Skip S. writes:

I have been reading LRC and the Mises site for nearly two years now. It's been a life-changing experience.

I never really gave Martha Stewart much thought before, but the articles I've seen, and the injustice of it all got me interested.

On the Marthatalks.com site you can read a stream of e-mails people have sent her, and it is clear from those just how important this woman is to a huge number of people.I have no way of judging her economic impact but suspect it is rather large, not only thru her own efforts. but thru the inspiration and stimulation she has had on all manner of small businesses. Stewart's magazine and TV productions create wealth on their own but as a corollary they create a climate wherein
many other small boutiques and specialty shops arise to fill the demand/awareness that Martha began. And this is just the financial side.

She is also a role model and hero(heroine?) to large numbers of women, and some men as well. As an example of industry, taste, high standards and hard work or as a testimony to the value of excellence she is hard to beat.

According to those e-mail writers own testimony what Stewart offers goes way beyond product lines and or entertaining tips, it¹s about an attitude and a way of thinking. What Martha seems to offer in fact, is a positive vision of life. No wonder people eat it up.

She may not be a National Treasure, but for the USA, she's value-added all the way. The idea that there is any social benefit in her persecution is as groundless
as the specious legalities the prosecution relies on.

The govt has picked a very high profile case, one which may only serve to demonstrate to a whole new population the ways in which a legal system can be perverted. Certainly all their posturing about the majesty of the Law won't hide its other side, as a naked tool of oppression.

Then again, many of Martha's correspondents were happy to sidestep any legal
issues and go directly to gender bias/oppression. Not a pretty picture either way you look at it.

The e-mails show concretely and movingly that these people feel their lives
were directly improved by Martha¹s efforts and example. Her business successes indicate that large numbers of people may feel this way; that was certainly the impression I was left with. It made me wonder if this didn't play some small part in her targeting, or have I been reading too much conspiracy theory lately?

Whatever else Martha is, she doesn't fit in the brave, new, uni-sexed and dumbed-down world that some folks seem determined to create for the rest of us Stewart's championship of home, family and her celebration of the homemaker are well known. What I didn't realize was how important her dedication to excellence and tradition were to so many people. Her message, that personal achievement and improvement are possible, encourages neither dependence nor mediocrity. Her own example is living proof that the approach works.