Herz for . . .

Saw this today and just had to share it again:

Don't teach them to be humble. You don't want them to be nasty, but teaching them to imagine that they are capable of less than they are actually capable of is educational malpractice.

Bret Weinstein, Is being humble a virtue?

From my muse, and obviously favorite president, with whom I share a birthday on a certain calendar.

Washington, D.C.

October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

A Personal Note of Thanks

I thank here our current president for the work he has done.

I have to say that while I had my doubts about him, he seems to have grown into the job, he has kept promises, returned pride, and helped steer a course back a little bit from the attempts at over-reaching and stretching the constitution that unfortunately occupy too much of our political theater.

And he has been fun to watch.

Thank you for these last four years and what you have brought us and the world.

A Thought About Turkeys

I think this whole pardoning of birds is ridiculous. What I suggest instead is the pardoning of a bunch of human turkeys instead. I'm sure we've thousands of prisoners in our federal system who have more than paid for their particular crime because of unreasonable requirements for extended incarceration.

As an affront to the people who put forward these silly laws, and an act of mercy toward those who have acted like turkeys instead of upstanding men, I think our president should instead reunite some of these turkeys with their families, and maybe provide them a bird to eat as well.

Twelve Reasons to Vote for President Trump in 2020

1. President Trump has not engaged us in any new/stupid wars.
2. President Trump is amusing.
3. President Trump has presided over impressive new agreements moving toward friendlier relations in the middle east.
4. President Trump has honored American commitments other presidents have not.
5. President Trump is bringing our troops home.
6. President Trump, though reviled in many corners of the world, demands respect for America.
7. President Trump is proud of himself (maybe too much so) and his country (sorely lacking in too much of America).
8. President Trump is not afraid of the media.
9. President Trump speaks his mind.
10. President Trump does not espouse radical leftist agendas for reframing the world (It didn't/doesn't work under Lenin, or Mao, or Pol Pot, or Castro, or Un, or Maduro).
11. President Trump celebrates life and our role on this planet.
12. Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barret, our Constitution, and the rule of Law.

These rights and privileges are mine:

• I may think as I please.
• I may speak or write as I please, so long as I do not interfere with the rights of others.
• I have the right to vote. By my vote I choose the public officers who are really my servants.
• I have the right to choose my work, to seek any job for which my experience and ability have fitted me.
• I have the right to try to improve my lot through various means.
• I have the right to a prompt trial by jury, if I should be accused of a crime.
• I may seek justice in the courts where I have equal rights with others.
• I have the privilege of sharing in the benefits of many of the natural resources of my country.
• I may educate my children in free schools.
• I have the right to worship as I think best.
• I have the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

These duties I share with my fellow citizens:

• It is my duty to obey my country's laws.
• It is my duty to vote, so my government may truly represent the will of the people.
• It is my duty to keep informed as to the honesty and ability of candidates for public office.
• It is my duty, by my vote and my influence, to correct injustice.
• It is my duty to pay such taxes as have been devised by representatives elected by me, to defray the cost Of government.
• It is my duty to serve on juries when called on. It may sometimes become my duty to hold a public office for which I am suited, so my government may function efficiently.
• It is my duty to defend my country, if need should arise.
• It is my duty to abide by the will of the majority, to stand behind my government, so my nation may be unified in time of crisis.

From I am an American: What Every Citizen Should Know, Copyright 1940 Whitman Publishing Company.

Sometimes you know a bad idea without thinking too hard about it:

• Let's get drunk and then go whitewater rafting, at night.
• I've tried other drugs and they didn't hurt me . . .
• I can stop anytime.
• Crimes against a person or people: murder, kidnapping, rape, assault, genocide

Sometimes the bad idea needs a little more thought to get how bad it is:

• Prostitution: Everyone needs a job.
• Cheating: I'll only fudge it this once.
• Theft: It's only a pencil.

Or practice:

• Gambling
• Gaming
• Dieting
• Exercise
• Any obsessive activity that pulls us “away” or that invites self-destruction.

Or sometimes it's a matter of context, sometimes good, sometimes bad:

• Marriage/Divorce/Children
• Choice of Work/Education
• Duelling
• Polygamy
• Licentiousness
• Alcohol, Food, Exercise, Drugs
• Religion, Science, Education

Or degree:

• Extroversion
• Agreeableness
• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Neuroticism

But this is a column about politics, so we're going to be discussing here ideology and the wanton commitment to an idea.

What Makes an Idea a Bad One?

I'll posit that a bad idea is one that unjustly denies another person his humanity, his liberty, or his property.

But here's where it gets sticky. A job, for instance, could impinge on your liberty, but help you secure your property or develop yourself as a human. But so could serfdom, and under the right conditions, I suppose slavery.

Or what if something provides only a good, but only to those who can afford it, say locally grown, environmental impact free, cruelty free, non-GMO food; or an impact-free self-driving car; an experimental treatment; a spa treatment; a massage; a jacuzzi; travel?

Or is there a lie in this last paragraph? Wouldn't there also be a good to the person who provides the good or service?

A Continuum

The point is there is a continuum. And now I'm going to adjust my idea of a bad idea, an extremely bad idea is one that declares it is just without allowing for further examination or for another to question its justness, thus doubly denying a person his humanity, his liberty, or his property.

