Guest blogger Art Carden, who has been with Econlog for the last 9 months, will be posting his last entry tomorrow. We wish him well.

My two favorite posts of Art’s are “I’m Proud to Be a Bad Person,” (August 30) and “Helen Lovejoy Political Economy: Unregulated Secret Dinner Parties.” (September 13)

Consider first his August 30 post, in which he responds to Allison Benedikt’s claim that if you send your kid to private school, you’re a bad person. Yes, she really said that. I would summarize Art’s response, but why bother. Every part of his response is a gem. I will give one highlight:

My children are not your sacrificial animals. Jimmy Stewart nails this in Shenandoah. Again, my kids are not sacrificial animals, and I’m neglecting my duty as their father if I let people pretend they are.

One thing that comes out loud and clear in a large percentage of Art’s posts is his commitment to being a strong and loving father. That is one of the things I most admire about him. The post highlighted above demonstrates that.

It’s worth pointing that out because of the second post I mentioned above, the one on Helen Lovejoy. Art’s good parenting does not exempt him from noticing the humor when people use the “it’s for the children” argument that has replaced thought in so much of modern life. Here’s an excerpt from the second post:

Think about what the means for a second. It means that my children–children, mind you–are being fed food that’s prepared in unregulated, uninspected, and possibly less-than-sanitary conditions. The burgeoning field of Helen Lovejoy Political Economy demands that something must be done. For the children, of course.

I wish Art well in his other endeavors, of which he has many.