Yes, and … A Parenting Idea

In most live shows (improv, radio, skit shows, etc), they teach you that the main rule is “yes, and”. What this means is that when working with other people you work off of each other, build off what the other person does, never contradict the other person (some exceptions are allowed in certain situations), and with this simple rule you are able to often form a cohesive show as a team.

Pushing People into Social Warfare

It is easy to hold fond sentiments of humanity and the majority of individuals when government is small (or non-existent). People are just trying to get along, provide for themselves and carve a small niche in this world. Any shortcomings, delusions, flaws, or misplaced emotions can often be disregarded and ignored. We can see our shared humanity and have empathy for each other’s existence. Once large government comes around things radically change.

A Letter to ‘Students Demand Action’ from a Gun Owner

I understand. You’ve witnessed — far too often at first hand and in the most terrifying circumstances — the violent deaths of your fellow students. You refuse to accept that that’s just how it has to be. You’re organizing for change.  You deserve to be heard. Don’t let anyone talk down to you or minimize your concerns. You want action. I don’t blame you. But it’s important to consider what kind of action you want, how to go about getting it, and what it will accomplish.

Don’t Blame the Guns, Blame the Schools

Today’s public schools already share many characteristics with prisons, yet the ‘answer’ some folks are proposing to the (statistically negligible) threat of school shootings is to make schools even more like prisons. Schools are an artificial environment that (much like a prison) forces kids to join gangs or cliques in order to avoid rejection and outsider status. Those who don’t fit in are subject to ridicule, abuse, and even brutality in some cases.

Statism Freezes

I have some friends who want to march on Washington, DC, to express their preference that POTUS  loses his office.  We can get bogged down in narrow issues real quickly on that question.  Because POTUS himself blurs all criteria of whether he is doing a good job, where would one start to open the debate back to definition of a true set of parameters?