Perhaps the most glaring example would be the race theories that, when overlayed on an inbred european, perhaps even worldwide, and particularly German, anti-semitism, gave rise to the mass slaughter of groups of people simply because of what they believed, where they were born, or how they lived.

This particularly so when one looks at the archetypal Christian man: Can anyone really imagine Jesus leading a pogrom or rounding up people, denying their humanity, and calling for their wholesale slaughter?

A bad idea is one that pre-supposes its rightness and will brook neither evidence or discussion that it is wrong. And this is where we've gone off the tracks.

It's not Red or Blue, Black or White, Haves or Have-nots

Neither Trump nor Biden is the devil. We could make an argument for Hitler, or we could say he was just possessed of a bad idea (as was too much of Germany, Europe, and the world), and empowered to carry it to its logical conclusion.

And there are good, or at least positive, ideas. I don't think there are many who would disagree that people should have a fighting chance, that they ought to be able to get healthcare, or food, or shelter, or education, or equal opportunities, or access to new worlds.

And when these good ideas met with committed people and institutions willing to provide them, we got (often sponsored by religous institutions) free hospitals , soup kitchens, the salvation army, privately donated public libraries. In fact, I would suggest that these “good ideas” gave rise to good people willing to pursue them.

And when these good ideas met an unregulated private market, we got flop-houses, and hobo camps and skid row. These at least allowed people to stand on their own two feet, or not, with a certain degree of dignity and hope, maybe not much, maybe with not enough direction given early enough to actually choose to stand, but the possibility was there.

But perhaps a disproportionate allocation of resources is the natural state. There has always been a distribution. Once, a third of Africa was enslaved. A quarter of the Roman empire were slaves.

A Personal Test for a Good/Bad Idea

I guess this is my point: You can't have a good idea without being able to examine the bad in your idea, and putting it up to a test. And here are some questions that should be a part of it:

• Can you articulately state the case for why your idea might be a bad idea? Can you marshall the evidence? Do you know the numbers?
• Are you willing to engage in conversation with those holding contrary positions in an effort to better understand the other and—dare I even say—approach the truth of a matter?
• Are you willing to embrace and discover the humanity in the person who holds a contrary opinion? Are you willing to find the common commitments you and your “adversary” share?
• Are you willing to consider that a value system other than yours might also be a valid value system? Are you willing to adjust your view, and your idea, to accommodate those who do not agree?
• As much as you may feel an urgency to challenge or question established hierarchies, are you willing to plumb them for their embodied wisdom, and vice versa?
• Are you willing to listen?
• Are you willing to consider that your idea is given by your group or concerns for social status rather than the truth of your idea?
• Are you willing to give them up—your family, your friends, your whole social structure—for your idea? Will you safeguard their humanity, liberty or property at the same time?

Then maybe you've got a good idea, or you're on the right path to one. And when we find ourselves given by a world given by people committed to good ideas (including you), your idea won't cause you to be pushed to the margins. Rather it will cause others to engage in a constant search for the truth, or at least a good idea.

A Personal Note to my German Cousins

I've been meaning to write for a long time to invite my German cousins to re-examine their current ideas.

It's true they were possessed by some of the worst, perhaps a human/societal embodiment of evil itself.

What are the New Ideas?

But I question what new ideas this has given rise to.

My mother's generation, born in Nazi Germany, still had children. My cousins barely have replaced themselves. Their children have chosen largely not to reproduce.

They recognized a beast perhaps, maybe they were indoctrinated to see the beast in themselves, but that beast lies inside each and every one of us, and it doesn't lead to any one ineluctable conclusion. But it's one thing to tame a beast, another to deny it its nature.

Perhaps there is a value in a Volk, a people, a nation given by a common set of ideas. Community is a basic part of being human, whether it's given by faith, or nationality, or a common ideal (as long as it's not made up of bad ideas).

If we take it from a Christian perspective, what is your cross to bear? What is the sacrifice to be made now for a new and better world tomorrow?

I reject that suicide, individual or national, is the appropriate course.

There is something perverse in the the excuse of not overtaxing the environment to not have children. To take this to its logical conclusion, you should commit suicide now. Please don't by the way.

The people who take this nihilism to it's logical conclusion are the ones we see engaging in mass shootings. They suggest the world is not fit for humanity.

So I make a value judgement that this world is fit for humanity, and our job is to explore that, to tame the beast, to find a better way, to engage in a world given by a dedication to good ideas. It is what liberal education was meant to be.

I further judge that the only way to discover this humanity is to give birth to it, including literally. Your job is to plumb the institutions you are rejecting for the wisdom you have left behind. It is also to question your current ideas to make sure they are good ones.

As devastating as Christianity has been to my people, there's a good argument to be made that it has been a large part of what has given us the amazing world we enjoy today.

The Challenge

My challenge to you is to be willing to discover it, to take the good from it, to explore the value systems, and to engage it, to test its ideas for “goodness” and truth.

And we may come to a different truth, but we can commit to a world where we allow our truths to live together, to not give rise to Bad Ideas.

Beyond this, I challenge you to find your own beast, and channel it toward the good ideas, toward truth. I assert it is the only way to move the world forward.