"Is There a Way Forward?"

The photo: An approaching storm, as seen from our window at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank a couple of weeks ago. But the sun shone the next day. Some will say I am Panglossian in my optimism, but I do believe the U.S. has the ability to self-correct. In his 2021 letter to shareholders, Warren Buffet wrote: “Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking. Our unwavering conclusion: Never bet against America.” To which I add, Amen.

 

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“Is There a Way Forward?”

August 26, 2026

 

“The free access which many young people have to romanticize novels and

plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth.”

                                                                                                                    Reverend Enos Hitchcock (1744-1803)

                                                                                                                     Memoirs of the Bloomsgrove Family, 1790

 

Each generation is concerned for the next. Ours is no different. I worry. But should I? For a country at the peak of its economic and military powers, and still a beacon of freedom for the oppressed and the aspirant around the world, the mood of Americans, at least as expressed by some commentators and some in the media, is bleak. On the other hand, foreign visitors to the World Cup appeared to have seen something in America that we natives have missed: they lauded the size of the country, the spirit of its people and their generosity; they praised its abundance – what is available in the stores and the size of its homes and cars; and they noted the freedom of its people. Who is right?

 

While I remain a long-term optimist, I worry. Is classical liberalism disappearing into socialism on the left and isolationism on the right? Ad hominem attacks have replaced reasoned debate. Self-righteous prigs on the left assume all Republicans to be racists, homophobes, and misogynists, while smug conservatives suppose all Democrats to be Communists and to lack an appreciation of our history.

 

Most immediately, we face a fiscal crisis. Federal debt recently crossed $40 trillion. As a percent of GDP (121.5% at the end of 2025), it is higher than it was at the end of World War II (119.1%). Entitlement spending in 1960 represented about 25% of the federal budget – roughly the same as defense. Today it is close to 60%, while defense spending has declined to 12 percent. Rising deficits have ballooned interests costs from about 9% of the budget in 1960 to 14% today. We are on an unsustainable path, unaddressed by either political party. Despite Treasury Secretary Bessent’s decision to double the size of long-dated bond buybacks, bond vigilantes will step in if politicians continue to avoid the problem.[1]

 

There are other concerns: Will autonomous robots surpass human intelligence and be used for nefarious purposes? Studies from Harvard and Stanford indicate that public school student performance has declined for over a decade. Those studies are supported by declining performance of U.S. students on PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tests. While major crime figures show a decline, there has been a surge in anti-Semitic incidences. Ethical standards are said to have “evolved,” whatever that means. Church attendance has been declining for decades, and today the average teenager spends five hours a day on social media, versus nine to twelve minutes a day reading books for personal interest.  Much of mainstream media lauds the harvesting of eggs but is silent on the benefits of motherhood. According to a March 2026 Pew Research survey only 47% of American see their fellow Americans as morally good.  

 

While stock markets have surged – 62% of Americans are invested in the stock market either directly or indirectly – I worry that a decade of low interest rates have inflated leveraged personal balance sheets. A growing percentage of individuals are involved in speculative pursuits: Approximately 25% have been involved in legal sports betting, about 20% have purchased cryptocurrencies, and 15% have put money into prediction markets, a market that exploded in 2024. Sounds like gambling to me. Falling tech stock prices and excess leverage abetted the July collapse of Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Fund, as assets fell from $45 billion to $10 billion in a month. Was that a harbinger of things to come?

 

Politics have devolved into the “MAGA” right and the Socialist-progressive left. Politicians are cantankerous. Mr. Trump tells us what a fantastic job he has done, while far-left Democrats promise tuition-free college, making the rich pay their “fair share,” expanding the Supreme Court, and opening our borders.

 

Party interests soar above national unity, even as we celebrate 250 years of democracy and freedom. Why? And is there a way forward? One is reminded of William Butler Yeats’ 1920 poem, “The Second Coming:”

 

“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

..................................

..................................

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.”

 

But we have been in tough straits before: On December 20, 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union; they were followed by ten more states. Seventeen years later, and after the deaths of three quarters of a million soldiers, the Union was, finally, fully reunified. The stock market crash of October 1929 led to a depression that lasted for more than ten years, to the start of World War II. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, our financial markets were in turmoil: stocks fell 50%; the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose from 5.6% in 1968 to 15.6% in 1981; inflation peaked at 15% in March 1980. In late August 1990, after Iraq had invaded Kuwait, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher admonished President George H.W. Bush with advice that would be good for our leaders today: “Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly.”

 

From the first immigrants, America was blessed, geographically, and with a diverse population without aristocratic antecedents. Our government was founded by men schooled in the enlightenment by those like John Locke, Montesquieu, John-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume. It was a land that allowed for experimentation in government – not one founded on military might, royalty, or the church – but one composed, as Lincoln said at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, “of, by and for the people.”

