tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4775973547249685722024-03-25T04:26:34.878-07:00Thought of the DayFinancial markets, political events and life's experiencesThought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.comBlogger1531125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-84970431808922926152024-03-25T04:25:00.000-07:002024-03-25T04:25:37.940-07:00"War - Israel versus Hamas"<p> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><b style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sydney M. Williams</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #467886;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“War – Israel versus Hamas”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">March 25, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“But Oct. 7 denial is spreading. A small but growing group denies the basic facts of the attack,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">pushing a spectrum of falsehoods and misleading narratives that minimize the violence or dispute its origins.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Elizabeth Dwoskin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Washington Post,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>January 21, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">War is messy. It is cruel. It cannot be refined. It cannot be sanitized. Wars were once fought on battle fields. No longer. Civil War historian James McPherson has estimated that about 50,000 civilians died during that conflict, still less than 10% of all military deaths. That changed in the 20<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Century. About half of all deaths in World War I were civilians. In World War II, twice as many civilians died as military personnel. Innocent people get hurt in modern wars, as residents of London, Dresden, Hiroshima, and Naples learned during World War II, and as residents of My Lai and Hué learned during the Vietnam War. And as people today in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, in Gaza City, Jabalia, and Rafah understand, and in the border villages of Israel’s north where residents have evacuated due to threats from Iran’s other proxy, Hezbollah. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">When the fight is between good and evil, a “proportional” response, as attractive as the concept sounds, is not an alternative. “The moral thing to do,” the columnist Moshe Phillips wrote recently in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Israel National News</i>, “is to destroy evil when it poses a ‘clear and present danger’ or likely will again.” Hamas presents to Israel such a threat. In September 1864, on the cusp of taking Atlanta, General William Tecumseh Sherman sent a telegram to President Lincoln: “War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. Other simple remedies were within their choice. You know it and they know it, but they wanted war, and I say let us give them all they want; not a word of argument, not a sign of let up, no cave in until we are whipped or they are.” When Hamas attacked the Kibbutz Nir Oz, during the Tribe of Nova music festival, on October 7, raping women, slaughtering babies and children, mutilating those they had killed and kidnapping those they had not, war was the choice they made. Now, the only way to end the war is for Israel to totally destroy Hamas. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The battle in Gaza, like the American Civil War and World War II, is a fight between forces of good and evil. (In one sense, this is a civil war, as both Israelis and Palestinians descend from Abraham.) This is not to suggest that all Israelis are paragons of virtue and that all Palestinians are devils incarnate. But Israel, according to the Economist Groups Democracy Index, is the only democracy in the Middle East, while Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Britain. The people of Gaza bear some responsibility, as Hamas was elected in 2006 with 75% of the vote. Citizens of Gaza know that terrorists hide and store arms in tunnels beneath schools and hospitals. On September 11, 2001 there was dancing in the streets of Gaza. Ismail Haniyeh, former Gaza Prime Minister and Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau (and who now lives in Qatar), explained in 2020 why Hamas rejects ceasefire agreements: “We cannot, in exchange for money or projects, give up Palestine and our weapons. We will not give up the resistance. We will not recognize Israel. Palestine must stretch from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea.” Commenting on the loss of civilian deaths in Gaza on October 26, 2023, Mr. Haniyeh said: The blood of the women, children and elderly […] we are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Anti-Israeli demonstrations and pro-Palestinian marches are pressuring the Biden Administration to introduce more daylight between Israel and the United States. As Saturday’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>editorialized: last week’s final draft to the United Nations’ Security Council called for an immediate and sustained cease fire, “to protect civilians and facilitate more aid, but not necessarily to free Israeli hostages. That direct linkage was dropped from a prior draft.” Civilian deaths in Gaza – an Orwellian number provided by Hamas that the press accepts without reservation – are being used to call for a ceasefire or truce. But history offers lessons. In 1918, an armistice ended World War I. After two decades, which included hyper-inflation and a world-wide depression, a second – and more deadly – war broke out, a World War that cost 80 million lives. In contrast to the First World War, World War II ended with the Allies demanding – and getting – unconditional surrender. The consequence: almost eighty years of economic prosperity, with the Allies main antagonists, Germany and Japan, in the forefront of that growth. Wars must be won decisively, or they will reignite, as the world learned in 1938, and as Israel knows full well.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Ironically, the massacre in Israel led to an increase in antisemitism in the U.S. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that in the two months following the October 7 attack 2,031 incidents of antisemitism were reported in the U.S., versus 465 in the corresponding period a year earlier. Pro-Palestinian rallies showcased a surge in antisemitism. On December 5, 2023, the presidents of Harvard, M.I.T., and the University of Pennsylvania testified before Congress that calling for the genocide of the Jewish people – as pro-Hamas college demonstrators were then doing – would not necessarily violate their schools’ codes of conduct. At the same time, Palestinian propagandizing – the war they are winning – has influenced a gullible media and infested politicians from both Parties, reminding one of George Orwell’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>1984</i>: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.” It was refreshing, therefore, to read Elizabeth Dwoskin’s piece in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Washington Post</i>, from which I borrowed the epigraph that heads this essay. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">War is never pretty, and the best way to prevent one is to maintain a strong defense, something we and Europe have neglected since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Wars erupt because evil exists. It stems from ideological differences and disputes over land. Evil resides within some cultures, religions, and individuals, which many in the West find difficult to accept. Accusations of evil, therefore, make evil seem banal and thus less immediate and less harmful. Israel, in contrast, having existed under such threats for three-quarters of a century, understands the prevalence of evil, and, as her enemies know, are ready for it...except when restrained by her allies.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Because of its unique position as a democracy in an otherwise autocratic Middle East, and because its people pray to a different God, Israel is singled out for destruction. She is a nation of 9.4 million, bordered by four countries with combined populations of 147 million, plus 5 million Palestinians, many of whom see her as an interloper, and some of whom vow to destroy her. She must rely on her allies, especially the United States. As a democracy, her leaders change with elections and so are not always the ones her friends and allies prefer. But it is the Country and the concept of liberty, not a political party or leader, we defend. The United States, as freedom’s and democracy’s most fervent advocate, must not equivocate in its defense of justice, democracy, and individual freedom. Israel must totally destroy Hamas and bring its leaders to justice, and the West must support her. As long as those terrorists exist and govern Gaza, there can be no talk of a two-state solution.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-64876310917065712092024-03-20T04:51:00.000-07:002024-03-20T04:51:43.948-07:00"The Age of the Scammer"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Spring arrived last evening on the eastern seaboard around 11:30pm, but whoever is in charge forgot to tell the one who controls the thermostat. It was thirty-six degrees this morning, and turtles and peepers are squawking. And, for the next two days, forecasts for the weather are for the low 20s. Nevertheless, spring is on its way, and scammers are in full bloom.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">More Essays from Essex<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“The Age of the Scammer”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">March 20, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Internet scamming is the safest crime in the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Answer on Quora, July 22, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">AARP estimates that Americans lost $8.8 billion in 2022 to scammers versus $3.5 billion in 2020, a revenue increase that must be the envy of most New York Stock Exchange-listed companies. But perhaps we should consider ourselves fortunate (and maybe U.S.-based scammers less so). The Delhi-based and English language daily<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Hindustan Times</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>estimated that, world-wide, people lost about $1.02 trillion between August 2022 and August 2023. Scammers mostly target older and younger consumers – both vulnerable because of a sense of loneliness or isolation. As octogenarians, my wife and I, while often acting like the latter, fit the profile of the former. Most calls on our house phone do not come from those wishing us well.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Despite recent notoriety – reflecting aging populations, media interest, new technologies, and a surfeit of scammers – the profession of fraudster vies with prostitution for the title: “world’s oldest profession.” In the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Book of Proverbs</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>it is written: “Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth will be filled with gravel.” If only…! Among more famous con artists and swindlers were Charles Ponzi (1882-1949) who brought down six banks and cost investors $20 million between January and November of 1920; Ivar Kreuger (1880-1932), the “Swedish match king” who committed suicide in 1932, forged securities worth about $700 million (and among whose victims was my maternal grandfather); and Bernie Madoff (1938-2021) who cost investors approximately $17 billion when he was finally defrocked in 2008. While the individual stealing my credit card is a small fish, he is a member of the same guild.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Most scams come via phone or e-mail. The perpetrators are aided by technology: In Connecticut, there are four area codes for 3.6 million people and 1.4 million households. However, there are over nine million combinations of a seven-digit number, meaning that those four area codes could produce over thirty-six million different phone numbers. While most of us, at least those of us with caller-ID, will not answer the phone unless we recognize the name or the number, phone scammers have the capability of calling you from your area code, using made-up names. If you answer the phone you may find that the voice does not fit the name. In a recent op-ed on scammers in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, Joseph Epstein wrote that he takes amusement in their false names, writing that his favorite is ‘Shawn Parker’ delivered in a heavy South Asian accent. More alarming is that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will soon allow scammers to produce individual avatars that provide the image and voice of a child, grandchild, or friend.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">E-mail scams are often not subtle. A message will be received from a friend or relative’s hacked account asking for money, because he or she has become ill, involved in an accident, or is in jail. While I am tempted to answer humorously, the best thing to do is delete the e-mail and notify your relative or friend.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Scams appear on internet accounts. One is asked to click on a link, as I once did, forcing me to change my credit card number. The worst are those intent on stealing your identity, generally by getting hold of your Social Security card number. Be skeptical. If you have a question or are in doubt shut down your computer, and call the Social Security office, bank, credit card company, or merchant. Caveat Emptor does not apply just to the real estate industry. It is a motto we should all obey, especially in this age of the scammer.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-62206437156115184052024-03-17T04:58:00.000-07:002024-03-17T04:58:21.441-07:00"A Few Short, Random Thoughts"<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 10pt;">swtotd.blogspot.com<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">March 17, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">“A Few Short, Random Thoughts”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Listen to your hunches, pay attention to your intuition, do not dismiss your random<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">thoughts, inspirations or ideas…They could be giving you the best advice you ever had.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Neale Donald Walsch (1943-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Conversations with God, Book 3</i>, 1998<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">American values, which have been denigrated, evolved over two hundred years. It has become common to debase history and belittle capitalism, Certainly, one can find faults in both. One thing that is often forgotten is how rare have been revolutions that produced positive change. The French Revolution of 1789 eliminated a king and produced an Emperor. The Haiti slave rebellion of 1791 got rid of the French and eliminated slavery, but the nation has never had an honest and fair government. The Russian Revolution of 1917 exchanged autocratic Tsars for totalitarian Communists. Other examples: China in 1949, Cuba in 1959, and Iran in 1979. But the American revolution produced a government that evolved into the world’s fairest representative democracy. Capitalism, which creates winners and losers, is antithetical to today’s devotees of DEI, with its focus on equal outcomes. Yet, it is capitalism that encourages competition and offers choices to consumers. Free market capitalism has done more to lift people out of poverty than any other economic system. It provides people opportunities, to strive to do their best in whatever field they choose.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">A few other thoughts:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><ul style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: start;" type="disc"><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Democracy – a form of government close to the center of a spectrum that stretches from anarchy to autocracy. It is not perfect, as Churchill said in a speech before the House of Commons on November 11, 1947: “…the worse form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Our democracy is, as Abraham Lincoln said at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” It is rare. Despite its visible success, according to ourworldindata.org, twice as many people live in “closed autocracies” as live in “liberal democracies.” Yet, we cannot forget that while our government is beneficent, dependency on government, unless it is absolutely necessary, leads to a loss of freedom.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><ul style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: start;" type="disc"><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Capitalism/Climate/Environment – It was free-market capitalism that produced the Industrial Revolution, a revolution that defoliated forests, polluted rivers, and eroded the landscape. But it also raised living standards, gave people access to healthier diets, better housing and medicines, and cheaper goods. It did increase wealth for merchants and bankers, but while we complain today about income and wealth disparities, those differences are less than they were at the end of the 19<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Century and substantially below what they were when the world was composed of a few kings and aristocrats and millions of serfs and slaves – and those wealth disparities are far less in capitalist societies than in totalitarian regimes like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. And it was capitalism that gave us the means to clean up the environment – our forests, rivers, and landscapes.<o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;">As for climate, there is little doubt that man affects its change. But the planet’s climate has been changing long before man arrived on the scene. During the Mesozoic Era, when dinosaurs roamed the earth 100 million years ago, the planet’s average temperature is estimated to have been forty-five degrees warmer than it is today. A few million years later, during the Pleistocene Era with its Ice Age, the earth’s temperature averaged fifty-three degrees colder than today. About ten thousand years ago, the climate became warm enough to begin to melt the Ice Age’s glaciers.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;">When one cleanses the environment, one positively affects climate. Confronting climate change and improving the environment began to be addressed long before the advent of the EPA and John Kerry. As Bjorn Lomborg wrote recently in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i>: “The data show that climate-related deaths from droughts, storms, floods, and fires have declined by more than 97% over the past century.” We need to calculate costs – both societal and economic of climate-change measures – against expected benefits. While there is more we can do, we have come a long way. But governments should not use climate as an excuse to pick winners and losers. Adam Smith’s “invisible hand is fairer and better suited. In the meantime, governments, agencies, and the media should drop the hysteria.