Protests

This blog post is in response to those who have been upset by the recent #TakeAKnee controversy. 

A “protest” is always an action taken by one or more persons that challenges a de jure reality (a bad law, e.g., illegal marijuana) or a de facto reality (where people, not governmental fiat, are the problem, e.g., racism). Protests are always disruptive and often illegal, else what is the point? Many if not most protests are instances of “Civil Disobedience” and in consequence expect police involvement and even jail time. Protests are NOT necessarily non-violent, or non-destructive of private property (the best minds suggest that non-violence is the proper tactic when their side does not have fire power enough to take on the opposition (Gandhi preached non-violence because the ruling Brits had all the weapons)).

The Ultimatum Game

The cheerleaders for “Economic Growth” like to remind us that the best way for working class Americans to take home a bigger pay check is for economic growth to grow the whole pie. And even if their %age share of the pie doesn’t grow, as long as the pie grows they will take home a bigger piece of the pie. Which is probably true. After all, “A rising tide lifts all boats” (attributed to John F Kennedy, fgodsake!). 

But is this fair? Is it fair that when the pie grows, the top earners keep most of the extra pie while workers only get crumbs? “Hey, a bigger pay check is a bigger pay check! What business is it of yours that your portion (%age) of the pie isn’t bigger as long as the size of your portion (raw $’s) is bigger?”

HIPPO

I called the second essay in the Appendix of my book, To My Countrymen, "Gaian Issues" (Gaia is the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth). The essay laments the fact that Americans place Gaian (environmental) issues at the bottom of the heap of political issues that are important to them. And it lists the ten most significant Gaian issues (Global Warming / Climate Change is only one of them). Here is the list: 

• Global Warming
• Peak Oil
• Rain Forests & Coral Reefs
• Deforestation
• Endangered Species – the Sixth Extinction – the Loss of Biodiversity
• Over-fishing, over-hunting
• GMO
• Waste
• Water
• Human Population Growth

#TakeAKnee

It all began in the NFL’s 2016 pre-season. At the playing of the National Anthem, Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, decided to kneel, rather than stand facing the flag and put his right hand upon his heart (I wrote about this then, The Kaepernick Kerfuffle). He would later explain: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” No one suggested that he had other motives than what he claimed. However, many (white?) Americans were very upset, and they charged that his action showed disrespect of our flag. But ALL protests, large and small, show disrespect for authority and its symbols, often breaking the law. Else they are not protests. They also claimed that his action was un-American – as though America, more than any country in world history, is not built upon a solid foundation of protest. The American Revolution was its first protest, a huge protest, and its participants were all guilty of treason against their government, Great Britain and the King. And these patriotic Americans wanted to punish Kaepernick.

The Human Species

“We humans are a special species, we are at the top of the evolutionary pyramid, we are what God aimed at when he set evolution in motion.” 

“Well, that is a lovely thought, but it is not really true. Every individual creature that is alive today – humans, primates, mammals, dolphins – are as highly evolved as are you and me. They are all products of 450 million years of uninterrupted evolutionary success, just like you and me. No predator ever made a meal out of any of them before they had children. None of our ancestors, no matter how distant, ever died of an accident or a disease before they had children, more ancestors” 

“But we are surely superior to them all, to all non-human creatures, aren’t we?”

Wedding Cakes

The Supreme Court case, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 584 U.S. ___ (2018), was decided on June 4th in favor of the cakeshop, by a 7-2 vote, 2 of the 4 liberal judges dissenting.

Here are the essential details:

In July 2012, Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins, a gay couple who were planning to wed, entered Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado to order a wedding cake. At the time, Colorado law did not honor gay marriages; so, the couple had planned to travel to Massachusetts – where gay marriages were legal – get married there, fly home and celebrate their union with their family and friends; it was for this after-party that the couple wanted a special cake. Jack Phillips, the owner of the bakery, was a man of “sincerely held (Christian) religious beliefs,” and he refused to make the couple a cake, based on his religious belief that marriage was between a man and a woman. There was no discussion of a message or customization or even any decoration of the cake; the discussion never went beyond a gay couple wanting the cakeshop to make a wedding cake for them and the owner refusing.

Social Security: A Reality Check

You ask a Millennial about Social Security and he’ll tell you, with the utter certainty that Millennials everywhere can’t help but feel, “it won’t be there when I retire, so what is the point; and why should I pay into it when I won’t get anything back?”

And, of course, he is right.  If nothing is done to change how Social Security is collected and disbursed, it surely will go bankrupt well before our Millennial retires.  It is an excellent example, too, of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Social Security will die for sure if enough Americans believe it is doomed, beyond rescue.  Because if you are sure it will die, why would you waste time and energy trying to save it?

On Regulations, Again

No one likes regulations, none of us likes to be told what to do, no one whose freedom is constrained likes regulations.  But everyone else – the beneficiaries of regulations – loves regulations, as we do want others to conform to our social norms.  Indeed, life would be much more difficult (for most people) without regulations (on others).

Then, considering that 100 times as many people are beneficiaries of each regulation as are limited by it, why is “regulation” such a filthy word?  Why does everyone seem to hate regulations?  Because we only think of the regulations that constrain us, not those that benefit us.  And because we take for granted the regulations that benefit us, while those that constrain us keep us fighting mad, working to reverse the damned things.  So it goes.

What else needs to be said?

Václav Havel's Speech to U.S. Congress

Jeff Flake mentions this speech in his new book, Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle.  I think it warrants being re-printed and read.

Dear Mr. President, dear senators and members of the House, ladies and gentlemen:

My advisers advised me to speak on this important occasion in Czech. I don't know why. Perhaps they wanted you to enjoy the sweet sounds of my mother tongue.

White Collar Crime

Think Equifax and Wells Fargo.

Millions of American people were compromised, tens or hundreds of thousands were inconvenienced, and thousands were damaged beyond repair.

When a poor man steals an apple from a grocery stand, he earns himself a month in prison.  When an addict gets caught with the goods (cocaine, marijuana), in some states he is locked up and they throw away the key.  When a corporate big shot gets caught in a national scandal affecting millions of people, he may resign, but he still receives his golden parachute and he doesn’t forfeit any of his ill-gotten wealth.  And he never goes to prison (two Enron officials excepted).