 

As for the question that makes up the title of this essay, yes, I am sure there is a way forward. I have faith in the American people. That I cannot chart its course does not mean it is not there. I believe common sense, which has dictated America’s passage through history will prevail. Good men and women will emerge to lead the way. Course corrections will be necessary, but answers will be found. That is not to say there will not be shoals or rough seas; for I am sure there will be. But a way forward will be found. Clouds will dissipate, and the sun will shine. 

 

 

 

---

[1] An excellent op-ed on this subject was posted by Stanley Druckenmiller in the August 25, 2026 issue of The Wall Street Journal.

"Is Political Centrism Possible?"

 The cartoon I took from the internet, with the understanding we should be able to laugh at ourselves. Nevertheless, extremism is a serious concern. As Clint Eastwood, at age 94, said in a February 20, 2025 interview, “And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.” And I would suggest we have more than our share in Washington (and in many state capitals and large cities) today.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Is Political Centrism Possible?”

April 13, 2026

 

“The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground

exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. 

Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.”

                                                                                                                                Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

                                                                                                                                Skeptical Essays, 1928

 

“They told us they wanted a culture that could tolerate disagreement without treating it as heresy.”

                                                                                                                                Katherine Dee (c.1993-)

                                                                                                                                “Exit Strategy”

                                                                                                                                The Spectator World, March 30, 2026

 

In his 1920 poem, “The Second Coming,” William Butler Yeats included lines that have pertinence to our cultural and political lives today:

 

“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,...

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.”

 

Recent polls conducted by Gallup and Pew Research suggest that the number of Americans identifying as political moderates has declined, from 43% in 1992 to 34% in 2024. Not surprisingly, Pew Research notes that far-left and far-right voters contribute more money, attend more political rallies, and have higher turnout rates at elections than their more moderate brethren. In both parties, social media users with moderate views are reluctant to post about political and cultural issues. In 1992, James Carville, strategist for Bill Clinton, coined the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid!” It helped Mr. Clinton win the election. In 2026, the phrase could be: “It’s the extremists, stupid!” In this environment it is fair to ask: Can the center hold?

 

Ironically, this is happening at a time when more Americans have been doing better financially than at any time in history. In a recent survey conducted by the American Enterprise Institute, reported on by Aimee Picchi of CBS six days ago, the “core” middle class no longer represents the largest group of Americans. Now, for the first time, that honor belongs to the upper-middle class. Yes, there are more people classified as “rich” – 3.7% in 2024, versus 0.3% in 1979 – but those categorized as “poor or near poor” have shrunk from 29.7% to 18.7%. Are things perfect? Of course not, but the trend is in the right direction.

 

Yet extremists continue to play to emotions. Extremism is not a new phenomenon that one can blame on Donald Trump and J.D. Vance or Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It has been gestating for years. In an article from last October, Johanna Dunaway of Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship, and who sees Americans as more divided today than at any time since the Civil War, wrote: “Much of the polarization that escalated in recent decades was largely driven by misperceptions people have about ordinary partisans on the other side – the everyday people in your neighborhood or office who happen to support the other party.”  She was writing of people like us, Nixon’s “silent majority,” or Trump’s “forgotten man and woman.” Social media has aggravated the situation. While instant communication has benefits, one of its drawbacks is that people react; they don’t think. 

 

Trump-hatred plays a role. Like Andrew Jackson who became President 197 years ago, Mr. Trump elicits emotional responses far in excess of any rational policy differences. Iran is a perfect example. For forty-seven years the Country has been a theocracy run by religious fanatics. Unlike Russia or China, whose governments forbid freedom but whose leaders are conscious of the risks of nuclear annihilation, Iran’s leaders would be unafraid of unleashing a nuclear holocaust, as they seek paths to Paradise, in shahada (martyrdom). Preventing Iran from getting the bomb was (and is) in the interest of all mankind. Yet Presidents from both parties have been ineffective in stopping them, that is until Mr. Trump. Now their nuclear capabilities have been curtailed and most of their ICBMs obliterated, thanks to the President and to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yet Iran retains the ability to deprive the world of badly needed fossil fuels and fertilizers. The Strait of Hormuz lies in international waters. It is not a toll booth. It needs to be open for trade. 

 

Yet Democrats in the House and Senate will not support any initiative begun by President Trump, no matter whether to do so would be good for us and the free world. For example, listening to Senator Chuck Schumer belittle the President, one could easily conclude that he would prefer to see Mr. Trump humiliated than for the U.S. and Israel to defeat Iran and bring peace to the Middle East.

