… is from page 63 of Tom G. Palmer’s forthcoming collection, Peace, Love, & Liberty; specifically, it’s from Tom’s chapter, “The Political Economy of Empire and War” (original emphasis):
Conflict, especially violent and deadly conflict, is far more attention-grabbing than peaceful cooperation. When there is peaceful and voluntary interaction, we’re accustomed to saying that “nothing happened,” but in fact lots of things happened: people went to work, farmers planted crops, investors financed new companies, and factory workers assembled useful products; people shopped; people fell in love; lovers got married; babies were born; there were birthday parties; life happened. But that’s the background. It’s normal. No headline ever read “Billions Went About Their Business Peacefully.”