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><ul style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: start;" type="disc"><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Immigration – Common sense tells us that when a country’s birth rates fall below replacement and economic growth is still the goal it must raise birth rates or increase migration. When people are admitted legally, authorities know who has entered. When migrants enter illegally, they arrive unknown. In my opinion, we should increase the number of legal immigrants, simplify immigration laws, allow for more seasonal workers, and, at the same time, tighten the border against illegal and unwanted migration. The country needs new workers and consumers.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><ul style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: start;" type="disc"><li class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Education – Thomas Jefferson believed that only educated citizens would allow the American experiment in self-government to succeed. We all know that women and blacks, despite education, were denied the right to vote in 1789. Nevertheless, his ideas were radical for the time. His founding of the University of Virginia in 1819 partially achieved his goal. Youth today should have an understanding and appreciation of what the founders accomplished: limited government of the people, consisting of three separate but equal branches – legislative, executive, and judicial, based on the rule of law. They should read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They should be taught how rights have evolved, and they should know history, to understand how the nation’s values have also evolved over time. Youth needs a clear understanding of geography, math/economics, philosophy, science, and religion; they should develop a sense of decorum and personal responsibility, and they need to be able to articulately express themselves.<o:p></o:p></li></ul><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">These short takes are not definitive or all-inclusive. I have neither the time nor the ability to make them so, and you do not have the time (or desire) to read what may be obvious and repetitive. But I worry that we have lost a sense of what it means to be an American, that our differences rather than our commonalities define who we are. To live in this country, with all its faults, is to live among the world’s most fortunate people. We must not be arrogant about our luck. We need to recognize that there may come a time, as it did for past generations, when it will be necessary to defend what we have. We should never forget the blessings of individual freedom, and the benefits of living in a free and democratic republic, amid free-market capitalism – all of which we inherited and which it is our duty to pass on to those who follow.</p></div><p><br /></p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-12187033078778128792024-03-11T04:15:00.000-07:002024-03-11T04:15:21.810-07:00"Are Things as Bad as They Seem?"<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“Are Things as Bad as They Seem?”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">March 11, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Just when you thought that things couldn’t get any worse, you find out that they’ve<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">always been a lot worse than you thought they were. And then they get worse.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Philip Kerr (1956-2018)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Pale Criminal</i>, 1990<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Debt, including unfunded liabilities, threatens to bankrupt us. The southern border has become a porous venue for a record number of illegals and the drugs many bring into this country. An epidemic of crime has transformed our cities. Democrats have weaponized the criminal justice department to go after political opponents. Republicans, in a rush to isolationism, have abandoned global responsibilities – underestimating threats to democratic institutions posed by Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, and Iran’s Mullahs. Color-blind meritocracy and biological sex have given way to harmful fantasies, with preferential treatment for some groups and favored pronouns for others. A desire for clean energy is countered by demand for clean-technology factories and electricity-hungry data centers, “leaving,” as Evan Halper wrote last week in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Washington Post</i>, “utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.” Biden’s mandate that two thirds of all new cars be electric by 2032 will increase the demand for electricity. One asks: is the country witnessing the death of common sense and entering a death spiral?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">I suspect everyone, no matter their political preferences, agrees that we live in contentious times – politically, technologically, and culturally. Of the two Presidential candidates, one is visibly senescent and the other is “the crudest trash-talker in politics,” as Barton Swaim wrote in a recent<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>op-ed. AI threatens to disrupt our lives in unknown ways. DEI, CRT, gender neutral bathrooms and gendered-altered athletes have turned high schools and universities into places alien to parents and alumni.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Perhaps we should step back. “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes” is an aphorism usually attributed to Mark Twain. It suggests that while each era is different, there are recurring themes. And as George Santayana observed, we are disadvantaged regarding the present and the future when we ignore the past. And, while our current situation is unique, the United States has survived bigger schisms – the biggest being the Civil War when eleven southern states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. That Lincoln was able to prevent England and France from recognizing the Confederacy and keep the Union intact, while abolishing slavery, is something for which every American should be grateful.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">While the Civil War created chaos, the two-and-a-half decades leading up to it were unsettled, and not just because of slavery. In the twenty-four years before Abraham Lincoln was elected in a four-way race in 1860, eight men served as President. The three decades leading to the Civil War saw the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, an event that raised living standards, but that also created winners and losers: Railroads and steamships disrupted traditional means of travel, and the telegraph radicalized the way people communicated. The McCormack reaper increased the value of large Pennsylvania and Ohio farms, while lowering the value of smaller New England farms. The Singer sewing machine revolutionized the clothing industry. All were examples of Joseph Schumpeter’s “creative disruption.” More than a third of the nation’s population increase over the thirty years prior to the Civil War was due to immigrants, mostly from Ireland and Germany. Growth spurts are usually accompanied by hiccups.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Turbulent times continued: Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and over the next thirty-six years two more Presidents would be assassinated – James Garfield in 1861 and William McKinley in 1901. Native Americans continued to be attacked, captured, and placed on reservations. Black Americans continued to experience bigotry and segregation, and the late 19<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Century saw the birth of the Ku Klux Klan. The Industrial Revolution continued, with electricity, autos, and telephones being introduced, creating dislocations for carriage makers and purveyors of gas lamps, but positively affecting living standards.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Once again, we live in politically rancorous times, with cultural appropriation in schools, universities, and businesses and disruptive technologies like social media and artificial intelligence. Democrats have what they want in Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee, and Republicans have what they want with Democrats sticking with Joe Biden. Both parties are more interested in attacking their opponent than in promoting their candidate. Neither candidate shows any interest in reconciliation. Trump, in a statement that showed how unhinged he is from reality, claimed to have no need of Nikki Haley’s supporters, Independents, or disgruntled Democrats. In his State of the Union, Biden made no effort to appease Republicans unhappy with Trump. Instead, the speech was, as Ben Domenech wrote in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Spectator</i>, “unhinged…spewing invective at half the country.” – the campaign speech of an angry old man, which served as a preview of the road to November.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Unless, unless something changes. Last Friday, No Labels held a virtual 800-delegate meeting, and the members voted, “near unanimously” as NBC put it, to move forward with the process of forming a presidential ticket to run in the 2024 election against Joe Biden and Donald Trump. An official ticket was not put forward, but one is expected. Regardless, given the ages of Biden and Trump and should Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Harvard professor and civil rights activist Cornel West persist in their presidential bids, conventions this summer may be wide-open affairs.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">And yet, are things as bad as they seem? No one can see into the future. Classicists remind us that empires end, and so might the United States, a nation that has stood as a defender of freedom for the world’s democracies, and a country that provides hope for the world’s oppressed. But is now that moment? I recall the late 1960s and ‘70s when society was frayed and politics were in disarray, yet we survived. It is possible that the last stanza of Edgar Guest’s (1881-1959) poem published in the March 4, 1921 issue of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Detroit Free Press</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>will prove prescient for today’s over-whelmed American voter:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“And you never can tell how close you are,<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">It may be near when it seems so far,<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.”</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-48326077807168735972024-03-04T04:01:00.000-08:002024-03-04T04:01:34.572-08:00"Demographics is Destiny?"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">As a fan of Anthony Trollope, I got a smile yesterday in reading a review of</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><i style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The History of England’s Cathedrals<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">in</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><i style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">by Benjamin Riley. The book’s author, Nicholas Orme, quotes the diarist Henry Channon who, with a few friends, sat down with Francis Underhill, bishop of Bath and Wells, in the early 1940s. Underhill, a devotee of Victorian literature, quipped: “There is nothing I like better than to lie in my bed with my favorite Trollope.”</span></p><div class="WordSection1" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos; page: WordSection1;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;">With an abundance of negative news I thought re-telling the story might, too, produce a smile.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;">As for this essay, the subject is one widely discussed in think-tanks, books, academia, and the media, but it is an issue that politicians, in a commendable bi-partisan coming-together, have chosen to ignore, as addressing its consequences might affect their re-election chances.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #467886;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #156082; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #156082; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Demographics is Destiny?<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">March 4, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“If global population stops expanding and then contracts, capitalism – a system implicitly predicated<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">on ever burgeoning numbers of people – will likely not be able to survive in its current form.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Zachary Karabell (1967-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Founder, Progress Network at New America<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Reviewing<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Human Tide</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(Paul Morland)<i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Foreign Affairs<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> September/October 2019<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Apart from Israel, which has a TFR (Total Fertility Rate) of 2.9, no Western nation (including Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) has a birthrate above replacement rate, which implies – barring immigration – a West that faces aging and, ultimately, declining populations. (It is only fair to point out that China, Russia, and North Korea also have declining birthrates.)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As Mr. Karabell wrote in the review quoted above: “Governments worldwide have evolved to meet the challenge of managing more people, not fewer and older.” Yet the opposite is in the offing. The effect on living standards could be startling. Economic growth depends on many factors: free markets, rule of law, global and fair trade, the right to property ownership, innovation, entrepreneurship, secure borders, but also on an expanding working-age populations.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Or, at least, a growing population has always been a key driver for economic growth. However, in a 2019 review of Paul Morland’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Human Tide</i>, Jason Willick wrote: “New technology such as cloning, space travel and artificial intelligence could mean the current demographic slowdown is not an endpoint but an interregnum before another era of radical political change sweeps all before it.” That is possible, and it is also possible that artificial intelligence will forego the need for additional white-collar jobs. But there is no way to avoid an aging population, along with ever-higher costs of healthcare for the elderly. Robots and computers do not pay taxes; people do.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The United States is better situated than most Western nations, as it attracts migrants to offset declining birthrates, though our population continues to age. Europe, as well, attracts migrants from the Middle East and North Africa, but at a lesser rate, and with less assimilation. While birthrates have declined in developing countries, many are still positive. Nigeria, for example, with a population of 226 million and a TFR of 5.3, is projected to have a population of 550 million by 2100. According to projections both Pakistan and Nigeria will surpass the United States in terms of population by 2100. China’s population will shrink to about one half that of India, the only country predicted to have a population over one billion in 2100.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The study of demographics – the statistical study of human populations, how they change through fertility, deaths and migration – has been around for a long time. The economist and Anglican cleric Thomas Malthus is famous for the prediction in his 1798 book,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>An Essay on the Principle of Population</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>– that an increase in the world’s food production would lead to more births and declining living standards. What he failed to anticipate was the Industrial Revolution. While the world’s population grew eight-fold over the past two hundred years, the percentage of people living in extreme poverty shrunk from roughly 90% to about 10%.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The problem facing much of the planet is the opposite of the one that concerned Malthus. Population declines, at this stage, have been masked by increasing life expectancy and, in some countries, by immigration. Nevertheless, over the past three years Japan’s population has declined by 1.4 million, China’s by 700 thousand, Russia’s by 600 thousand, and Italy’s by 400 thousand. Germany has shown a small decline, while France and the UK have had modest increases, largely due to immigration. A United Nations’ study in 2022 predicted that by 2050 population declines of greater than 15% will be experienced by two Baltic nations, Lithuania and Latvia and seven eastern European countries – Bulgaria, Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova, Hungary, and Croatia. Portugal and Italy are expected to have population declines of more than ten percent. Declining birth rates are affecting the United States as well. Here, in 2013, with a population of 316 million, there were 3.9 million births. In 2023, with a population of 334 million, there were 3.7 million births. While the number of births exceeded the estimated 3.3 million deaths in 2023, the ratio is shrinking.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In the recent issue of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Spectator</i>, Paul Wood wrote of the situation in Italy, in an essay titled “Empty World.” In it he noted that Italy’s TFR is 1.24. Deaths, he pointed out, have out-numbered births “for more than thirty years.” His analysis suggests that one cause has been an increase in childless couples, that if “a couple does start a family, it is likely to be as big as in decades past.” But couples who delay the start of a family often wait too long. London’s left-wing<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Guardian</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>suggested that right-wing policies might be, in part, to blame, as families have had to assume some of the costs of the care for their elderly, as the State has become financially strapped. Wood quoted Giulio Meotti, a columnist for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Il Foglio</i>: “We are in serious trouble…waiting for the inevitable. It’s a slow suicide.