 

And mainstream media has been no better. Their biases, along with their sanctimonious idiocy, know no bounds. CNN anchor Dana Bash, sounding like Orwell’s O’Brien in 1984, recently said: “Objective reporting now, rightly so, means explaining what someone says when its false or when it’s not right or when it’s misleading.” I understand that Mr. Trump can be coarse and rude to both friend and foe. He is not the leader I would prefer, but no other President has taken on Iran’s leaders. He speaks to them in language they understand. The United States is stronger when its people are not torn apart by self-serving politicians and media-types, but the United States and the West will be safer with Iran neutered. 

 

While I cast more blame on Democrats for this state of affairs, populist politicians in both parties, along with their partisan media allies, play to their choirs, offend their political opponents, and leave the public to make sense of their lunacy. A Rachel Maddow or a Tucker Carlson has no interest in persuading the skeptic; their only interest is in playing to their partisan (and perverted) acolytes. 

 

And yet, most people I speak with are reasonable, despite the fact we have fundamental differences in terms of the role government should play. Most appreciate the beauty of our political system and understand why it has lasted so long – the sovereignty of the people, the three independent branches of government, and the rules of laws that are constructed by Congress through debate. 

 

Is political centrism possible? Perhaps, though it seems unlikely in the near term. Nevertheless, we should keep in mind the wisdom expressed by Dwight Eisenhower at a press conference on November 17, 1963: “The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.” The success of Artemis II is reason to celebrate a unified American. Can we at least do that?

"It's a Mad, Mad. Mad, Mad World"

 Artificial Intelligence is already here, at least in primitive form. It gathers millions of pieces of data on myriad subjects – all that is available – inputs the data into a CPU and then applies algorithms to answer questions and express opinions. 

I had an interesting experience recently. Last Saturday I sent a write-up on Percival Everett’s latest book, James. Like all my essays, I posted this one on my blog, on LinkedIn and, as I do with book reviews, on Amazon. I have posted at least fifty reviews on Amazon, all of which were accepted. This one was not. An e-mail was sent me, explaining that the review did not meet their guidelines for one of the following reasons: Profanity, Harassment, Hate speech, Sexual content, Illegal activity, Private information. There was no profanity, no sexual content, no illegal activity and no private information. I don’t believe there was any hate speech or harassment; though it is possible that the line where I repeated James request to February to translate a sentence into slave dialect might be read as such. But it only could have been rejected by a machine, something that could read the words but was unable to apply context; or, at least, that is my conjecture. 

 

Artificial Intelligence has a long way to go before it can replicate the human mind and experience. But there is little question that AI will continue to change, whether for better or worse remains to be seen. It will depend on who controls the input.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”

May 15, 2024

 

“Well, we’ve made it this far.”

                                                                                                                From a list of “probable last words.”

 

The title of this essay comes from Stanley Kramer’s 1963 mad-cap comedy. With his dying words Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) mentions a stash of loot buried under the “Big W.” The movie is about a bunch of crazies’ search for the money, reminding one of today’s political scene and the race for the Presidency.

 

We are not living a Hollywood film; but an alien from another planet would be excused for laughing. The ridiculousness of what is being said and done justifies a belly laugh. Writing recently in City Journal, Heather MacDonald noted: “Student protests have always been hilariously self-dramatic, but the current outbreak is particularly maudlin, in keeping with female self-pity. ‘The university would rather see us dead than divest,’ said a member of the all-female press representatives of UCLA’s solidarity encampment on X.” Yascha Mounk, an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins, wrote in a recent issue of The Spectator of some “absurdist moments” at Columbia. Student protesters demanded the university deliver food and drink to them: “When a surprised journalist asked why the university should have such an obligation towards people engaged in blatantly illegal activity, she insisted they had a moral right to ‘basic humanitarian aid.’”

 

Max Boot, writing in The Washington Post, quoted the Columbia University Apartheid Divest manifesto: “We believe in liberation. All systems of oppression are interlinked: The fates of the peoples of Palestine, Kurdistan, Sudan, Congo, Armenia, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Korea, Guam, Haiti, Hawaii, Kashmir, Cuba, Turtle Island, and other colonized bodies are interconnected.” Really? Do the citizens of Ireland, Puerto Rico and Hawaii know they are colonized? Who besides Haitians and Koreans have colonized Haiti and Korea in recent years? And Mr. Boot asks: “What the heck is Turtle Island? A quick internet search revealed that this was the name used by some indigenous groups for Central and North America.” Do wizards at Columbia expect descendants of settlers to abandon the farms, towns and cities they and their ancestors have now lived on and in – in some cases for 400 years – so progeny of those long dead can occupy them? 

