[Editor’s note: Columnist Robert Novak has retired but is writing occasional columns. The following is his latest.]

Who was it who said, “crack-brained meddling by the authorities” can “aggravate an existing crisis”? Ronald Reagan? Milton Friedman? Adam Smith? Not even close. It was Karl Marx. Unlike most leftists today, Marx studied economics.

It isn’t often that public outrage peaks so close to an election, but this is a rare moment in history when “we the people” can exact a price from the political leadership that has duped, scammed and lied to them, contributing mightily to the current financial mess.

There is a H.L. Mencken quotation that captures the essence of this year’s politics: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

The school board once wanted us to see the first PowerPoint presentation it prepared as justification for an extra 1 percent sales tax. Good students that we are, let’s continue the critical analysis we started last week.

The terrorists watching last week’s financial market turmoil might conclude that if they are sufficiently patient, we will destroy ourselves without their help.

It is early in the morning and dawn is breaking over the Tuscan hill town of Lucca. Lying in bed, I listen to the solitary clip-clopping of shoes as shop-owners cross the deserted piazza and make their way down the narrow streets to open their businesses for the day. Soon, my students will be fanning out across the town for their morning cappuccinos and croissants. For most, the day will end with a nightcap of gelato and memories of another day on their study abroad trip to Italy.

An email arrived one day from a dear, old friend who was once my boss when he was managing editor of a daily newspaper where I worked during college and which was later my first full-time job.

If Peachtree City were Camelot, seeking a royal family, it had but to look within. Until the deaths last year of King James Jr. and last week of Queen Miriam, 86, there were three princes in the House of Fulton, who added three daughters-in-law, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren to the royal court.

Peter, God love him, is like the anonymous “Q” of Frequently Asked Questions. He wants to know how to apply Jesus’ teaching in his life, the same as we do. One question he asks is, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” (Mt. 18:21 NRSV)

I usually don't use the column to announce family reunions but these families were so prominent on the south side I'm going to make an exception.

I am no economist. I freely admit that I don’t understand the nuances of capitalism and the ebbs and flows of international commerce. But, in my opinion (and this is, after all, an opinion column), we are being gouged.

This may be the moment to say something warm and affirming about the marketplace economy — a “Bush doctrine” sort of positioning (if you don’t mind, Charlie Gibson) of the battlefront for the economic wars ahead.

Sometimes you don’t know when you are lucky. Certainly I did not consider myself lucky when I left home at seventeen and discovered the hard way that there was no great demand for a black teenage dropout with no experience and no skill.

One question ABC’s Charles Gibson neglected to ask Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during his interview with her last week was this: You are young enough to be John McCain’s daughter. Twenty-eight years separate you. Will you be able to walk into the Oval Office and say, “Mr. President, you are wrong about this and here is what you should do instead”?

Here’s what the U.S. Constitution says: “All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.”

She is one of the most organized women I know. She calls a meeting at 10 a.m. and it starts at 10 a.m. She may stop and repeat all the points already discussed to a latecomer, but she never gets ruffled when a meeting goes off course. She brings it back on-track in no time, and finishes exactly at the moment she said we’d be finished.

The front page of the school system’s website (www.fcboe.org) prominently displays a logo for citizens to click if they wish to see a presentation on SPLOST. That seems to be all the information readily available from the school system.

First of all, I applaud the citizens in north Fayette and south Fulton counties who refused to listen to state officials telling them the fumes emitted from the PSC facility were not serious. When the government failed them, the local citizens (mistakenly labeled “complainers” or “alarmists”) took over and triumphed.

From my hotel room in Knoxville once, I phoned in to check on the girls: Mama and Dixie Dew.

The first answered the phone, a bit weak in voice, and reported that her cough and congestion were noticeably better but she was still weak in body. Again, I reminded her that when recovering from the flu, it is imperative to work at regaining strength.

By JILL PROUTY

On Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m., guest speaker Dr. Elliot Engel will present his informative and entertaining lecture, “A Light History of the English Language,” at the second annual Peachtree City Literary Festival.

It’s that great time of year again throughout our community! Friday night high school football games. The bark of signals. The grunts of linemen. The spiral on the ball. The “pop” of the tackle. The scamper of the ballcarrier. The brotherhood of teammates. The roar of the crowd. The cheers of the faithful. The Fight Song. The “stands music” of the band. (“The Horse” is my favorite.) The precision and beauty of the halftime show. Friends and family. The thrill of victory. And the agony of defeat. “Be true to your school! Rah, rah, rah, siss boom bah!”

A real-estate agent came by our house the other day and gave us a free assessment as to its value. With the ever-changing housing market, we thought it was a good idea. Okay, I thought it would be a good idea. The Wife was getting irritated at her husband for bringing a critical stranger in the house during nap time.

Last week we ran part one of Anne Westbrook Green's excellent story of old Campbell county and its merger into Fulton in 1932. Some of Anne's information came from an old newspaper article, possibly from The Atlanta Journal or The Atlanta Constitution, date unknown, written by Winifred Lee Moore entitled "Memories of Old Campbellton," referring to the first county seat which was replaced by Fairburn in 1870. Anne continues with information from the article, with a warning that she can't vouch for the accuracy of statements made therein, saying …

A matter of “neighborliness.” That’s how Democratic presidential aspirant Barack Obama justified raising taxes.

Whatever happens in November, history will be made. If John McCain is elected president of the United States, he will be the oldest man ever elected president in his first term. If Barack Obama is elected, he will be the first African-American ever elected to the world’s most powerful office.

At the news that Sarah Palin would be John McCain’s running mate, hundreds of thousands leaped to their feet. Hallelujah! Yippee! Boy, oh, boy!

Conservatives, as well as liberals, would undoubtedly be happier living in the kind of world envisioned by the left.

Very few people have either a vested interest or an ideological preference for a world in which there are many inequalities.

Some political pundits have said that if it were not for his last name, he might have been the Republican nominee for president this year. But former Florida Governor Jeb Bush tells me he is happy to support the McCain-Palin ticket, which he predicts, perhaps predictably, will win. Of Gov. Sarah Palin, he says, “She has generated so much enthusiasm, which was the one element of the campaign that was completely missing.”

In an effort to be good citizens and reduce our country’s energy dependence, we’re using our golf cart for almost every errand: church, choir practice, shopping, working out and doctor’s visits. We often congratulate ourselves for living in a town where we can get just about anything we need, by foot or bicycle, or by our trusty little buggy. That is, as long as our destination is in the north end of Ga. Highway 74 South.