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The immediate problem for the United States is the one of aging – the increase of those in retirement years and their increased health-related expenses, and the decrease of those of working age. In 1960, life expectancy (70) was almost ten years less than it is today (79), while the number of working-age people per retiree (6) was twice as many as today (3). For decades politicians have successfully avoided the unpleasant task of reforming Social Security and Medicare. They won’t be able to do so much longer. According to the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees’ 2023 annual reports, Medicare and Social Security unfunded long-term liabilities now exceed $78 trillion, over $600,000 for every U.S. household.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The question of demographics raises issues. Why does marriage seem a rite easy to postpone and why are couples having fewer children? Will retirement ages be raised? Will life expectancy continue to increase? What are the economic and social consequences of fewer children, a shrinking workforce,<a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="color: #467886;" title="#_ftn1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a>and an increase in retirees? On the other hand, is it possible that today’s demographic Cassandra’s fail to foresee political, social, or technological changes that could alter what otherwise looks to be a bleak and costly future?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Is our destiny predicated on trends in demography? Certainly, at least partially. But our future well-being also depends on a vibrant democracy, sensible and legal immigration, individual innovation, education, and culture. The most harmful consequences of birthrates below replacement may not be felt for several years, but it is an issue that should be debated and addressed now.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="color: #467886;" title="#_ftnref1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In fact, and as noted by University of Amsterdam sociology professor Hein de Haas in last weekend’s edition of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, a need for lower-cost labor in industries such as hospitality, healthcare, restaurants, cleaning, and agriculture is a major reason for the migration surge at our borders.</p></div></div>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-20342852360247144612024-03-02T05:04:00.000-08:002024-03-02T05:04:25.065-08:00"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," by Betty Smith<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #0070c0; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It is easy to grow despondent when thinking of the large number of great books I will never read. In a typical year, I read about 30 books, which is less than many of my friends</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #0070c0;">read. But I am not a speed reader and often make notes of passages that I like. Of course, reading</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #0070c0;">books is in addition to newspapers, magazine articles, and reports. But when I think of the number of books out there and of the fact that perhaps 200,000 books get published each year just in the U.S. it is easy to become discouraged – so many books and so little time.</span></span></p><div class="WordSection1" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos; page: WordSection1;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;">Nevertheless, this novel is special. The poverty Betty Smith wrote of was beyond my comprehension, but there was, apparently, little complaining. And it was fascinating to realize this book, written by a woman of a time thirty years earlier, was one of the most popular stories read by American soldiers during the Second World War, one of whom was my father. Many</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #0070c0;">American soldiers, I am sure, could identify with tenements like those in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, and as she was writing of a time that, to them, was not that distant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;">Perhaps this short essay (under 600 words) will entice you. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 11pt;">Sydney<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>30 Bokum Road – Apartment 314<o:p></o:p></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Essex, CT 06426<o:p></o:p></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Burrowing into Books<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><i>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn</i>, Betty Smith<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">March 2, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Look at that tree growing up there out of that grating. It gets no sun, and<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">water only when it rains. It’s growing out of sour earth. And it’s strong because<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">its hard struggle to live is making it strong. My children will be strong that way.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(1943)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Betty Smith (1896-1972)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">It was the Ailanthus tree, known as the tree of heaven in its native China and which became invasive in North America, that Ms. Smith used as a symbol of hope and perseverance for her heroine Francie Nolan in this coming-of-age story, in the poverty-stricken Williamsburg section of Brooklyn during the first two decades of the Twentieth Century: “No matter where its seed fell, it made a tree that struggled to reach the sky…it was the only tree that grew out of cement. It grew lushly, but only in the tenements districts.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">While the story is fictional, Ms. Smith used her own life as inspiration. On August 22, 1943 Meyer Berger wrote of the book in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The New York Times</i>: “…a stringing together of memory beads...” In an interview for the magazine<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>This Week</i>, Ms. Smith was quoted: “To live, to struggle, to be in love with life…is fulfillment.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">While the story takes place thirty years earlier, the book was published in 1943, as World War II devastated the planet. The book became immensely popular. Shortly after publication, it was released in a paperback Armed Services Edition<a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="#_ftn1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a>. Within two years it had sold nearly three million copies.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">It is Francie Nolan’s story of growing up, with her brother Neely, in (unimaginable to us) urban poverty. Williamsburg at the time was home to first-and-second generation immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Italy. As well, there were streets primarily inhabited by Jewish immigrants and African-Americans. Assimilation was just beginning, as Francie’s mother was German and her father Irish.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Despite the poverty that enshrouds their lives in Brooklyn, Katie’s mother Mary Rommely speaks of their reason for emigrating: “In the old country, a man is given to the past. Here he belongs to the future. In this land he may be what he will…” She tells her daughter there are two great books, Shakespeare and the Bible. So Francie and Neely grow up, having a page from each read to them every evening.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Francie’s father was loving, but an alcoholic who died young. Her mother was the breadwinner, cleaning apartments. Francie was bright, a good student. At age ten, confused between truth and fancy, she recalls the best advice she ever got from a teacher: “Write the story. Tell the truth. Then you won’t get mixed up.” And she realized the answer to poverty: “Education would pull them out of the grime and dirt.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The story ends with another tree, a cherished Christmas tree that had sickened, burnt and died, but from which seedlings grew: “It lived!” Francine reminisces. “And nothing could destroy it.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title="#_ftnref1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In a letter to my mother on September 23, 1944, my father wrote of reading the book when at Camp Swift in Bastrop County, Texas: “I’ve almost finished it. I think it’s really good. I get quite wrapped up in it.” So did I.</p></div></div>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-49993703393335238972024-02-23T04:20:00.000-08:002024-02-23T04:20:16.698-08:00"America is Not a Happy Place"<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“America is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><u>Not</u><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a Happy Place”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">February 23, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“…happiness depends more upon the internal frame of<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">a person’s mind than on the externals in the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> George Washington (1732-1799)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Letter to his mother, Mary Ball Washington<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> February 15, 1787<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Last Sunday the rain was making a fair imitation of Noah’s flood, so I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">stayed in to read the paper. After ten minutes I’d lost the will to live…”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Tom Cunliffe (1947-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> British yachting journalist<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Classic Boat</i>, January 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">I am an optimist who looks to the sunny side, no matter personal or national setbacks. However, that attitude has become more difficult when looking at the state of our nation, especially when listening to and reading the news. We are angry. As a white male conservative, I am labeled a white supremacist. We have been divided into victims and victimizers. The individual has been subsumed by his or her identity group. Laughter is hampered for fear of upsetting someone or some group. In colleges and schools, books are censored for fear of being offensive, and safe spaces are offered, including segregated college dorms. The idea of an American mixing bowl has become passé. While George Washington, rightly, warned against “the imposters of pretended patriotism,” love for America is now ridiculed as the refuge of scoundrels, or MAGA Republicans. 65% of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">A 2021 study in the medical journal<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Lancet</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>found that 59% of America’s youth, aged 16-25, were “extremely worried” about climate change. More than half reported feeling sad, angry, helpless, and guilty about the changing climate. Yet the International Disaster Database reports that the number of deaths around the world related to climate change have fallen 98% since 1920. There is no question that climate is changing, as it has for millions of years. Yet the media and climate fearmongers suggest that by altering people’s behavior climate change will cease or moderate. It has become an industry, enriching thousands. Swedish activst Greta Thunberg who has made climate her life’s work, now has an estimated net worth of $18 million – about half from speeches – and travels the world on a 60-foot yacht.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">According to the CDC, and with the exceptions of 2019 and 2020, suicide rates among Americans have risen every year since 2012. A 2022 study found that 88% of U.S. college students believe there is a mental health crisis on America’s campuses. A recent CDC study found that 13.2% of Americans are on anti-depressants, a 65% increase in the past twenty years. With the death of George Floyd in 2020, “defund the police” became popular and crime increased, especially in Democrat-run cities.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">We are told our country was built on the backs of slaves and that European settlers exterminated indigenous populations. There is no denying that slavery existed and that native American tribes were decimated and/or displaced, a history we should not forget. But we should also remember that those early settlers left Europe’s farms, towns and cities, with their homes, stores, and streets, for a desolate wilderness. Most were religious refugees, almost all were poverty-stricken serfs. They left for opportunities and the ability to pray as they chose. As well, ignored is that the Founders created a unique form of government, which provided people with more freedom than was available anywhere else in the world, and which it still does. And disregarded is the fact that immigrants continue to come from almost every country in the world, and that, with the passage of time, they become Americans – not British, French, Germans, Chinese, Ecuadorians, Nigerians, Liberians, Swedes or Indians. They come for the opportunities and freedoms America offers. Over the years, the image of a mixing bowl accurately captured the American experience.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Political leaders on the progressive left offer the false assurance of equity – equal outcomes – rather than what America promises – equal rights and opportunity. We are all different. Outcomes rely on ability, aspiration, and diligence; they can never be guaranteed except in a totalitarian state. And none of those states have standards of living approaching that of ours. Guaranteed incomes, free healthcare, and free college tuition sound wonderful but are not possible in the real world, and certainly not in a country where success is based on individual initiative, the rule of law, the right to own property, and free markets.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">A recent survey of elites by pollster Scott Rasmussen, conducted by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity and reported by Michael Barone in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The New York Sun</i>, had some surprising findings: 47% of elites and 55% of Ivy League college graduates say the U.S. provides the American people with too much freedom. 75% say that energy, meat, and gas should be rationed to fight climate change. Half those polled would like to ban gas stoves, SUVs and gas-powered cars, despite the high costs of alternatives. Not surprising to those who pay attention to the changing demographics of the political parties, 73% of those polled identify as Democrats. This class divide is a consequence of progressive policies. To put a twist on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s line from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Great Gatsby</i>: Today’s rich are different – they have what they don’t want you to have.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Optimistic people tend to look to the future, marry and have children. Yet the number of Americans over 18 who have never married rose from 17% in 1970 to 31% in 2021. Fertility rates have halved over the same time. The Pew Research Center, in September 2023, reported that only 4% of Americans believe our political system is working extremely or very well. When asked how they think about politics, 55% say they are angry. Our borders are over-run. Church attendance has plummeted. In a recent<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>op-ed, Lance Morrow wrote that it is not history that is false, it is when “grievance gets stuck in permanent rage, a tradition of hate that forestalls essentials of flourishing life: goodwill, acknowledgement of the facts of progress, the grace of forgiveness and what ought to be the healing effects of time.” <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Why are we in this funk? Is there a way out? Each of us will have his or her own answer. In my opinion, the tentacles of octopus-like government have consumed our lives. Our individuality has been sapped. We are members of different groups, be they religious, racial, sexual, or national, yet we are each discrete with varying degrees of aptitude, abilities, aspiration, beliefs, and work ethics. We should not be molded by the group with which we identify. Politicians find it desirable to compartmentalize us into easily identified groups, one source of our funk. Another is the media, more interested in propagandizing than in reporting the news. And a third are elites, those well-educated, woke, and financially well-fixed men and women, who too often express anti-bourgeois behavior as a way to signal their virtue.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As for a way out, just because the exit is not obvious does not mean one does not exist. In 1980, after a decade and a half of scandal, war and inflation, a good-natured and humorous Ronald Reagan appeared, who focused on the Soviet Union as the enemy, not Democrats. With luck, such an individual will reappear. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Our<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Declaration of Independence</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>states that the pursuit of happiness is a self-evident truth, an unalienable right that has been granted us by our creator. But just as our<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Constitution</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>emphasizes restraint, our happiness should not be considered boundless, but “bounded liberty, to make wise choices that help us best develop our capacities and talents over the course of our lives,” as Jeffrey Rosen put it in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Pursuit of Happiness</i>. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">But America is not America when she is not a happy place.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-80375364386434808042024-02-19T04:44:00.000-08:002024-02-19T04:44:26.839-08:00Review - "The Book at War," Andrew Pettegree<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Burrowing into Books<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><i>The Book at War</i>. Andrew Pettegree<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">February 19, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Books…played an essential role in maintaining civilian and troop morale.