Thanks, Dad

For teaching me the importance of freedom and personal responsibility.

For teaching me the importance of voting, even when you do not like any of the choices (it lets the politicians know you're watching them).

For teaching to me to both respect and question authority (too many Americans think that questioning authority is the same as defying authority).

For demonstrating that someone without a formal education can make wiser investment choices than most of the MBAs in this country.

For teaching me that no nation can educate its people and keep them oppressed indefinitely. I still remember your prediction in the early 1980s that the Soviet Union would fall within ten years for that reason. You knew a lot more about the world than my social studies teachers.

Happy Fathers Day.