When was the last time you bought something made in the United States? If you asked me, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.

But American factories do exist. We build airplanes, high-tech machinery, furniture and generally well-made products. I’m not trying to say we should buy only American goods, or that we should try to attract more manufacturing jobs to the United States. I do, however, believe that the way products are made in the world today should change.

Mass production kills craftsmanship. I’m sure that some of you have heard the story that the original working incandescent lamp, produced by Thomas Edison, is still lit somewhere in what is now the Rust Belt. The significance of this story is not grounded in its truthfulness or untruthfulness. Its significance is in that it illustrates how different manufacturing was in the 1880s from subsequent decades.

The anecdote shows how, in decades past, we took pride in the quality and endurance of our products. I’m sure you’ve heard of planned obsolescence. This is the idea that companies deliberately produce goods that they are planning on improving later on. It seems like most electronic products are made to be thrown away after a year. I cannot tell you how many people I’ve met who have said that their DVD player, VCR or even their television set or computer died shortly after the year-long warranty expired.

I’m not sure I believe that corporations are evil and want to take your money with strict regularity. For the most part, they are probably trying to make reasonably durable goods at a cost lots of people can actually afford.

There are two activities by which we sustain and improve our physical lives. They are labor and work. Labor is subsistence. Work is craftsmanship. Work is the third pig building a house of brick and mortar instead of straw or sticks. The house of brick will stand indefinitely; the houses of straw and sticks will have to be rebuilt repeatedly. Mass production is more like labor. The goods have to be reproduced regularly and do not endure.

Works, on the other hand, survive their use much longer. The phrase “they just don’t make them like they used to” is true. It seems like we no longer pride ourselves on creating quality products that will last.

Roads in particular come to mind. I understand that this is Iowa and the weather here is volatile and harsh on human constructions. But there has to be a better way of building our infrastructure. And if we would take the time to engineer roads that needed to be resurfaced only once each decade, we would save money both on upkeep and on wear to our cars and trucks. Designing and constructing things to last is in our self-interest.

Medieval guilds used to restrict entry into certain professions with legal authority. Admission required a certain sequence of training and education. Guilds also regulated standards of production. The result, however unfree employment was, was that quality products were produced.

Certain objects, sophisticated in nature, should never be mass produced. Computers, cars and watches come to mind. They all have intricate components that must work in sync for the complete object to be useful.

Mass production compromises the integrity of the products’ sellers. Anything worth doing is doing well, no matter how long it takes. I agree with the Roman Emperor Augustus: “Whatever is done well is done with speed enough.”