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Andrew Pettegree (1957-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Book at War</i>, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">This book will appeal to those with an interest in books and war, especially the Twentieth Century’s two world wars. Professor Pettegree, a professor of modern history at St. Andrews, mentions Carl von Clausewitz’<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>On War</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and Sun Tzu’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Art of War</i>; he touches on Herodotus and Caesar; and he spends some time on the American Civil War. He notes that it was ten years after Harriet Beecher Stowe published<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</i>in 1852 that Lincoln allegedly asked: “Is this the little woman who made this great war?” He concludes with a mention that the war in Ukraine caused one resident “to use his personal library to block the window as blast protection.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Since the advent of the printing press, books in war time have been used in many ways: To instruct; to provide comfort to combatants and civilians (132 million copies of 1,322 titles were produced in Armed Services paperback editions during World War 2); as propaganda: Churchill, “We must add to…the power of ideas;” they have been censored and destroyed. “…in Smolensk the Germans burned down all the libraries and twenty-two schools before they abandoned the city with the loss of 646,000 books.” Less well known – at least to me – was that T.S. Eliot black-balled the publication of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Animal Farm</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>in 1944. In all, the author estimates that a total of 500 million books were destroyed during the World War 2.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">We read of a September 2, 1914 meeting at Wellington House in London attended by James Barrie, Arnold Bennett, Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells and twenty other prominent authors who committed “unambiguously” to assist the war effort. And we learn that three to four million books, many “read almost to destruction” were left behind in German POW camps in 1945. The Nazis, committed to genocide of Europe’s Jews, were intent on dismantling their culture, which included the destruction of entire libraries. After the war Allied forces were ordered to eradicate ideologies that had contributed to Nazi resilience: “This was an uneasy time for occupying forces that had gone into the war celebrating books as beacons of freedom, but ended as their destroyers.” In a humorous aside, Pettegree writes: “In 1952, comics were removed from on-board bookshops of the Pacific fleet, on the grounds they were too graphic for marines and sailors.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Of personal interest were books mentioned by Professor Pettegree that my father had mentioned in letters to my mother when he was serving with the 10<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Mountain Division during World War 2:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn</i>, by Betty Smith; Lillian Smith’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Strange Fruit</i>;<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Anne and the King of Siam</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Margaret Landon,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Education of Henry Adams</i>, by Henry Adams, and the poems of A.E. Housman.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i>The Book at War</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is divided into six main headings: “…building a fighting nation; libraries as munitions of war; books on the home front; providing books for troops; book plunder and destruction in wartime; reconstruction of book stocks, and the war for ideological supremacy in the Cold War.” Readers will not be disappointed with this unique perspective on war and literature.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-16494877874907435192024-02-17T04:58:00.000-08:002024-02-17T04:58:52.136-08:00"Mortality"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Another beautiful wintery day, with light snow falling in this part of Connecticut. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">More Essays from Essex<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“Mortality”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">February 17, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“As we live our precarious lives on the brink of the void, constantly coming<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">closer to a state of nonbeing, we are all too often aware of our fragility.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Nuns and Soldiers</i>, 1980<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Perhaps it is because of a recent birthday and a growing consciousness of age, but I have been thinking of mortality. I scour obituaries each day, feeling a little like George Burns who allegedly once said: “I wake up each morning and read the obituary column. If my name is not there I eat breakfast.” Perhaps it is because death has been a more frequent visitor in the households of those I know and love. Living in a retirement community, where the average age is in the mid to late 80s, that is not a surprise. But I want to be clear – these thoughts on mortality are not morbid. Memories bring joy.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As Charlotte said to Wilbur about the life of a spider: “We are born, we live a little while, we die.” And, while people don’t trap and eat flies, life has a natural sequence. The other day I walked through the Residents’ Garden – a fenced-in half-acre holding a dozen or so small garden plots, now in winter slumber. The garden sits in the middle of a field, and as I meandered along I was reminded of “Sadie,” a Cockapoo owned by a neighbor and who died about two years ago. She was a delightful and friendly little dog who used to love to be rid of her leash and run around that field. As I stood on that cold but sunny field, I had the eerie sensation she was still there, running her heart out.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Walking back I passed a small nook, warmed by the sun where a friend, a victim of Polio but who lived into his 90s, would sit in his wheelchair on sun-filled chilly days, getting his dose of Vitamin ‘D.’ I thought of our conversations and remembered my maternal grandmother’s admonition that people don’t die as long as they are remembered, a sentiment George Eliot expressed in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Adam Bede</i>: “Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">On my desk are family photographs: Caroline and me on our 50<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>wedding anniversary in 2014; our ten grandchildren on the beach in Seabright, New Jersey; a photo taken from behind of me and our lab “Dakota” looking out on the Mystic River; one of my paternal grandfather with his ever-present pipe; another of my great grandmother Washington holding me, with my older sister sitting nearby; and a lovely one of Caroline in Bermuda on our 25<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>wedding anniversary. There are photos and drawings on the walls and in albums of siblings, parents, grandparents, other family members and friends. Each recall a person, an incident, or a time. In<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Requiem for a Nun</i>, William Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” That is true, so long as the past remains in our memory.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Whether walking alone through fields and woods, or lying in bed waiting for sleep, my thoughts often turn to those now gone whom I was fortunate to know. We are mortal; that cannot be denied, and there is no question of the truth in Ms. Murdoch’s quote about our fragility, but memories keep us from the void, and there is comfort in the thought that remembrances of us will stay with our children and grandchildren.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-48764775798902503292024-02-16T04:11:00.000-08:002024-02-16T04:11:47.655-08:00"Time for a Third Party?"<p> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><b style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sydney M. Williams</span></b></p><div class="WordSection1" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos; page: WordSection1;"><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Time for a Third Party?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">February 16, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Third parties are like bees: once they have stung, they die.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Richard Hofstadter (1916-1970)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Age of Reform</i>, 1955<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As Professor Hofstadter wrote almost seventy years ago, third parties do not have an encouraging history in American politics. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive “Bull Moose” Party handed the election to Woodrow Wilson. In 1924, Robert LaFollette’s Progressive Party garnered 16.6% of the popular vote, but probably did not affect the election’s outcome. As well, Strom Thurmond in 1948 and George Wallace in 1968 ran effective campaigns but did not affect elections in those years. However, Ross Perot’s Independent Party in 1992 probably cost George H.W. Bush his re-election.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">John Templeton once said that the four most dangerous words in investing are “this time it’s different.” Those words are ordinarily applicable to third party candidacies. However, this year does seem different. Assuming that the two lead candidates stay the course – not a sure bet – November’s election will be between two of the widely unliked (and least qualified) candidates in American history<a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="color: #0563c1;" title="#_ftn1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;">[1]</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">With Robert Kennedy, Jr. already in the race and with No Labels standing in the wings, perhaps the most comparable election would be that of 1860, which fielded four candidates: Lincoln was the Republican candidate, Stephen Douglas the Democrat, John Breckinridge ran as a Lecompton Democratic candidate, and John Bell from the Constitutional Union Party. When the smoke cleared on November 6, 1860, Lincoln had won just under 40% of the popular vote, Douglas 29.5%, Breckinridge 18.2% and Bell 12.6%. However, in terms of Electoral College votes, Lincoln was the clear winner, with 180 votes out of 303 cast.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Voters are often told that a vote for a third party means a vote for the opposition. In other words, Democrat leaders today tell voters that a vote for Robert Kennedy, Jr. is in fact a vote for Donald Trump. History suggests their warnings are justified, as no third party candidate has ever won the White House. In Shakespeare’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Tempest</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Antonio speaks to Sebastian: “What’s past is prologue.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">But the past is not always prologue? Humans have advanced, driven by those who dared to experiment, to try something new. Consider the telegraph, railroads, telephones, cars, airplanes, space travel, computers, the integrated circuit, and artificial intelligence. Our Founders, in 1789, chose a new form of government. They looked to the past but created something new – a representative, republican democracy, in which the individual was paramount and government limited. Three equal and independent branches were devised to help prevent any one person or branch from taking control. The government born in Philadelphia was, as Lincoln proclaimed at Gettysburg eighty-seven years later, a new concept in human history, a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Today’s two political parties did not exist in 1789. It was not until 1828 that the Democratic Party was formed, as a vehicle to help elect Andrew Jackson. The Republican Party was formed in 1854 by forces opposed to the expansion of slavery. Today, neither party is what it was a generation or two ago. The country club crowd of the northeast, once solidly Republican, has become decidedly Democratic. Internationalists of the 1950s, once solidly Republican, have become, under Mr. Trump, anti-globalists.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Today, two aging men (though younger than me) – one with obvious declining cognitive powers and the other a tactless, uncouth individual who threatens to dismantle NATO – head both parties. Is it not time to seek a third way? Or, if not a third way, is it not time for leaders of both parties to recognize their flawed choices and nominate someone who can move the country forward in a manner acceptable to the majority of voters? I recall once having lunch in the Senate dining room in the early 1970s. I remember the sense of camaraderie that permeated the room – Republicans and Democrats dining together. Famously, President Reagan and House Speaker Thomas (“Tip”) O’Neil, while poles apart politically, enjoyed a mutually respectful and affectionate relationship. And similarly, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich had a mutually beneficial meeting of the minds. But I cannot imagine President Biden enjoying a drink with Speaker Mike Johnson any more than I could have imagined former President Trump sitting down to exchange stories with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That loss of political camaraderie has become the people’s loss.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">No Labels was launched ten years ago, initially among House members, as fault lines between the parties widened and deepened. Today, fifty House members, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, meet regularly. The House effort is led by Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). Five years ago, No Labels began an effort to organize a similar group in the Senate. Today, their leaders include Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Krysten Sinema (I-AZ). Their goal is to find common ground, at a time when extremists from both sides dominate their parties, along with news and social media platforms.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Will a Third Party, like the mythical Phoenix arise from the ashes of today’s political conflagration? I am unsure. My hope is that both parties recognize that their current preferences for President will lead to more division at home and to a more dangerous world abroad. Ironically, Democrats hope Trump is Republicans’ choice, just as Republicans hope Biden heads the Democratic slate.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As I have written before, the Democratic Party, being more disciplined, is more likely to drop the Biden-Harris ticket than Republicans to dump Trump. However, as a conservative, it is my hope that Republicans recognize the futility of sticking with the flawed and (nationally) unelectable Donald Trump. They have an opportunity with Nikki Haley who polls well against Mr. Biden. But will she gain the necessary votes in the upcoming primaries? She does not generate the fanaticism of Trump followers, but she appeals to a broader array of voters. If both parties stick with today’s leaders, a Third Party candidate seems, to this observer, a likely alternative. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br clear="all" /><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><hr align="left" size="0" width="36%" /></span></div></div></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Aptos;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="color: #0563c1;" title="#_ftnref1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;">[1]</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>To be clear, in my opinion, it is not age that is the problem; it is the mental condition of one and the character of the other. Both, in varying degrees, are corrupt and neither seems to appreciate history. As to who is most corrupt, I leave that for you to decide. There is no doubt that Mr. Biden is cognitively impaired and we, the public, have no idea who is the puppeteer pulling the strings in his administration. There is no debate about Mr. Trump being a boorish, loose cannon in a complex and multi-cultural world when tolerance and grasp are needed. Worse, he has become an isolationist just as the world is turning more dangerous. However, Trump’s appeal, we should not forget, is to those millions of forgotten men and women ignored by identity politics, elitism, and political correctness.</p></div></div>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-91621883550753928592024-02-05T04:27:00.000-08:002024-02-05T04:27:00.844-08:00"First Out, Next In"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Why would<b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Biden first warn and then give time to our enemies before retaliating for the deaths of three American soldiers? It makes no sense for a Country that has responsibility for maintaining world peace. It is as though we have let our faults govern our goodness and reflects a failure to understand the presence of evil, and that power is an aphrodisiac. From Napoleon to Hitler, from Stalin to Mao, from the Iranian Mullahs to Putin and Xi Jinping individuals have wanted to control the world. The United States and the West have stood in their way. We must stop contemplating our navels and apologizing for past sins, both real and imagined. We cannot hide from our responsibilities. The United States and the nations of the West are not perfect, but they are good and certainly better than the alternatives.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">…………………………………………………………………………………….<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Yesterday would have been my paternal grandfather’s 151<sup>st</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>birthday. Tomorrow is my daughter’s birthday. Birthdays, especially of grandparents we knew well, remind us of the past and bring it forward into the present. They tell us of how life has changed and how young is our country. I loved talking to my grandfather about his youth in Boston. He grew up in a world without cars, at a time when most homes did not have electricity or phones. When he died on February 3, 1963, a day shy of ninety, 98% of homes in the U.S. had electricity and there were almost seventy million cars on American roads. He was thirty years old when the Wright Brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. By the time he died, 58 million Americans were flying annually. Will the sixty years provide as much change? We cannot know, but with advances in technology, especially artificial intelligence, that cannot be ruled out. Medicine, communication, education, and entertainment should all benefit. And of course there will be other changes we cannot conceive.