If, like me, you’re of a philosophical bent, you might enjoy this intriguing essay I came across on a Libertarian blog, Positive Liberty. It’s titled The Metaphor of Beer, though I think the metaphor really is about the brewing process rather than the end product. For a civilian, the author has a pretty good grasp on brewing history and how the process works. After detailing these, he then makes the leap that brewing makes a very good metaphor for politics and specifically about how governments work.

But might the rules for a good society be like the rules of making beer? That is, might they be amazingly complex and never knowable in their entirety, but still reducible — at times — to simple rules, and, at other times, to more complex ones?

As I said, it’s an intriguing idea, and one well worth contemplating, especially during an election year.