Like the gods of legend, these “gods” of our personality don’t like people who spurn them. And it doesn’t take a long look into Greek mythology to know that the gods do awful things to people they don’t like. Afflictions of madness, afflictions of lust, transformation into animals – it’s not pretty.
Category: Blogs
The official Everything-Voluntary.com blog.
Thankful in 2019
A political writer’s annual Thanksgiving column can be easy to write, or incredibly difficult to put together. It can also be inspiring or banal. The two are probably connected. It’s always a difficult one for me; its quality is a matter of your opinion. But hey, Turkey Day is just around the corner and it’s time to talk about being thankful. Please bear with me.
The Artists Who Are Challenging The Education Status Quo
On a recent weekday morning, the first floor of Tiffany Pierce’s home in Queens, New York, was abuzz with activity. Six children, ranging in age from five to 12, were making art, learning about mathematical asymmetry and digging deep into topics ranging from geography to science. Pierce runs an art-inspired, micro-learning homeschool co-op, bringing together local families who want a more personalized approach to education for their children. Together, the families hired a teacher four days a week to craft an inviting and intellectually-engaging learning environment, while Pierce volunteers her space and support.
Trump’s Course Correction on E-Cigarettes: Great Idea, No Matter His Reasons
E-cigarettes are not a “public health crisis.” That supposed crisis is not “growing.” And to the extent that teenagers are negatively affected by e-cigarettes, the very “bold reactions” the three writers seem to favor are far more culpable than e-cigarettes themselves. E-cigarettes are, according to all credible evidence, safer than burning sticks of tobacco — sorry, FDA, you don’t get to tell me I can’t say so.
So If Incentives Are Overrated…
Yes, “incentives matter” helps the case for some right-wing policies. But “incentives matter” also helps the case for some left-wing policies. If you think textbook economics is misleading – as I often do – you should do a full rethinking of your policy views. Don’t just single out the policies you dislike because they rest on questionable assumptions. Scrupulously investigate the implications for policies you like, too.
Choosing to Intervene
In my last blog post, I wrote about how to hide in plain sight from interventionists. Now, we can examine more closely the process of being an interventionist. An interventionist often believes he or she is blessed by being in the procedural wheel house (for example, a supervisor at the IRS is in an ideal spot to mess up personal lives), but we often forget that the interventionist is also enslaved by interventionism.
State Gun Control in America: A Historic Guide to Major State Gun Control Laws and Acts
This guide is a timeline of major state gun control acts throughout the history of the United States – not only to help gun owners understand the state laws that have influenced our nation, but also to showcase how one state’s gun laws can set an example for others, creating a domino effect of gun control policy for the entire country.
Hiding in Plain Sight
At the risk of jinxing myself, I will admit that I have never been audited by the IRS. The interesting thing is that my late father, Kilgore Sr., got audited annually. The other day, it occurred to me, why was this so? On the strength of our names alone, it would seem that I should have been a marked man. After much cogitation, thinking about an associated matter, I came to the conclusion that I was invisible to the watchful eye, statistically speaking.
Trump’s Democratic Critics Want it Both Ways on Biden, Clinton
Beinart admits that Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s service as a very well-paid member on the board of a Ukrainian energy company at the same time his father’s portfolio included “fighting corruption in the Ukrainian energy industry” was “a problem.” But it’s not Joe’s fault, see? His staffers didn’t want to confront him about the conflict of interest. They “feared the vice president’s wrath,” and thought him “too fragile” after one son’s death to hear “upsetting news” about the other’s conduct. Ditto Hillary Clinton.
Who Fails to Learn the Lessons
Daniel Webster said, “There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.” Let me rephrase that: Some leaders mean to be GOOD but more than that, they mean to be FOLLOWED, at all costs. I hope that reaffirms Webster, as well as clarifying and amplifying.