 

More than seven million illegal (sorry, undocumented) migrants have crossed the southern border since Biden took office, roughly triple the number under President Trump. But this is not a crisis, according to the Biden White House. It is a “challenge,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. In other areas definitions have become confusing. Wikipedia defines a woman: “Typically, women are of the female sex.” Typically, I guess. But not always, “as their gender identity may not align with their sex assignment at birth,” Wikipedia explains. The Federal Government has threatened to withhold funds from public high schools that do not comply with new Title IX rules regarding transgender female athletes – and this is an Administration that claims to care about women’s rights! I guess they mean trans-women’s rights.

 

While officials at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities are careful to say that Social Security is not bankrupt, they add, parenthetically, that “in the unlikely event that policy makers fail to act” benefits will be cut by 25% after 2035. Congress, as we all know, is hesitant about amending this 90-year-old entitlement. Keep in mind, life expectancy in the U.S. in1935 was 62 versus 79 today. But nothing to worry about, the age for receiving benefits has risen from 65 in 1935 to 67 in 2023. However, Dan Mitchell of International Liberty predicts that Social Security’s long run shortfall is now $61.7 trillion. Even in a nation with 756 billionaires that is a lot of money. Climate Cassandras are intent on shuttering liquified natural gas exports, even as the U.S. has reduced its carbon output as a percent of GDP, largely due to natural gas replacing coal. The decision is forcing other nations to increase coal output and/or looking to enemy nations, like Russia and Iran, for their energy needs. Those like Greta Thunberg take a “let them eat cake” attitude toward third world nations who are forced to pay more for energy.

 

But what makes the times truly crazy are the choices Americans will likely have in November, when we go to the polls to elect an heir to George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan:

 

President Joe Biden – a man in early stages of dementia, a man about whom Robert Gates, Defense Secretary under President Obama, said ten years ago: “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Proving Gate’s observation, during Biden’s first term we witnessed the chaotic and costly evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021, Russia invade Ukraine and China threaten Taiwan, and now we are abandoning Israel in their Hamas-provoked war for survival. Deficits and debt have risen. Inflation is the highest it has been in forty years. Republicans are expected to nominate former President Donald Trump, a man who reminds one of a carousel barker – a man who has perhaps never read a book, one with the morals of a Billy goat and the mouth of a stevedore. He has promised recrimination against his political rivals. Democrats, however, in their battle to “save democracy,” have helped Mr. Trump, as they use undemocratic means to keep him from office. 

 

The two other minority candidates are scarier. Robert Kennedy, Jr., a scion of Camelot, is no King Arthur. He tells us his brain was eaten by a worm, which, given his antics, feels like it is true. Jill Stein, the perennial candidate of the Green Party, was recently arrested at Washington University in St. Louis for assaulting a police officer – not a good look in a country where crime is on the rise.

 

Why has this great nation fallen so low? Why have absurdities risen so high? Despite an inclination to laugh, this is not a happy time. I don’t pretend to have answers, but I believe an emphasis on identity politics – the division of the people by race, sex, religion, gender and heritage – has played a major role. As well, categorizing people as victims or oppressors is a simplified way of making some people feel good about themselves without having to take responsibility for their actions.  

 

It is a mad world, a world without a moral compass. We wander from crisis to crisis. As the centrifugal forces of today’s culture and politics increase we are pulled to the edges – some to the left and others to the right. “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” wrote William Butler Yeats in his 1919 poem, “The Second Coming.” The words lend meaning to today’s absence of civility and compromise: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.”

 

Despite the craziness, there is little that is fun about the predicament in which we find ourselves – a predicament of our own construction. I don’t know about you, but I need to catch my breath and laugh. When I finish Erik Larson’s The Demon of Unrest, the story of the five months leading to the start of the Civil War, I will take up P.G. Wodehouse’s The Adventures of Sally, a book I haven’t read for several years. As Evelyn Waugh once pointed out, Wodehouse writes of a world “that cannot become dated, because it never existed.” But it is a world in which one can lose oneself, at least temporarily, a world where one laughs with the author at characters who are creations of his brilliant and pleasant mind.

 

We have made it this far; so perhaps we will survive, as the epigraph suggests. The election will take place, but then I think of the giants who have occupied the White House, and I feel a great sorrow. Maybe I will stay home, something I have never done. Probably not, though. We still have over five months to go.

"Choices"

 Given today’s politics, it is easy to become dispirited, at least it is for me. It is why I enjoy reading novels and history – history to remind me that much of what we experience has happened before and to put in context our experiences versus what has happened to those in the past; novels because they allow me to escape to other times, and because good novelists create characters that provide insight into people today, showing that good and evil have always been with us.

 

Attached is another essay – not to convince you of the correctness of my position – but to explain why I think and feel as I do. As an essayist, I find that I write primarily for myself.