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">………………………………………………………………………………………….<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Apologies for the long preamble. As for this essay, it is a look into the near future, so no more than a hope and a guess.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.bolgspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.bolgspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swtotd.bolgspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“First Out, Next In”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">February 5, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forward.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0in 3.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0in 3.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Danish theologian and philosopher<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0in 3.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Journals</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt;">, 1843<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Edward Bellamy’s 1888 utopian novel<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Looking Backward<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>showed the difficulty of getting the future right, especially when idealism co-opts reason. National socialism proved a disaster to Germany and Italy (and the world), and state ownership of industry deep-sixed the Soviet Union. Kierkegaard suggested in the rubric above, life is best lived with an understanding of history. And as George Santayana famously wrote in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Life of Reason</i>: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Divisiveness characterizes our age, like the years leading to the Civil War, the McCarthy era of the early 1950s, or the late 1960s when the Country was divided by the Vietnam War. In last Friday’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Lance Morrow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center wrote: “Exaggeration is the traditional style of American politics, but permanent culture wars, the global pandemic, the agitations of social media and the collapse of party discipline – and, not least, the role modeling of Joe Biden and Donald Trump – have left Americans discontent with mere exaggeration.” We have, he added, “gotten addicted to apocalypse…”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Is there a way out? Can reason subsume emotion? Is a middle ground achievable? I think there is, but I don’t believe that either Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump will lead the way. The former is in cognizant decline and the latter has become detached from reality. There are big issues that separate the two parties, but democracy is about debate and compromise, not incoherent brawling, which is what our politics have become.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The title of this essay stems from my belief that the first of the two main contenders to drop out of the race for President (as unlikely as that now seems) will assure that his Party wins November’s Presidential election. At this point there is no sign that such a possibility is being considered. Neither candidate is widely admired, let alone respected, yet both appear likely to secure their Party’s nomination. In a head-to-head race, polls have them pretty much divided. As for losers, if either were to win, that would be the American public. The likelihood of a Biden-Trump rematch makes this an intractable problem for a majority of voters, as forever Trumpers battle imperious Progressives.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As an amateur observer of the political scene, it seems to me that the first to drop out would likely be Mr. Biden. His lack of mental acuity becomes more visible every day, and Democrats are the more disciplined of the two Parties. Their leaders, no matter what they now say, know that Mr. Biden’s health will continue to deteriorate and that Vice President Kamala Harris is not a viable candidate to lead the world’s most powerful nation. Mainstream media, which serves as their propaganda arm, is beginning to suggest a change would be in the Party’s best interest. On the Republican side, M.A.G.A. Republicans remain vehement defenders of a man they feel has been treated badly. But the conservative media is mixed. While Fox News and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Epoch Times</i>are all-in in their support for Mr. Trump,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>takes a more muted approach, as do<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The New York Sun</i>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>National Review</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Spectator</i>. And we have both the Biden and Trump nominations being supported by mainstream media. Biden’s support stems from his identity politics and his preference for Washington’s Woke bureaucracy. In contrast, mainstream media would prefer the “deplorable,” but nationally unelectable, Mr. Trump over the electable Nikki Haley. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Will either man drop out of the race? I suspect not willingly. But control of the White House reaps enormous benefits – the coattail effect of elections, control over the political direction of the country and the world, and the direct appointment of thousands of jobs. Democrats, as mentioned above, are more methodical, more controlling than Republicans; they appeal to the group, not the individual. While they have extremists, like the “Squad,” the entire Party has moved left since the Obama Presidency. On the other hand, Republicans have always been a Party of individuals, of oners, where the group is less important than the person. However, “Forever Trumpers” have changed the calculus. Their backing of Trump is less about policies and more about anger as to how he and they have been belittled. To borrow an Obama line, they believe that having Trump in their corner is like bringing a gun to a knife fight. As Hoover Institute senior fellow John H. Cochrane wrote in Saturday’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i>: “…there is no better way to stick it to the elites than to vote for the man who drives them most crazy.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">For a conservative like me, these are sad days. This should be a Republican cycle given Mr. Biden’s low polling numbers, our moral decay, and our decline in the eyes of the world. Consider: the Country faces an out-of-control immigration crisis; a war in the Middle East that is spreading; a Russia intent on reclaiming its past empire; a China insistent on controlling the South China Sea and its trade routes; an Iran on the cusp of becoming a nuclear power; overwhelming debt and deficits; the lingering effects of inflation; and a focus on identity that has worsened race relations. There is no question of the fervor of Mr. Trump’s followers, but, as we saw in 2018, 2020, and 2020, he has no coattails. Control of the White House without control of Congress means we tread water. Difficult problems do not get resolved.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Predicting the future is a fool’s game, yet as the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote life must be lived forward. So, using the past as guide we make predictions. As I wrote earlier, I believe there is a chance Mr. Biden will be persuaded to give up his quest. But for Mr. Trump to do likewise is unlikely. If Republicans want a dog fight, they should go with Mr. Trump. But the best shot for Republicans to keep the House, take back the Senate and the White House is to support Nikki Haley in the upcoming primaries. She is Republicans’ best hope for victory, and for America to take back our values, families, schools, and cities.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-82551632394858114192024-01-29T04:22:00.000-08:002024-01-29T04:22:29.515-08:00"Choices"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">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</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #4472c4;">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.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Attached is another</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #4472c4;">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.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swstotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swstotd.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swstotd.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“Choices”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">January 29, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts, speaking to Harry Potter<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <i>Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets</i>, 1998<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> J.K. Rowling (1965-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0in 3in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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.”<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Hopeless</i>: “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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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<sup>st</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">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’<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>A Christmas Carol</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>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.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-55751162527885396492024-01-24T04:30:00.000-08:002024-01-24T04:30:55.377-08:00"A Winter Morning"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This morning is quite different than from the day eight days ago when I awoke to the first snowstorm of the year and was inspired to write this short essay.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">More Essays from Essex<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“A Winter Morning”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">January 24, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“You can’t get too much winter in the winter.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Robert Frost (1874-1963)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “Snow”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Mountain Interval</i>, 1916<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">For a New Englander born and raised, Robert Frost’s words ring true. Summer witnesses the smell of fresh flowers, soft breezes and warm temperatures, whose pleasures are enhanced because of winter’s snow, ice, and cold. We are reminded of how changing seasons reflect life’s journey, from spring’s birth through summer’s growth, to fall’s harvest and winters denouement – from nativity to death and resurrection. Or, as Shakespeare put it, through the voice of the ill-fated Gloucester, in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Henry VI, Part 2</i>:<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“And after summer evermore succeeds<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold:<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As I roll out of bed – figuratively, not literately – on this morning following winter’s first storm, visions of past winter’s mornings dance through my head: as a child, the prospect of school closure; as a teenager, the anticipation of training with my school’s ski team; as a householder, the chore of shoveling the front steps; as a city-dweller, the necessity of trudging through snow-laden streets to my office.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">But now in retirement my obligations are few, and I appreciate nature’s bounty. There are few scenes so beautiful as snow falling on a winter’s morning, especially when one knows that he does not have to leave his cozy and well-provisioned apartment. There are books, the internet, and a television that can transport me to distant places and faraway times. There is a fireplace – sadly, electric, but a fireplace just the same – to warm the soul and the room.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Winter is a special time, something recognized by poets and artists: “In winter I get up at night/ And dress by yellow candlelight,” wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in his 1885 collection,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>A Child’s Garden of Verses</i>. Or Christina Rossetti’s 1872 poem “In the Bleak Midwinter,” which begins, “In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan/ Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.” Visual artists have long used winter scenes to capture and express feelings. In our apartment hang many such paintings, including a 2014 oil by Utah’s Warren Neary, “Winter Solstice.” It shows cattle on a cold snowy morning, with a hint of the rising sun through a snow-laden sky, outside a barn from whose windows warm lights dimly glow.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Even with the cold and the ice, we should not rush the days away. Each is special, as are the changing seasons. Winter is, after all, a harbinger of spring. Hibernating animals, from bears and hedgehogs to turtles and snails, now in mid-slumber, will soon leave their nests as warm days restore the earth. The early 20<sup>th</sup>Century poet Annette Wynne who specialized in children’s poetry wrote: “One, two, winter’s through/ Three, four, spring’s at the door.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">But for now, I look through frosty windows at the new-fallen snow and smile.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-31557602798345607732024-01-20T05:22:00.000-08:002024-01-20T05:27:38.035-08:00"Life is Short but Eternity is Forever"<p> <span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">“Know Thyself” is a maxim inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. They are also words found in Lamentations from the Old Testament.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">The quest for self-knowledge is a journey requiring honesty and is key to understanding our purpose in the world. Many of my personal essays, like this one, are short trips along that path of self-discovery. I have found that it is not the destination – which is always elusive – that is the goal, but the journey.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Thank you for allowing me to share them with you.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Sydney<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">More Essays from Essex<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“Life is Short but Eternity is Forever”<a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="#_ftn1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">January 20, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">forms are accessible to our minds – it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">true religiosity; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Albert Einstein (1879-1955)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “The World as I See It,” An Essay by Einstein<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> 1931<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">At a recent family dinner, the discussion turned to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its ramifications. A grandson remarked that AI machines have limits. For example, they have been unable to create a living organism, except possibly Xenobots, supposedly self-replicating living robots. Scientists can modify genes to make wheat more durable and blueberries bluer. They can clone sheep and women can freeze eggs. But man reproduces through copulation, a biological function common to most animal species.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Life, as we know, is short. In the two thousand years since Jesus’ birth (a small fraction of the time that Homo sapiens have roamed the earth), six thousand generations of people have been born and died. Now, as I age, I think of mysteries of life, for instance that causality requires a first cause – from whence came the first spark of life? Evolution is understandable, how species evolve over millions of years, how they are still evolving, and even why, looking back from a perspective of a million years or more (assuming the planet and our galaxy survive), what we now know as man may seem like an early, primitive creation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">But what did create that first form of life? We think of infinity, but it is beyond comprehension. If the universe is finite, what lies behind it? What does eternity really mean? Was the world as we know it, the creation of some power far greater than anything we can imagine? Or is any of this worth worrying about? Should we turn the page of the book we are reading, switch channels, or view another posting on Instagram?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">I am not a student of religion. In fact, we rarely go to church. When our children were young we did take them regularly to St. Barnabas in Greenwich where I served on the vestry and they attended Sunday school and became acolytes. When in boarding school, I was required to read the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Bible</i>. But I retained little, with my then non-retentive speed-reading skills. Nevertheless, I have found that I am thinking more about such questions. And I keep a copy of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Bible</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Book of Common Prayer</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>within easy reach. In the same book mentioned in the footnote, Tyrrell wrote of reading the 17<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Century French philosopher Blaise Pascal and his wager: If one lives by God’s rules as laid out in the Bible, and believes in God’s existence, God will be satisfied. If God does not exist, one has lost nothing, while living with love and compassion.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Accepting Pascal’s wager appears sensible. And with Einstein admission that there are limits to human knowledge, God’s existence seems a reasonable possibility. I’m getting there.