A fairly difficult puzzle

Biotop? I don’t think he’s submitted an answer yet.

At any rate, you and Schnitte are flirting around the answer, but given the clue from the puzzle’s third level, you can find the absolute direct answer to the puzzle’s question. It is even phrased as though the question were asked of you-know-whom.

By the way, Peregrine, you have the question right. Assuming you have everything else in proper order, you’re told exactly where to look for the answer. There, you can find unmistakable phrasing that will make you go “D’oh!”. :slight_smile:

Great work so far!

Oh, holy crap. Peregrine, you have won.

Please accept my apology for not acknowledging it. I just now realized that you were submitting the answer, and not a correction of Schnitte’s ROT13.

Your prize is that you may request that I open a Great Debate arguing any proposition of your choice, so long as it is not illegal or in violation of SD policy. You can have some fun with this if you like. I am well known here as a staunch Christian Objectivist Libertarian. If you like, you can have me argue in favor of atheism, marxism, or anything (within the guidelines) that you please.

And rest assured, I will give it my best. No slacking.

OK… could you now please explain it all to the lurkers like me who are terrible at these puzzles but love to see the answers?
Please?

Sure.

After the first solution, you get this:

OF OF OF TO FOR HIM, HIS “OUT THE THE THE VON BOOK. DOES FROM MEAN? READ WHAT FAIRE MISES WROTE, XXVII ACTION, FAMOUS GOOGLE HUMAN LUDWIG SCHOOL SEARCH THEORY ANSWERS. CHAPTER ECONOMY EMERGES GENERAL LAISSEZ ACCORDING CLASSICAL POLITICAL PRAXEOLOGY.”

When you unscramble the words, you get this:

LUDWIG VON MISES WROTE, “OUT OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL EMERGES THE GENERAL THEORY OF HUMAN ACTION, PRAXEOLOGY.” ACCORDING TO HIM, WHAT DOES LAISSEZ FAIRE MEAN? READ CHAPTER XXVII FROM HIS FAMOUS BOOK. SEARCH GOOGLE FOR ANSWERS.

When you search Google for Human Action XXVII, you get the answer in a section of that chapter (the whole book is online!), where you eventually reach section 5, “The Meaning of Laissez Faire”. The last sentence in that section says:

“Laissez faire means: Let the common man choose and act; do not force him to yield to a dictator.”

And that was the solution that Peregrine gave.

Grumble…Grrr…Grumble…one typo and one ZOT instead of a Q a full 24 hours earlier…grumble…grumble…“tangent” indeed!..grumble grumble…grr Even read chapters 26 and 28 AND the rather (sour grapes) DRY Introduction…grumble…grr…need for a benevolent but paternal government to prevent just this sort of injustice…grumble…grr… had to rush off to work on Monday, no time to check for typos!..grumble…grumble…mumble…Tangent indeed! I’ll show a tangent…where’s Marx and Engels when you need 'em…grumble…mumble…Trotsky…mumble…

grumble… “side-tracked” …not “tangent”…grumble…memory failing due to marginalization by unregulated puzzles…grrr…grumble!

In all humility, I have to point once again to Biotop’s earlier solution, though I’m willing to accept the prize on behalf of my fellow-solvers. And speaking of humility, I think that would make a fine topic for debate. Specifically, I’d like to see what can be done with the notion that religion as commonly practiced tends to inflate the ego of the individual rather than encouraging submission to the will of God (any god–I’m not particular).

I’m afraid I haven’t spent enough time in GD to know whether this has been addressed already or whether it’s the least bit contrary to your usual stance, but it’s been on my mind lately and I’m not likely to get around to introducing it myself. I hope it’s contentious enough to serve the present purpose.

Libertarian:

Grumbling aside, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your puzzle. It was an interesting twist to have a web search after a word rearrangement after a decoding. I joked about the Ludwig Von Mises text, but I enjoyed reading it and at the same time learned something about an economist I admit to knowing little about. (Shoot, I thought a Praxeologist was a doctor you visited when you had trouble with your praxy.) Thanks for a very challenging and fun conundrum!

Please accept for us, Peregrine. I’ll bet you had more of that puzzle text ordered correctly than I was able to figure out, and I can’t think of anyone better to represent us, the underappreciated puzzle solvers of the SDMB.

Furthermore, I hope you add your topic to Great Debates. I think it’s a good one.

All righty then, inasmuch as Peregrine wishes to share and Biotop holds legitimate grievances (except that there are the correct number of ZOTs in the puzzle), and inasmuch as you both desire the same debate topic, I declare you both to be co-winners.

Howzat? I’ll go open the topic now, The Great Religion Paradox.