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swstotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Choices”

January 29, 2024

 

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

                                                                                              Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts, speaking to Harry Potter

                                                                                              Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1998

                                                                                              J.K. Rowling (1965-)

 

Free choice, where it does not break the law or infringe on the rights of others, is fundamental to our rights as Americans. We make hundreds of choices every day, some significant, others not so. Next November’s election represents a significant choice. It has been portrayed as critical because, or so we are told, democracy is on the line. Progressives, and their propagandists in mainstream media, would have us believe that the election of Donald Trump would signify the end of democracy. And there is no question he is mean-spirited, has spoken of retribution against those who oppose him, and may go to jail. On the other hand, many of us on the right believe democracy is at risk because current political trends suggest we are, with the degradation of individualism, headed toward group-think, socialism, and central planning. One is reminded of Yeats: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/ Are full of passionate intensity.”

 

As for Trump, despite his well-publicized flaws, consider what he faced in his first term: the weaponization of the intelligence services; retribution by his political enemies; along with the pursuit of identity politics, the elevation of the group over the individual, the imposition of DEI into many aspects of our lives, and the inflicting of ESG into our investment and financial organizations – the phony feel-good elements of Wokeism. Keep in mind, threats to democracy can come from the left as well as the right. So what does a thoughtful voter do? Colleen Hoover, a writer of romance stories for young teens, wrote in Hopeless: “Sometimes you have to choose between a bunch of wrong choices and no right ones.” Given what our options for President are likely to be in November, voters may face a similar ineluctable conundrum – a “Sophie’s Choice” between two bad options, the rock shoals of Scylla or the whirlpool of Charybdis. However, there are nine months to go until election day and much could happen, especially with two far-from-ideal elderly candidates.

 

In my opinion, it is too early, at least for Republicans, to raise the white flag. This may also be true for Democrats, as Biden’s polls are the lowest for a sitting President since Jimmy Carter. “Forever Trumpers” on the right and the Progressive wing of Democrats, along with their minions in the media, have already decided that Trump will be the Republican nominee and Biden the Democrat. That is what leaders of both Parties want. “Forever Trumpers” care more about the man than the Party, while Democrats see Trump as the Republican candidate easiest to beat. Republicans – the smaller of the two parties – are the Party of the individual, so managing them is like herding cats. Democrats, in contrast (and at least outwardly), remain unified behind an aged, cognitively-impaired man. As President, Mr. Biden has been marching to the beat of Obama-era Progressives – those who believe in big government, that race and gender supersede class distinctions, that racial and gender equity should repudiate merit, and that the imagery of a tossed salad better describes America than the concept of a melting pot. The latter is particularly jarring, as it promotes segregation rather than assimilation.

 

Is it not possible that the wishes of a majority of Americans – Independents along with moderate Republicans and Democrats – are being ignored by Party leaders and mainstream media? 

 

To win the Democratic nomination, the winner must have the votes of 1,969 delegates. While Biden won New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary via write-ins (against the wealthy Minnesota businessman, Representative Dean Phillips), his name was not on the ballot, so, at this point, Biden has no delegates. To win the Republican nomination, the winner must have the support of 1,215 delegates. As of now Trump has 32 and Nikki Haley has 17. While Trump, like Biden, appears to have the advantage, the race for Party nominee is not over. Most polls show Haley as the more formidable candidate against Biden. As for Biden’s competition at this point, Dean Phillips will likely not warrant a footnote in a history of 21^st Century American politics. Third party candidates could cause a change: No Labels may in fact nominate someone, and the impact of Robert Kennedy, Jr’s. run for the White House is unknown. Nevertheless, with two aging white men just out of the gate and hobbling down the track, the race is yet to be run.

 

According to Ballotpedia and as of 2022, Democrats comprise 38.8% of registered voters, Republicans 29.4%, and Independents 28.6%. While extremists now appear to control both Parties, to win a victor must appeal to Independents and to moderates in both Parties, which is why, in my opinion, Nikki Haley would be the better (and more redoubtable) Republican candidate. And it is the reason why mainstream media has been so quick to argue the helplessness of her quest and the inevitability of both Trump and Biden.

 

But even if Biden and Trump are on the ballot in November, the choice then confronting us would be more than personality differences between two aged, flawed men. Who would be their running mates? More important is what the election of either man would mean in terms of the future of the country. Progressive Democrats – the Obama branch of the Party – advocate statism with a larger role for government. Last week in New Hampshire Representative Dean Phillips (D-MN), promised to provide thousand-dollar American Dream Accounts for every baby born in the country, offer free college tuition for all, and guarantee a $15.00 per hour minimum wage.  Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), who leads the polls to become his state’s next Senator has promised to abolish the Senate filibuster rule, increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court to thirteen from nine, cancel at least $50,000 in student loan debt for every borrower, increase the corporate tax rate from today’s 21% to 35%, legalize the harvesting of votes, and institute a pilot program for a “Universal Basic Income.” And these Democrats claim to be preserving democracy!