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-14108227608584215392024-01-16T03:52:00.000-08:002024-01-16T03:52:06.676-08:00"Threats to Democracy"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">With the Iowa caucuses now behind us, the 2024 Presidential campaign is officially underway. Let the games begin. For the next ten months, the airwaves will be inundated, as will social media, with each candidate swathed in self-glorification, spouting lies, and bashing his or her opponent.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">If the consequences weren’t so important, we should laugh at the pretentious political pontification to which we will all be subject, as candidates bluster inanities. My advice is to turn the channel to real comic relief, like watching old movies with the likes of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye, the Marx Brothers, or better yet, one of Mel Brooks’ classic comedies from the ‘70s and ‘80s, or John Landis’ 1978<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Animal House</i>. Remember, it was John Belushi’s character “Bluto” Blutarsky who is destined for the U.S. Senate, while it was straight-arrow jerk Douglas Neidermeyer (played by Mark Metcalf) who is shot by his own men in Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">My apologies to subjecting you to one more essay on a time-worn subject.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Sydney<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Sydney M. Williams</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</a><span style="color: #4472c4;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">“Threats to Democracy”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">January 16, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt;">“The problem comes when the government is inhibiting<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt;">innovation with overregulation and short-sighted policy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Garry Kasparov (1963-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Deep Thinking</i>:<i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>– Where Machine Intelligence Ends<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0in 1in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt;"> and Human Creativity Begins</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt;">, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">On January 6, 2024 near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, President Biden opened his 2024 election campaign: “Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time. It is what the 2024 election is all about.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Politico</i>, the left-leaning digital newspaper, reported last month that comparing Mr. Trump to Hitler had become routine for the Biden campaign. Dean Karayanis, in the January 5<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>edition of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>York Sun</i>, wrote: “When an incumbent president swings that brickbat, though, it raises the stakes to a dangerous level.” And Perry Bacon of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Washington Post,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>who believes the issue is legitimate, wrote in a recent column that such a focus “sidelines other important issues,” that a “general election is in many ways a national conversation between citizens.”<i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>But it also trivializes the horrors inflicted by Hitler and the Nazi regime. And remember, Hitler’s Nazis controlled the press and the universities. Trump and the Republicans do not.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">Let me state at the outset, if Donald Trump were to be elected next November, which I hope he is not, our democracy would not be at risk. In the January issue of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Spectator,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>Roger Kimball wrote: “At the center of the totalitarian impulse is the belief that ultimate freedom belongs only to the state.” Trump is a bloviating blowhard, but he would not destroy democracy, even if that were his desire which I don’t believe it is. What would happen is that the mechanics of government would slow, and possibly grind to halt. Even before Trump took office in January 2017, the false Russian collusion hoax had been concocted by the Clinton campaign, which hampered his administration. Millions of dollars were spent on the Mueller investigation that unearthed no collusion, except that between the Clinton campaign and the F.B.I. Two impeachments were attempted; both failed for lack of evidence. Attempts by the Trump Administration to clean up the intelligence communities were stymied. Recall Senator Chuck Schumer’s prescient comments to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on January 3, 2017, when he insisted that Trump was really dumb for attacking the intelligence agencies: “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.” The unarmed rag-tag gang of men and women who entered the capital on January 6 slowed but did not stop the wheels of government. What Biden and his Progressive buddies have done, in reverting to the campaign slogan that democracy is at risk, is to lift a page from Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels who said that if a lie is repeated often enough, people will believe it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">Yet changes in our culture – the re-writing of history, the obviation of standards of decency, a focus on DEI, the proliferation of identity politics, the offering of trigger warnings and the provision of safe places, the abandonment of universal truths, climate adamancy, ignorance of biology, and the willful use of the courts to destroy political opponents – do threaten the values that made this country a beacon to the world’s poor and persecuted. In his recent memoir,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>How Do We Get Out of Here,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. wrote that “…culture is more important to politics than politics is to politics…” The late British historian Arnold Toynbee wrote that civilizations begin to decay when they lose their moral fiber. I would add that they also decay when citizens fail to appreciate the long arc of history. In the same issue of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Spectator<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>quoted above, Daniel McCarthy wrote “…an entrenched liberal ideology has made modern life on these shores resemble a few of the worst features of the dystopias envisioned by [George] Orwell and Aldous Huxley.” Following the Battle of Bẽn Tre on the Mekong River in January 1968, an American Army officer is alleged to have said: “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” Is it not possible that Progressives have adopted that as their motto: We have to destroy American culture in order to save it.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">While both Parties have been responsible for the expansion of government, deficit spending, and the increase in federal debt, it has been Democrats who have been most persistent and most effective. It was President Reagan who, at an August 12, 1986 news conference, famously said: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’” It was Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, on November 8, 2023, who mistakenly claimed (deliberately or because of ignorance?) that Reagan had reinforced Democrats’ preference: “We’re from the government. We’re here to help.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">The two-party system has, generally, served us well, in that voters can change horses every two years. Over the past seventy-five years Republicans have held the White House forty years and the Democrats thirty-five. But in the House and the Senate, the two-party system has been less rewarding to Republicans. Over those same seventy-five years, Democrats controlled the Senate 56% of the time and the House 70% of the time. But what has really upset the two-party system has been the growth of the administrative state – the vast federal bureaucracy and the regulatory agencies they control. While every two years we elect 435 members of the House of Representatives and one third of the U.S. Senate, there are approximately two million civil servants, of whom only four thousand are presidential appointees. The rest – overwhelmingly Democrats – comprise the permanent (and expanding) federal employment structure. While theoretically non-partisan, those employees are not immune from the sectarianism that has infested our political culture. George Washington worried that partisanship would lead to a “spirit of revenge,” driven by a desire for personal power rather than governing in the people’s interest. His fears seem to have been realized. Extremists from the left and the right have become significant in both parties. Like communists and fascists, they share the same principles and the same methods of dealing with dissidents. A striving for personal power and monetary gain via the public arena has replaced the once common tradition of public service.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">There is no question that democracy is fragile. It depends on an educated, enlightened electorate, the free flow of ideas, the rule of law, civilized behavior, respect for others, and adherence to the traditions that have allowed this Country to move forward over time. We must weigh humanitarian and social wants against the cost to pay for them through continued economic growth. The size of our national debt and the demand of future entitlements pressure growth. In the mid 1950s, total government spending – federal, state, and local – amounted to about 14% of GDP. In 2022, it amounted to 36.3 percent. In 1974 federal debt, as a percent of GDP, was 32%. In 2022, it was 127%. In 1974, US Debt was rated AAA by all three credit agencies. Today, two of those agencies have downgraded the debt to AA+. According to Trading Economics, in the 1950s and ‘60s the average US GDP growth rate was above 4%. In the 1970s and ‘80s, the growth rate dropped to 3%. For the past ten years, the growth rate has averaged below two percent. Low birth rates and subpar economic growth negatively affect the ability to fund future entitlements.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">In his memoir mentioned above, Tyrrell quoted the late British philosopher and political theorist Michael Oakeshott: “To be a conservative, then, is to prefer the familiar to the unknown, to prefer the tried to the untried, fact to mystery, the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss.” While there is much in that quote that appeals to me, especially humor, I also believe in dreams and curiosity, that we must not be afraid of the unknown, to experiment and innovate, that change is inevitable and that we must be able and willing to adapt. But I believe we run unnecessary risks when we demonize our culture, its teachings, and the evolution of our history. Keep in mind, it was (and is) our culture – of which democracy is a part – and the economic opportunities our nation offers, that attract migrants to these shores. We rightfully complain about our open southern border, but it is instructional that there are no lines of migrants waiting to enter Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, or Venezuela.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">In 1854, William Anderson Scott published<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Daniel, A Model for Young Men,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>which included this famous line: “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.” The United States has become an angry place, and threats to democracy cannot be ignored, whether the source is an individual or whether the threat comes in the form of subtle but insidious changes to the culture that has allowed this country to become the beacon to the world. Care is warranted. </span></p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-67444444499734138682024-01-13T04:13:00.000-08:002024-01-13T04:13:59.200-08:00"How We Walk"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">That haste has been known to produce waste is a two-thousand-year-old axiom, a lesson I neglected in my essay of a few days ago, when two correctible errors blemished what I thought a decent review of a book that deserved better. I have tried to be more careful in this short, light piece, which I hope will bring a smile on this rainy morning in Connecticut.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">More Essays from Essex<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“How We Walk”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">January 13, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Always remember that you are absolutely unique, just like everyone else.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Attributed to Margaret Mead (1901-1978)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">We are told to walk a mile in another’s footsteps before judging them. But that does not always work. “Walk this way,” says Igor (Marty Feldman) to Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) when they first meet at the Transylvania Railroad station in Mel Brooks’ 1974 film,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Young Frankenstein.</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Of course Wilder cannot. He looks ridiculous – and the audience gets a laugh – as he tries to imitate the hunchback’s walk.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Apart from the military where one is instructed to march in 30-inch strides, with an arm swing of exactly 9-inches forward and 6-inches back, we each have a unique walking style, often identifiable from the rear.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Some of us walk pigeon-toed, others with feet splayed. Some take off briskly, with knees bent slightly, a confident stride; others walk stiff-legged, conscious of hazards, a hesitant stride. There are those who stand straight and walk with arms close to their sides, while others lurch forward and gesticulate as though hailing a taxi, even when walking through snow-covered trails in rural Essex. Some – mostly tall people – take long strides, while others take little steps, reminding one of David Suchet in the role of Hercule Poirot, who claims he simply squeezes his gluteal muscles to mimic the Belgian detective’s walk.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Perhaps it is because of too much time on my hands, but I derive pleasure in picking out individuals by the way they walk. Knowing that others may be doing the same should not make us self-conscious, for walking is one of best exercises we can do, especially as we age. And as Margaret Mead is alleged to have said, we are each unique. Once we depart, no one will ever walk exactly as do we.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">So, keep walking, and worry not if someone is lurking a hundred yards back trying to decide who you are.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-57093499171234622892024-01-10T05:13:00.000-08:002024-01-10T05:13:53.133-08:00Review - "November 1942," Peter Englund<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Burrowing into Books<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><i>November 1942</i>, Peter Englund<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">January 10, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“I see those men with maps and talk<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Who tell how to go and where and why;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I hear with my ears the words of their mouths,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">As they finger with ease the marks on the maps.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Experience</i>, 1904<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As Carl Sandburg wrote, battles are fought far from those who direct them. As Mr. Englund explains in his “Note to the Reader,” this book does not describe what war was during the four weeks in November 1942, but tries “to say something about<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>how<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>it was.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">It was the month of November 1942 that saw Germany stymied at Stalingrad, the American invasion of North Africa and the German-Italian defeat at El Alamein; it witnessed the Guadalcanal campaign that ended Japanese expansion in the South Atlantic and the Japanese retreat in New Guinea. At the start of November, it appeared that the Axis might be victorious. By the end of the month, it seemed certain that the Allies, ultimately, would be victors. It was on November 10, following Montgomery’s victory over Rommel at El Alamein that Churchill spoke at the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon in London: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” While he was right, of the estimated 60 to 80 million people who died in World War II most were yet to meet their fate.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">It is through letters, diaries and memoirs of thirty-nine individuals, and from newspaper accounts, that the Swedish historian and journalist Peter Englund reconstructs the month. With the exception of authors Vera Brittain, Albert Camus, and Ernst Junger, these are ordinary people, innocently caught up in the most devastating war mankind has ever known. We read the letters of a Russian soldier in Stalingrad and the thoughts of an Italian soldier in the North African desert, and those of a Japanese lieutenant on Guadalcanal; we read of an Australian infantry sergeant in New Guinea, the letters and diaries of a Long Island housewife with a son overseas, and the memoirs of an American woman who worked with Enrico Fermi in Chicago on spontaneous nuclear chain reaction. We read the diaries of a young Jewish woman in Paris (who was later imprisoned and beaten to death in Bergen-Belson five days before the camp was liberated in 1945,) the memoirs of an Australian doctor held prisoner on Java, the writings of a German woman journalist in Berlin, the memories of an American sailor in the North Atlantic, the diaries of a teen-age girl, a German-Jewish refuge in Shanghai, the diary of a Korean “comfort woman” in Japanese-occupied Burma, and the letters of a young German woman who will be guillotined in three months for sabotaging the Third Reich.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">We also read of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Casablanca</i>, which premiered that month and whose ending was changed to reflect the American landings in North Africa. In a brief epilogue, Mr. Englund tells us what happened to the thirty-nine people whose lives during that month comprise his story.