The idea that Dale Carnagie expressed in the first part of the 20th Century originated thousands of years earlier with the ancient Greeks; in fact, Aristotle wrote an entire treatise on the subject.
It’s probably more important today than ever before, where we’re seeing how our cognitive biases leave us open to some seriously dangerous thinking, where it comes to the application of science and the validity of certain of our political leaders.
Before Trump, no politically active U.S. citizen thought he was taking a risk to his personal safety by criticizing the president and/or his administration. This country, and, in fact, the entire West, had experienced the Enlightenment (aka the Age of Reason) of the late 18th Century, central to which were the doctrines of the French Revolution and the U.S. Constitution. In place of monarchy, our societies now had rule of law and various guarantees of freedom, e.g., that of speech and of the press.
250 years later, we Americans live in a country in which these freedoms are teetering on the edge of extinction. The only reason I don’t feel the terror of an armed state coming to my door is that my following is a tiny fraction of the high-profile activists of our day.
If you were asked to name the most dangerous person in Trump’s cabinet, your first thought might be Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whose only qualification for the job of running the Pentagon is his tenure at Fox News and his alcoholism.
But not too far down the list would be RFK, Jr., in Health and Human Services, who is joyfully going about the task of preventing the nation from protecting itself from disease.
Even when I was a small boy, I had a tough time believing everlasting torture in hell was a fair punishment for anything that a person could possibly do, regardless of how heinous, in a single lifetime.
Was the damage that Elon Musk inflicted on Tesla worth it?
I remind the reader who sent me the meme here that the main use of property tax is the funding of public schools. Speaking for myself, this is a sacrifice I’ve always happily made, both before and after I had school-age children.
It’s true that Floridians have a different set of sensibilities than people in most states. Governor Ron Desantis signed a bill banning abortion after 6 weeks (before most women know they’re pregnant) and passed a “Don’t Say Gay” law. He says, “Florida is where woke goes to die.”
Having said all this, I doubt too many voters in the Sunshine State want to live around pure ignorance.
I have to admit, Roberts’ statement here does seem stupid in the extreme.
Also, the idea that a sitting president can’t be charged with a crime is asinine; it’s antithetical to the idea of democracy.
What Frank Herbert says here is true.
It seems to be another way of saying what Plato did: “Only those who don’t want power are qualified to hold it.”
Perhaps this is the reason that democracies have a finite shelf life on this planet.
As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Americans need to keep in mind that our failure to remove Donald Trump from our political scene threatens to put an end to what has been, by and large, quite a successful run.
Senior energy analyst Glen Doty remarks: This made me smile.
And a reader adds: “No felons” seemed pretty obvious. Didn’t know we had to write that one down.
Governor Walz: I like you, but:
1) While I hate quibbling over the nuances of words, I wouldn’t use the word “marred” here. Dining room tables are “marred” when someone drops a knife on them. Families are “torn apart” when they lose a little kid in a shooting.
2) As a governor of a state, I suppose you’re obligated to offer prayers, but the whole idea of appealing to a god whose plan for this family included a mass shooting sounds lame in the extreme. I would simply refuse to do it.
3) Please call for the United States to deal with this epidemic the way the rest of the world has and take weapons of war out of the hands of psychopaths.
