As a father, there are few things more meaningful than to see how you’ve helped your kids through your example and talks over the years. We have a mixed family of 6 kids, aging from 13 years old to 26 years, and all of them are wonderful human beings. It turns out, there were some lessons that all or most of the kids put on their list, which I’m going to share with you here. These lessons they had in common made me wonder if these were the more powerful lessons, or if they were simply the ones I talked about the most.
Tag: respect
Backlash Immortal
The preachers of backlash habitually paint themselves as “realists.” The real realists, however, aren’t the people who highlight the multitudinous threats to free trade. The real realists aren’t the people who opine, “We need to seriously address inequality or else the populists will win.” No, the real realists are the people who stare at the multitudinous threats and say, “Meh.”
Could Such a Man Care?
Nicolas Maduro now rules a land of chronic hunger, horrific crime, terrible fear, and mass exodus. How does he maintain his dictatorship? With a pact of steel between his ruling party, the military, the secret police, and on-site foreign allies – especially Cubans. You would have to be mad to think that Maduro’s doing all this for the good of his people, or the good of the world. His only credible motivation is power-lust gone wild. Maduro is a pervert for power.
This Is What Peace Looks Like
This – here, now, concretely, in front of me- is a small vision of what I and all of my idealistic friends and forebears talk about when we talk about the world we want. This is what people have fought and died for. This is it. Peace becomes far more interesting and compelling when it has a face. And that face is far more beautiful than any of the allure of war and conflict.
“SPD”- Statist Personality Disorder
I’m seeing more and more evidence that statism is more than a quirk; it’s a full-fledged mental disorder. It will never be officially recognized as such, of course, because most of those who with the power to recognize it also suffer from it. And they aren’t likely to recognize their own mental illness as a mental illness, or admit it is even if they realize it.
The Delicate Art of Listening but not Listening
“If I asked people what they wanted, the would’ve said a faster horse.” — Maybe Henry Ford. Changing the world means showing people something they couldn’t tell you that they needed.Nevermind. They can and do tell you what they need. Just in the wrong language.
Arbitrary Legality Makes Bad Laws
Recently, out of curiosity, I scanned the daily jail log for Curry County. I had never done so before and probably won’t do it again. Afterward, I felt guilty and was ashamed of myself. I learned something interesting, though. Half of the people — five out of 10 — booked into the jail that particular day weren’t even accused of having done anything wrong; only things that have been arbitrarily declared illegal.
I’m the Little Brother
I’m driven by proving the perpetual big brother voice wrong. Being doubted, disbelieved, and disrespected drives me. Fighting to survive and surprise as an underdog. Then one day you land a blow. You win a game of one on one. After years of trash talk and dismissal, you do it. And guess what? You get no credit. No acknowledgement. It’s downplayed. Forgotten by everyone but you. You’re still the little brother.
Compulsory Schooling Laws Aren’t Progressive, They’re Inhumane
Someone asked me recently if I could wave a magic wand and do one thing to improve American education what would it be. Without hesitation, I replied: Eliminate state compulsory schooling statutes. Stripping the state of its power to define and control education under a legal threat of force is a necessary step in pursuit of education freedom and parental empowerment.
Paasche Says Progress
If you don’t remember 1990, the modern world is easy to take for granted. The rest of us, however, know – or at least ought to know – that modernity is a living miracle. Though we don’t own fifty cars each, we still enjoy fabulous luxuries beyond of the budget of the richest residents of 1990. Stagnationists live to belittle these gains, but that’s not science; it’s perspective.