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Toward the end of his book, Mr. Englund writes: “How we experience a war is influenced by pictures and mental images acquired in peace, and that often leads to battles playing up to their own myth…” But war is never pins on a map. It is ugly, fought by the brave and the scared, as Peter Englund so vividly describes.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-88852796347286140682024-01-02T03:37:00.000-08:002024-01-02T03:37:29.826-08:00"A House Divided"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;">First, I want to thank you for having been a reader in 2023 and to express, in a few words, some of my foundational beliefs. I know not everyone agrees with what I write, nor do I expect that. Most of us grew up and were educated to think independently, which is the only way a democracy can work. My musings are the opinions of one person and, like living organisms, they mutate over time.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4;">What does not change (or should not change) are the moral truths inherited from our Judeo-Christian heritage:</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #4472c4;">fairness and civility, honesty, respect for the opinions of others, humility. I recognize that I do not always adhere to these principles, but I am conscious of them, and I try.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4;">There exists in the world both good and evil. Evil is inherent; goodness, in contrast, must be taught. As an amateur student of history, I know that man is not basically good. Morals and behavior must be learned. Apart from preparation against those both domestic and international who would do us harm, governments should be erected, as was ours, not to be efficient, but to</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #4472c4;">serve the people. Separation of powers was designed to protect the rights of individual citizens. A successful Congress should not be measured by the number of laws passed, but whether the content of those laws meet the needs of the people, secure their safety, and comply with the basic moral principles on which this nation was founded. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4;">Second, I wish for you a peaceful, healthy, and happy 2024. Living, as we do, in a world battered by a constant flow of opinions, much disguised as news, it is important to take some moments each day to reflect on what is important and what is not – to gather, as the Bible says, the wheat into the barn and consign the chaff to the “unquenchable fire.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Happy New Year!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4;">Sydney Williams</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">January 2, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sydney M. Williams</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“A House Divided”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">January 2, 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Illinois Republican State Convention<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Springfield, IL, June 16, 1858<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the U.S. we are divided between two opposing political forces, described by Lance Morrow in a recent issue of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i>: “The left denounces the evil of what it claims the country has always been: racist, oppressive, toxically male, transphobic. The right rages against the evil of what the country has become: perverse, perverted, Marxist, sniveling, woke.” In Lincoln’s words, we have become “a house divided.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">While this division in America is manifested politically, it is also cultural; it has infested institutions – families, schools, and universities; the media, large corporations, and big banks; government and eleemosynary foundations; the entertainment world and libraries. People’s individual identity has been subsumed to the group to which they belong. As David Brooks wrote in the August 23<sup>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></sup>2023 edition of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Atlantic</i>: “A person’s moral character is not based on their conduct, but on their location on the political spectrum.” We cannot continue on this trajectory. Where, when, and how does this divisiveness end?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">When Lincoln spoke it was slavery – “a nation half slave and half free” – that divided the country. Today’s division is driven by those who promote identity at the expense of character and merit – in schools, colleges and workplaces, and in sports where transwomen compete against biological women. The United States was founded, we are told, on slavery. We live, it is said, in a land divided between oppressors and the oppressed. Today’s definition of equity demands equal outcomes, not opportunities. Diversity and inclusion demands exclude conservatives, who are seen as racists, misogynists, and xenophobes. Ironically, merit remains the determinant in professional sports, like tennis, golf, basketball and football.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">While many elite high schools and colleges have a long history of blackballing certain segments of society – women, Jews, and racial minorities, they do (as they have always done) a disservice to those of high merit whom they ignore, as well as to those whom they accept for reasons that have nothing to do with merit and everything to do with whatever is faddish, whether the favored candidate is the minimally-qualified white son of a wealthy donor or an ill-prepared member of a racial minority. To paraphrase Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts: “The way to stop discriminating is to stop discriminating.” <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">How did we reach this point? The causes are myriad and have been years in the making: Politicians found that addressing the concerns of easily identifiable voting blocs was simpler than describing states’ rights, explaining due process, discussing ideas, or defining liberty. Blacks are placed in one category; Hispanics in another; Asians in a third. Women and the LBGTQ community are treated as distinct entities, with nothing in common apart from their gender or sexual identity. A second factor in our divisiveness has been a mainstream media that found itself losing “eyeballs” to social media platforms. Their business models are at risk, so in hiring extremists, whether on the right or the left, they guarantee a certain audience. Think of Fox News and the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>New York Post</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on the right, and MSNBC, PBS,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Washington Post</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The New York Times</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on the left. A third factor are cultural and educational institutions for whom “virtue signaling” is critical to their sense of sanctimony. As Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institute recently wrote: The “cultural left self-identifies as erudite and moral and assume their opponents are irredeemable and deplorable.” One consequence, as Republican pollster Whit Ayres recently suggested, has been “public trust in our political system is in the cellar.” Another is the vitriol we all experience, and the lack of civil communication between the left and right.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Given the challenges we face, national unity should be a priority for both sides of the political aisle: tens of thousands of illegals, some of whom are surely enemies, cross the border each week, and spread throughout the country. American students lag foreign competitors. PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tests fifteen-year-olds. For 2022, the U.S., overall, was 18<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of 81 countries. As expected, we are behind Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea; but we also lag Western countries, like Ireland, Canada, Poland, and Finland. To thrive in a competitive global environment we must improve high school education. Our federal debt risks impairing future economic growth. In 2022, federal debt was 121% of GDP, about where it was at the end of World War II. In the post-War period, it first broached 100% in 2012 and has never looked back. The formation of families, the foundation on which all successful societies are built, has declined. A Pew Research survey showed the percent of Americans aged 25-54 who were married fell from 67% in 1990 to 53% in 2019. Birth rates have been below replacement for most of the past fifty years. Children are best served in two-parent households and a growing economy requires an expanding supply of workers. Overseas, the world is becoming more dangerous, with China’s imperialism, Russia’s revisionism, and Iran as a fomenter of Islamic terrorism.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Perhaps this is Panglossian, but there are some signs that the worst may be behind us. On December 27,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>editorialized that the DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) bureaucracy, which practices racial favoritism, promotes the false ideal of equal outcomes and is hostile to equal opportunities, is “meeting resistance.” School choice legislation, which includes vouchers, charter schools, education savings accounts, and tax credit scholarship programs, has succeeded in seventeen states. Climate scare-mongers appear to be in retreat, as economic and innovation costs become more apparent. People continue to make the sensible decision to leave high-tax states and move to low-tax states. The robotic responses to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce by the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and M.I.T. on anti-Semitism showcased their isolation from the real world.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Will this angst be mollified? I hope so. As we head into a new year, we should resolve – not to settle our differences, for they will always exist (and they should) – to be civil in our disagreements, respectful of the opinions of others, and to recognize, and be thankful for the great good fortune that is ours to live in this country at this time. The U.S. may not be perfect, but where would you rather live? George Washington was never the paragon portrayed by Parson Weems in 1800, but neither was he, or his fellow slave-owning Virginians, as evil as depicted in the 1619 Project or by those pushing Critical Race Theory. History can never be understood by imposing today’s values on those who lived in previous times. Speaking of Washington, we should all read (or re-read) his 110 rules of behavior. They appear dated, but in fact, with their focus on behavior toward other people, they are timeless. And we should not forget that, as Lincoln said in 1858, a divided house “cannot stand.” Slavery was the match that ignited the conflagration in 1861, but preserving the union was Lincoln’s real goal. It must be ours today.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Happy New Year!</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-39381454165457459152023-12-22T04:56:00.000-08:002023-12-22T04:56:43.391-08:00"The More Things Change, the More They do Change"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Dear Readers,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">The below (and the attached) is my final offering for 2023. The year has been busy, though less so than past</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: #4472c4;">ones: thirty-seven “TOTDs,” seventeen “More Essays from Essex,” and thirteen “Burrowing into Books” – roughly 62,000 words, about as many words as are found in an average 250-page book. As my wife Caroline reminds me, being busy keeps me out of trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">This essay was fun to write. It is meant to put a smile on your face. Some of you would have chosen different products, but I believe we would all agree that the years have seen remarkable changes in the way we live. While we often complain, our lives have been enriched through new products, born of dreamers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">However, given the division in the Country and the current political situation, the old (and allegedly Chinese) curse, “may you live in interesting times,” seems assured of being an accurate prediction. But, on a happier note, the winter solstice, here in Connecticut, arrived at 10:27pm last evening; so today is the first full day of winter, and the days will begin to get longer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Thank you for your perseverance as readers; I appreciate your feedback, even when unable to respond. Enjoy the holiday season, and may the New Year be a healthy and happy one,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Sydney<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">December 22, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">More Essays from Essex<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“The More Things Change, the More They do Change”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">December 22, 2024<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Attributed to Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Since the Industrial Revolution, the world has seen rapid change, driven by new inventions, most for the better. My grandparents grew up before cars, washing machines, airplanes, or telephones. My parents grew up before radios, jet planes, atom bombs, or Social Security. I grew up without television, computers, microwave ovens, seat belts, and even before zip codes and valium. My children grew up without cell phones, the internet, Sony PlayStations, DVDs, e-mail, or social media.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Are we better off for these inventions? Yes, most have enhanced our lives, and the world is thankful that it was America, not the Nazis, that first produced the atom bomb. Technological advances have freed up time, made jobs safer, improved living standards, and made lives more comfortable. But are we happy? Again, yes; according to Gallup, Americans are generally satisfied with their lives.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Nevertheless, as time rushes by I think of what my grandchildren will never experience: gliding through the park on strapped-on roller skates, rolling up a car window, or emptying an ice tray. They will never use a fountain pen, type a letter on a Smith-Corona, or open a can of peas. They will never play tennis with a wooden racquet, lace a pair of ski boots, or float off on an inner tube. They will never call a friend on a dial phone, pay a bill with Travelers Checks, or read a roadmap. They will never have to get up to change the TV channel, or handle carbon paper. They may never read a print newspaper, use a handkerchief, or mess with a window air-conditioning unit. And their children may never have to pump gas!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Will they miss what they don’t know? Probably not. Do you miss skis with long thongs, tire chains when roads are snow covered, shoveling coal, or using the choke to give your car the proper fuel-air mixture?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Yet, I feel privileged to have grown up in an old-fashioned way – in a small town in New Hampshire, with artist-parents who preferred a simple life, so different from the homes in which they had been raised. We lived on a rocky farm four miles from the village. We had indoor plumbing but no central heat and the house was not insulated until I was about ten. In the kitchen, there was a wood stove and a real ice chest; and in the bathroom the tub sat on claw feet. Our first phone was a wooden box with an ear-piece on the left and a small crank on the right. In front was a mouthpiece into which one spoke. By turning the crank, the operator was aroused who then placed the asked-for call. It was a party line, so first one had to make sure the line was free. Modernity came late to our home.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Dreamers and inventors have improved lives, which speaks to the importance of education. Electric vacuum cleaners, frozen foods, and dish washers have eased the drudgery of housework. Factories and farms have become more efficient. PDAs have made family and friends more accessible. The internet has replaced the need for encyclopedias – though now artificial intelligence is fast approaching, bringing unknown changes. But some things should not change, like curling up before a wood-burning fire on a December night, with a hot chocolate and a book printed on real paper – something I hope my grandchildren will know and enjoy.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-7244608514142971242023-12-16T04:57:00.000-08:002023-12-16T04:57:14.721-08:00"Thoughts on Israel and the Palestinians"<p> <b style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sydney M. Williams</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Thoughts on Israel and the Palestinians”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">December 16, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“War must be, while we defend ourselves against a destroyer who would devour all;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> “The Two Towers,” Part 2<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, 1954<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">War has been around as long as has man. President Obama said as much in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2009: “War, in one form or another, appeared with the first man.” Efforts to outlaw war, or even to impose rules as to its conduct, have failed. The Kellogg-Briand Pact, an effort to outlaw war, signed on August 27, 1928 did not prevent Japan (a signatory) from invading Manchuria three years later. Nor did it stop Germany (also a signatory) from invading Poland eleven years later. The best means to prevent war is to prepare for it. When I was at the University of New Hampshire, I often drove past Pease Airforce Base with its seemingly oxymoronic, but in fact accurate, sign, “Peace is Our Profession.” The projection of strength is necessary to curtail war. Unfortunately, that air base, and the entire Strategic Air Command was “disestablished” in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The conduct of modern war is supposed to follow rules of international humanitarian law established under the Geneva Convention of 1949, as they pertain to non-combatants, the wounded and treatment of prisoners of war. But such good intentions are never followed, as we have seen throughout all subsequent wars, and as Senator John McCain, along with thousands of other servicemen, learned during their years as prisoners of war in North Vietnam. As Carl von Clausewitz noted in <i>On War</i>, “The object of fighting is the destruction or defeat of the enemy.” The Swedish war historian Peter Englund, in his new book<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>November 1942</i>, wrote of a British tail gunner flying over Germany: “The aircrews are not guided by moralistic motives or complex explanations; they are given orders to carry out their missions…”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are not asking for a two-state solution. Their call for Palestine to be free “from the river to the sea,” is a call to eradicate Israel. When terrorists hide among civilians it is they who are causing civilian deaths. “Wars are just to those to whom they are necessary,” wrote Edmund Burke, in <i>Reflections on the Revolutions in France</i>, but “just” is in the eyes of the beholder. “Unjust war is to be abhorred,” spoke President Theodore Roosevelt at the University of Berlin on May 12, 1910 (only four years before Europe embarked on a four-year war of devastation), “but,” he added, “woe to the nation that does not make ready to hold its own in time of need against all who would harm it.” And woe to the state of Israel now if they do not confront and destroy Hamas.