 

We live in the greatest democracy the world has ever known. It is not perfect, but it has evolved over time into a fairer system and will continue to evolve. There is no end of history. We face threats from China and Russia, as well as rogue states, and challenges unknown to those who came before us: artificial intelligence and cyber warfare. Thus it is most important not to lose focus on the principles upon which our nation was founded, those embedded in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence, in the “Golden Rule,” and in the moral and ethical lessons from our Judeo-Christian heritage. The voting booth is where we exercise our choice as to who will represent us in government. We do not seek the perfect candidate, but rather the one who best represents our opinions and beliefs. Voting is a privilege, an honor, and a duty. So think carefully; don’t be influenced by slogans, bullied by advocates, or hustled to decide betimes.

 

As Dumbledore said to Harry Potter, the choices we make define who we are. “We are our choices” is a line often ascribed to Existentialist philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre. And we are all familiar with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol when Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted with the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley. “‘You are fettered,’ said Scrooge. ‘Tell me why.’ ‘I wear the chains I forged in life,’ replied the Ghost. ‘I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.’” Come November and no matter whom you vote for, the consequences will not be as dire as they were for Jacob Marley. But in a country that has survived and thrived for almost 250 years voting should be taken seriously. Make sure you exercise the privilege. The choice is yours. The future belongs to our children and grandchildren.

"Self-doubt"

 What the Durham trial has exposed is not getting the press it and the people deserve. The decision by the Clinton campaign to deliberately instigate a false story of Russian collusion by Donald Trump – no matter what one thought of him – was the dirtiest trick ever played in Presidential politics. It tells us what sort of a President Mrs. Clinton would have been. Why is this not getting more coverage? Can you imagine the headlines if roles were reversed?

 

Sydney M. Williams

30mBokum Road – Apartment 314

Essex, CT 06426

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Self-Doubt”

May 24, 2022

 

“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt.

Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.”

                                                                                                                                Robert Hughes (1938-2012)

                                                                                                                                Art critic

                                                                                                                                Time magazine, June 10, 1996

 

Self-doubt is usually considered a negative. And when it dominates one’s activities it is. In Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare has Lucio speak to Isabella: “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we might win, by fearing to attempt.” A recent article in National Review, signed by 59 conservatives, was titled “America’s Crisis of Self-Doubt:” “Our traditional values of fair play, free speech and religious liberty are trampled by inflamed ideologies determined to impose their will by force and fear.” That is all true, but the real problem is the over-confidence of the woke who, with religious zeal, see society “as archaic, unfair, and racially biased.” As a governor of impetuous behavior, self-doubt is a positive.

 

Questioning one’s beliefs can lead to changing one’s opinions, or to strengthening one’s resolve. Self-doubt is akin to skepticism; the former is the questioning – not the dismissal – of one’s abilities, while the latter seeks proof of an allegation. Recall the story of Jesus and the Apostle Thomas, known as “Doubting Thomas.” He refused to believe in the resurrected Jesus until he could see and feel Jesus’ crucifixion wounds. As a skeptic, he wanted evidence to justify his belief. Abraham Lincoln was plagued with self-doubt regarding his ability to manage the Civil War, yet doubt caused him to work harder and to achieve a better understanding. John F. Kennedy had self-doubt as to whether he could live up to the expectations of his father and the memory of his dead brother. But he gathered inner strength, as doubts faded and confidence was restored. More recently, Elon Musk’s evolvement from a “moderate Democrat” to a “moderate Republican” was a consequence of doubting his loyalties to a party that hewed too far to the left.

 

Self-doubt, when one is weighing competing political policy options, is healthy, as it allows one to use logic, reason and common sense to overcome skepticism before reaching a conclusion. Extremists, who see no need for self-doubt, have taken over our politics, especially on the left. In an interview with the Claremont Review of Books, Norman Podhoretz was quoted regarding the struggle within our country’s culture: “One side…believes that America is a force for good in itself,” while the other side claims, “America is evil in itself…” As neither party tries to understand the other, compromise is impossible. Quoting Daniel Bell, Barton Swaim wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal: “The tendency to convert concrete issues into ideological problems, to invest them with moral color and emotional charge is to invite conflicts which can only damage a society.” A plethora of moral certitude and a lack of self-doubt is common among those on the left dubbed “virtucrats” by Joseph Epstein – a term he defined in his 2002 book Snobbery: The American Version as “any man or woman who is certain that his or her political views are not merely correct but deeply, morally righteous in the bargain.” – “Often wrong, but never in doubt,” defines the path they follow.

