We’ve all heard the quote here attributed to everyone from philosophers to baseball coaches, but it’s a great piece of advice nonetheless. It’s one of the reasons that I believe in the value of a liberal arts education. If you …
Category: Sustainability
On What Should Respect Be Based?
Most Americans are searching for answers as to the popularity of Donald Trump among U.S. congresspeople. Virtually all our lawmakers are intelligent and highly educated; moreover they come from considerable wealth. So why are they so terrified of the prospect …
Tagged with: popularity of Donald Trump
Until Recently, U.S. Leaders Were Focused on the Lives of the Common American
It wasn’t that long ago that America’s leaders were responsible and honest people, acting according to an understanding of what it means to make this nation great. As shown at left, that meant, among other things, a tax schedule that …
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Tagged with: Lives of the Common American
Greenwashing and the Word “Natural”
I remember attending a trade show at which a variety of new-age food items were being introduced. I ran across the vendor of a new orange soda that he marketed as “all-natural.” “How much actual orange is in that can …
Tagged with: Greenwashing
The Incursion of American Culture on Others
Immediately after my first business meeting in Paris, I spent some time walking around the City of Lights, trying not to be too conspicuous as the dreaded American tourist. It wasn’t long before I came across a McDonalds, which, I …
Tagged with: McDonalds
Saving Humankind’s Home Planet
Re: the meme here, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has said, “If we can explore colonizing Mars because we’ve ruined Earth, we can certainly fix Earth.” The man has a point here. What we need is the political will to put …
Tagged with: Saving Humankind's Home Planet
“False Information”
When George Bernard Shaw wrote these words, “false knowledge,” hadn’t yet become an entire industry. Now, there are “news” organizations that have convinced their viewers that the 2020 election was rigged, that COVID-19 was a government plot to cripple the …
Tagged with: False Information
Wealth Tax
I believe what the people are talking about in this meme is the top marginal income tax rates. Obviously, it would be good if there were no loopholes by which our top earners could avoid income tax, but what we …
Tagged with: decarbonize our energy and transportation sectors
Living as Brothers
I would love to cite evidence that we’re on the way to “living together as brothers” rather than “perishing together as fools,” but I struggle to find it. I see too much (and perhaps an irreversible amount of) greed, tribalism, …
Philosophy Isn’t What it Once Was
I studied philosophy for a few years as a younger man, and I recall a graduate course on metaphysics, delivered by Henry B. Veatch (pictured), one of the most widely published and decorated American philosophers of his time (the mid/late …
Tagged with: philosophy
