water’s fer fightin’.” And that besides, it’s not really true! (Actually, you already said that.)
What’s next? That there are more than two kinds of institutions – “private property” or Leviathan – that people can invent to prevent a tragedy of the commons? That Aristotle and Hardin were wrong?
Do I detect a theme here: perhaps we humans (“fallible learners”) can be cooperators in pursuit of common-wealth?
–John