 

Self-doubt would have questioned the claim that on-line radicalization and racism were the sole motivations behind Payton Gendron’s decision to kill ten black people in Buffalo last week. Self-doubt would have asked: Did not mental illness also play a role? Why have politicians left the mentally ill to live on streets in cities like San Francisco, Lon Angeles, New York, St. Louis and Austin? Self-doubt would have been a good thing for members of the media who accepted without question the now debunked Trump Russian collusion story, a story created by the Clinton campaign in 2016. Self-doubt may have prevented the Biden Administration’s embarrassing creation of the Orwellian-named Disinformation Governance Board, which has now, thank God, been abandoned. Media and political leaders could learn from William Butler Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming:” “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.”

 

When I was in high school, members of the debate team were assigned which side of the resolution to argue. If assigned the affirmative, the next week we might have to argue the negative. While the purpose was to hone one’s debating skills, these guidelines served to remind us that there are two sides to issues. Being able to see two sides – a trait abetted by self-doubt – plays a vital role in composing intelligent and defensible opinions and may change or reinforce one’s beliefs.

 

My purpose, in this essay, is not to suggest that fervency in one’s beliefs is wrong, but that opinions should be based on empiricism, logic and common sense. Self-doubt plays a role in better understanding the issues we face, and it is always most wanted where it is least exercised. It is the antithesis of self-doubt, the religious-like zealotry of extremists, that is the most dangerous. Mainstream media does a good job of calling out the far-right, but they ignore the self-anointed far-left who see themselves as the rightful determiners as to what to read, speak and believe. That is where danger lurks.

"Creating Problems to Secure Elections"

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“Creating Problems to Secure Elections”

April 28, 2021

 

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s

cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for

our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

                                                                                                                  C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

                                                                                                                  God in the Dock: Essays on Theology, 1970

                                                                                                                  Published posthumously

 

A problem endemic to successful countries is the need to create issues that get people excited when things are going relatively well. Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, except for a few years following 9/11, the United States has not faced a major crisis that galvanized and unified the nation. In 2008, we faced a credit crisis. It could have undone the global financial system but, truth be told, the crisis was over by the end of calendar year 2008 when the TED spread – a calculation used to measure risk in financial markets – narrowed sharply from its October-November highs, and high-yield bonds began to rally. The pandemic caused by COVID-19 last year was seized by politicians and called a crisis. A (deliberate?) confusion of correlation with causation regarding reported deaths was used as an excuse to expand governmental power and curtail individual rights. Despite conventional opinion, however, we do not know if shutting down the economy did more harm than good. 

 

The United States has achieved high living standards and diminished poverty because of capitalism and individual freedom. Is everything perfect? No. Should we rest on our laurels? Of course not. There is always more to be done. But the world, and especially the West, is richer and more at peace than at any time in history, which is a problem for politicians whose campaigns are all about needed change. 

 

It is true that external problems lurk. China threatens peace in the western Pacific. Russia is flexing its muscles along borders of its old empire in Ukraine. Iran, an impoverished state with little to risk and much to gain, is disrupting the Middle East with a revival of its nuclear program. North Korea, another state so impoverished it has little to lose, is led by a man who in a normal country would be committed.

 

However, in this time of relative prosperity and peace, Progressives convert addressable issues into partisan crises. While there are several, two, in my opinion, are forefront: race and climate. Others include policing, guns and immigration, with the latter having become a serious problem on our southern border. Methods used to create and promote crises are insidious: claim the moral high ground, censor speech, disallow gender-specific pronouns and cancel history. A consequence is the intimidation (and worse) of those in academia, corporate offices, entertainment, and professional sports who do not hew to an approved narrative. 

 

