After my first year of college, I spent 18 months living in Houston trying to save money. What became painfully clear is that people with important skills have much more earning potential than those who…
Browsing Category Thoughts On Current Events
What the US is losing: Soft Power
Countries have several tools to expand their influence: The first two approaches fall under “hard power,” while the third approach falls under “soft power” (a term coined by political scientist Joseph Nye Jr.in the 1980s)….
What the US is losing: The Rule of Law (pt 2)
There is enough going on around immigration policy that it warrants its own entry. As a step to making America great again, we have decided to crack down on illegal immigrants, which can include: Trump…
What the US is losing: The Rule of Law (pt 1)
In theory, everybody is equal under the law. In practice, that has rarely been the case – the rich and influential are much less likely to be held accountable, while the poor and minorities are…
What the US is losing: Introduction
When my wife worked as an ICU nurse, she once had a patient who had a really bad toothache. He took some Tylenol, but it didn’t help much, so he took some more Tylenol. Since…
Maybe it IS all about owning the libs
Yesterday I read this article in the Atlantic by David Brooks describing why half of the country not only tolerates Trump (and what he is doing), but actually see him as heroic and a good…
Us and Them – Part 3: Them
Humans are tribal creatures and we are all members of various “tribes”. I found this series of essays on the topic to be very enlightening. Tribalism is not inherently bad Tribalism is a double edge…
Us and Them – Part 2: Us
Tribalism Humans are tribal and most of us belong to one or more tribes. Historically, these tribes were heavily influenced by family, location, and religion, and there often were not a lot of options for…
Us and Them – Part 1: And after all we’re only ordinary men
In 1976 I bought The Dark Side of the Moon album, played it to death, and decided that Pink Floyd was my favorite group of all time. Almost 50 years later, that hasn’t changed. But…
What if all our beliefs are wrong? How would we know, and would we even care?
We all have beliefs, and most of us are pretty sure that our beliefs are correct (and that any belief others have that differs from mine is wrong). Beliefs are energy-saving shortcuts that allow us…