There is no question that there are racists in the United States. A country of 330 million people harbors every conceivable type of good and bad individual. Has racial equality been achieved? No. Bias against race is embedded in all societies, including in parts of ours, and change always happens more slowly than proponents would like. But positive change has occurred. In 1970, according to U.S. Census data, 60% of all Americans had a high school education, while only 30% of blacks did. By 2020 those trends had almost converged, with 90% of all Americans having a high school diploma and 88% of blacks. Interracial marriages have increased. In the 1967 decision Loving versus Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that anti-miscegenation marriage laws were unconstitutional. It is hard to believe today, but 54 years ago such marriages were illegal in seventeen states. Since that decision there has been a five-fold increase in interracial marriages, so that today, according to a Pew Research study, one in six marriages is interracial. Race is still an issue, but the situation is miles from where it was half a century ago. We are not systemically racist, and Critical Race Theory is derisive to blacks and disruptive to society. The assumption that blacks are victims and cannot compete against whites is an insult to the black community. Consider the success of black Americans in every field, from finance, medicine, politics and law to literature, the media, sports and entertainment. The term “victim” is tossed out too freely, as when LeBron James (worth an estimated $500 million, according to Forbes), Tweeted “Your next,” beneath a picture of Columbus, Ohio police officer Nicholas Reardon, to his 50 million followers. When followers complained his message was inflammatory, he asserted he was a victim. What kind of a country do Progressives want? Do they believe Reverend Jeremiah Wright was on target to preach after 9/11: “No, no, no, not God bless America! God damn America!” No true American has ever claimed we have achieved perfection. But we should all be able to say we are a better Country today than we were 200, 100, even 50 years ago. We must take care that we continue to move forward, not backward. The teaching of Critical Race Theory is guaranteed to foment discrimination and segregation, pushing us backward into the Jim Crow era. 

 

The public debate over climate is another issue Progressives have cynically seized for political purposes. Their arguments ignore knowledge and promote advocacy, which was clear a few years ago when “global warming” became “climate change.” An apocalypse has been falsely predicted by many. In 2006 former Vice President Al Gore, who sold his cable channel company Current TV to Al Jazeera for $500 million in 2013, said that unless drastic measures were taken to reduce greenhouse gasses within ten years the world would reach a point of no return. Led by China and India, greenhouse gasses have continued to increase, yet no apocalypse has arrived. Nevertheless, like the problem of race, there is truth in the fact we face climate change. And there is no question that man has affected what has always been the case – that climate is in a constant state of flux. The Earth has warmed and cooled over the millennia and will continue to do so. In his new book, False Alarm, Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish economist who has been studying and writing about climate for twenty years, quoted the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) that had studied flooding around the world and “found that it’s not clear whether it’s getting more or less frequent, [or whether] there is a human fingerprint involved.” Lomborg points out the value of wealth and adaption in addressing climate concerns. (Wealthy people prefer to live in a clean environment yet continue to build homes in flood-prone areas). A review of the book in Forbes noted: “In the 1920s, climate-related disasters killed almost 500,000 people each year. Today the number is lower than 20,000.”

 

President Obama’s Under Secretary for Science in the Department of Energy Dr. Steven Koonin recently published Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t and Why It Matters. In an op-ed about his book, published in the New York Post, Dr. Koonin made certain points that would shock those who believe we are headed for catastrophe: “…Heat waves in the U.S. are now no more common than they were in 1900…The warmest temperatures in the U.S. have not risen in the past fifty years…Humans have had no detectable impact on hurricanes over the past century…Greenland’s ice sheet isn’t shrinking any more rapidly today than it was eighty years ago.” Man’s impact on climate has been real, but, despite claims by Progressives, it is unclear what exactly that impact has been. To add perspective, in his op-ed Dr. Koonin quoted a former colleague at Caltech, Professor Richard Feynman (1918-1988), a theoretical physicist known for his work on quantum mechanics who gave the 1974 commencement address: “Give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution, not just the information that leads to judgement in one particular direction or another.” Humility among politicians is a rare, but treasured, commodity. What is ignored is that, like the problem with race, we are moving in the right direction. With natural gas substituting for coal, U.S. per capita carbon dioxide emissions declined 24% between 2000 and 2017, while U.S. GDP rose 94 percent.  

 

A hundred and fifty years ago, in the December 1870 magazine, New and Old, James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888), an American theologian, penned words whose wisdom still applies: “A politician thinks about the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.” “Woke” Progressives claim the moral high ground, but it is passion, not reason, that motivates them. Passion may help win elections, but thoughtfulness and reason help politicians become statesmen. In his poem “The Second Coming,” William Butler Yeats wrote: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity.” Bertrand Russell, in his 1945 book A History of Western Philosophy, expressed similar sentiments: “the whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always sure of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubt.” Beware politicians whose promises lead to the tyranny C.S. Lewis warned of in the rubric that heads this essay.  

 

Win at any costs has become the mantra of Progressives. In a recent interview with Mathias Döpfner of Germany’s Axel Springer, Henry Kissinger commented on the belief that American society has been immoral from its beginnings: “It’s a revolutionary view in the sense it aims for victory, not compromise.” The cost is societal division. A lack of civility has become common. People are not held accountable. Rules of behavior are not taught at home. Schools don’t demand respect from students. Great books are no longer required reading, and civics and history are no longer emphasized. Equity, as a goal, has replaced equality. Victimization has been substituted for personal responsibility. The crises Americans face are ones of behavior and epistemology, not structural racism or a climate apocalypse.