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"> <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">War is never pretty.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>“War is cruelty and you cannot refine it” wrote Major General William Tecumseh Sherman to Mayor James Calhoun and the Atlanta City Council on September 12, 1864; “and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.” Hamas brought war into Israel on October 7<sup>th</sup>. For Israel, there is no such thing as a disproportionate response.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The land Palestinians claim as their own was part of the Ottoman Empire for 400 years, until the end of World War I. Does that give Turkey a “right” to that land today? Of course not. Before that, followers of Muhammed, and earlier Byzantines, Jews, Romans, and Christians occupied that land. What we know now as the Middle East was a “cradle of civilization,” whose existence goes back almost 5,000 years. It extends from Egypt in the east to Iran in the west, and from Yemen and Oman in the south to Syria and Iraq in the north. The Middle East gave birth to three of the world’s monotheistic religions. From Judaism emerged Christianity 2,000 years ago, and Islam arrived 600 years later. Members of all three religions are descendants of Abraham, Jews and Christians through his son Isaac, with Muslims descending through his son Ishmael. Despite this common heritage, Middle East Jews, Christians, and Muslims have been at war almost continuously.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The Balfour Declaration of 1917, issued by the British government, supported a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then a region of the Ottoman Empire. In 1948, following the end of World War II during which close to 50% of the world’s Jewish people were exterminated, a Jewish state was created on land that had been their historic home. To consider them oppressors and colonialists because they built a prosperous and democratic society in the desert is absurd. Even after the end of the War, Jews continued to be persecuted in the Middle East. According to the Washington Institute, 150,000 Jews lived in Iraq at the start of the 20<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Century. When the United States invaded the country in 2003 only 35 Jews remained in Baghdad. The problem for diplomats and world leaders is that Palestinians can also trace their ancestry back as far as Jews. But no Arab country, with the exception of Jordan (home to two million Palestinians) has been willing to accommodate them. Qatar, Iran, and Turkey, however, house Hamas terrorist leaders.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Bent on annihilating the state of Israel, Palestinians leaders have ignored the welfare of their people. Citizens of Israel, living in a democracy with rule of law and property rights, have greater freedom and higher living standards than those living under the control of the PA or Hamas. Consider the differences in annual GDP per capita between those living under Palestinian rule ($3,500 in the West Bank and Gaza in 2021) versus $53,200 for Israelis. Keep in mind, the PA has controlled about half of the West Bank for almost thirty years, while Hamas, also elected by the people, has controlled the Gaza Strip for fifteen years.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">While there is complexity in the religious and cultural heritage of those living in the Middle East, there is nothing complex about the different moral and ethical values between Hamas and the Israelis. This is not a war between oppressor and oppressed. It is a fight about universal values, between good and evil, between right and wrong, between the classically liberal West and those who follow an illiberal, authoritarian path. While the West, of which Israel is an integral part, has never been perfect, in comparison to those states aligned against it – China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and their allies – the West is a paragon of righteousness. Its citizens have more freedom and higher standards of living. Israel, like Ukraine and Taiwan, is fighting to defend self-government, rule of law, property rights, and individual freedom, while Hamas, which takes its orders from an authoritarian Iran, represents a people devoid of human rights. Fully supporting Israel, as well as Ukraine and Taiwan, should not be a difficult decision for any Western power.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The United States and other Western nations have an obligation to their citizens to preserve the liberal order, whether in Ukraine, Taiwan, or in Israel. That requires, as Tolkien wrote in the rubric above, standing firm on principles of democracy and personal freedoms, while upping defense spending. It is the weak, not the strong, who are attacked and vanquished. To ignore that lesson is to let authoritarianism thrive.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-80538375501165588932023-12-10T04:22:00.000-08:002023-12-10T04:22:53.151-08:00"Autumn Days (and Nights) with Tolstoy"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I recognize my production of essays has abated of late, due to the holidays that consume so much of our attention – and I am happy they do. For the Hannukah and Christmas seasons are reminders of the good in life: the blessing that is ours to live where and when we do; the joy that comes in hearing from and being with family and friends; and the pleasure we get from greeting those who merrily serve us in stores and restaurants.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Reading<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>War and Peace</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>was a gift, which will stay with me. It is not escapist, for it causes one to think in broader and deeper terms about our lives, and the story puts the silliness and sordidness of today’s politics in perspective. But, if 1500 pages seems a hill too high, try Tolstoy’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Anna Karenina</i>, in my opinion the finest novel ever written.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">More Essays from Essex<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“Autumn Days (and Nights) with Tolstoy”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">December 10, 2023<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“An historian and an artist describing our historic epoch have two quite different tasks before them. As an<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">historian would be wrong if he tried to present an historical person in his entirety, in all his relations with all sides of life, so the artist would fail to perform his task were he to represent the person always in his historical significance.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>War and Peace</i>, Appendix, 1868<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In the Introduction to my copy of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>War and Peace</i>, the late Tolstoy scholar Reginald Frank Christian of St. Andrews University wrote: “Many years later he [Tolstoy] told Gorky [Maxim Gorky] that ‘without false modesty,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>War and Peace</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is like the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Iliad</i>…” Professor Christian added that he had “deliberately refrained from calling<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>War and Peace</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>a novel,” and noted that Tolstoy claimed<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Anna Karenina</i>, published ten years later, to be his first novel. Tolstoy wrote about what he knew. Born into the aristocracy fifteen years after Napoleon had been pushed out of Russia, he had first-hand war experience in Crimea, where he arrived in the fall of 1854 in time for the siege of Sevastopol. What Tolstoy created in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>War and Peace</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is epic – a combination of fiction, history and philosophy – and deserves its classical status.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In early September, I read Peggy Noonan’s column in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, “My Summer with Leo Tolstoy.” The first thing I did, after deciding to read the book, was ditch the one-volume paperback I had purchased a few years earlier and bought a more-easily-handled three-volume set translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude. At story’s end, I empathized with Ms. Noonan’s quote of George Will, who on completing<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Moby Dick<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>wrote: “To think I might have died without reading it!”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Tolstoy wrote of war: “On the 12<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>of June 1812, the forces of Western Europe crossed the Russian frontier and war began…” “One step beyond that boundary line which resembles the line dividing the living from the dead, lies uncertainty…You fear and yet long to cross that line, and know that sooner or later it must be crossed…” He wrote of people, of four families, but especially of two individuals: Countess Natásha Rostóva, a “…strikingly poetic, charming girl, overflowing with life!” and Count Pierre Bezúkhov, a large, young, unhappily married man who searches for life’s purpose: “To that question What for? a simple answer was now always ready in his soul: ‘Because there is a God, that God without whose will not one hair falls from a man’s head.’” As well, Tolstoy pondered social, ethical, and religious concerns of the time, and he philosophized about the difficulty to understand the why of events like Napoleon’s invasion of Russia: “The higher the human intellect rises in the discovery of these purposes, the more obvious it becomes that the ultimate purpose is beyond our comprehension.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">At over 1,500 pages,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>War and Peace</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is daunting, but it is captivating in all aspects. Like Dostoevsky and Chekhov, Tolstoy’s characters have names difficult for American ears. But they are descriptive and credible. Readers will not soon forget Andrew’s death, Sónya’s unrequited love, nor Mary’s loyalty. To those interested in the Napoleonic Wars, Tolstoy provided a window on that era from Russia’s perspective. And for us, living in traumatic times, his questions, thoughts, and timeless wisdom on life deserve our reflection. I spent many hours with Tolstoy, and I am glad I did.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-69664155284982119862023-12-01T04:50:00.000-08:002023-12-01T04:50:49.074-08:00"To Whom, or to What, Do We Owe the Phenomenon that is Donald Trump?"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Writing is a difficult form of communication. In his weekly</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><i style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">column this past Wednesday, Holman Jenkins, Jr. wrote: “No matter how carefully I choose my words, I can’t make you know all or exactly what I mean.” I understand what he is saying. First, it is not easy to take a half-formed idea and translate it into comprehensible English. And second, words can be defined differently by different people. What, for example, is meant by ‘truth’ or ‘justice,’ not to mention ‘diversity,’ equity,’ ‘inclusion,’ or ‘proportional,’ as the latter applies to the Israeli-Hamas war?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">This essay had a particularly tough gestation. Fortunately, my wife is a close reader, saving me from even more embarrassment. I appreciate your forbearance.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">December 1, 2023<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“To Whom, or to What, Do We Owe the Phenomenon that is Donald Trump?”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Oh, the unintended consequences of perfidy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Andrew Levkoff<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>A Mixture of Madness</i>, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Donald Trump is like a battery-operated Hyper Pet Critter Dog that runs helter-skelter around the floor. As long as its battery is charged it will annoy most everyone except its owner. Trump’s battery life appears inexhaustible, but is it, and who or what is responsible?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Since January 6, 2021, it has become common for Democrats to claim democracy is under attack, with Donald Trump as prima facie evidence. In a speech on November 2, 2022, shortly before the midterms, President Biden said: “In our bones, we know democracy is at risk.” Just over two months ago, and citing the January 6 attack, he repeated the warning: “We know how damaged our institutions of democracy – our judiciary, the legislature, the executive – have become in the eyes of the American people, even the world, from attacks within, the past few years.” It is a message that resonated with voters in 2022. Will it succeed again in 2024? In that same 2023 speech, he warned that democracies “can die when people are silent – when they fail to stand up or condemn threats to democracy.” While he did not refer to him by name, he was speaking of Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The impetus for his remarks was January 6, and the “attack” on the Capital by Trump supporters. But in both remarks Biden failed to mention that democracy<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><u>did</u><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>survive – that the only fatality was that of Ashli Babbitt who was shot dead by a Capital policemen and that Vice President Michael Pence certified the election results, which made Joe Biden President. Nor did he acknowledge that the people were not silent – that the “attack” was condemned by Democrats and Independents – and by many Republicans – and all of mainstream media. More than 1,100 rioters have been charged with close to 300 having been given prison sentences, ranging from six months to eighteen years. The people have not been silent about January 6.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In the months since, Trump has been charged with ninety-one criminal counts, enough to keep his name in the news continuously, and for his supporters to gather strength from continued insults to their hero and to their intelligence. One asks: Is the phenomenon of Trump an unintended consequence of progressive intemperance?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">While I am not a fan of Mr. Trump, I voted for him twice because I believed, right or wrong, that he was better for the country than alternatives. I am a fiscal conservative, socially liberal in the classical sense, and one who is concerned about a degradation in the values that have made this country unique among nations – reverence for family, respect for the law and for others, personal responsibility and pride in our nation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In 2016 disaffected voters felt that government had become too elitist – too distant from the common man. The Tea Party, which called for smaller government, was deemed extremist, as was the House Freedom Caucus. And progressives’ calls for DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) were seen by those on the right as hypocritical, as universities, big corporations, mainstream and social media, and tech companies had no interest in diversity of opinion or inclusion of those who did not conform to the accepted progressive narrative. As Amir Taheri wrote recently for the Gatestone Institute: “…Trump has given voice to millions of voiceless Americans who feel uncomfortable with the status quo and harbor fears, genuine or imagined, about the future.” It is understandable what made him attractive in 2016. What is less comprehensible is why the left now gives him so much free press.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In their determination to minimalize Trump, Democrats instead elevated him. Presumably this was done because they thought that since Biden had beaten him in 2020 he could do so again in 2024. Trump was (and is) the nominee Democrats prefer. But Trump recognizes the wisdom attributed to Phineas T. Barnum, that all publicity is good publicity. Progressives in Washington and their lackeys in mainstream media, both blinded with hatred for Trump, have served, unwittingly, as his re-charging stations. Mr. Trump benefits every time a rioter from January 6 is jailed, or when another criminal charge is filed against him. Mr. Trump is on social media, on networks’ and cables’ evening news, and in the headlines. “Exposure to a candidate’s name…can lead to an increase in the candidate’s likeability,” is the wisdom from Wikipedia.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">It is true that democratically elected leaders can become dictators. In 1921, Fascist Benito Mussolini was elected to Italy’s Parliament and a year later was handed ultimate power by King Victor Emanuel. In July 1932, Adolph Hitler was elected to the Reichstag. Six months later, as leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, he was appointed Chancellor by President Von Hindenburg. For an American President to assume dictatorial control, he or she would need the backing of the military and the intelligence agencies, and support from the press. That was never going to happen to Mr. Trump, as we know from the way he was treated when President, especially by the intelligences services and the media. Keep in mind, extremists inhabit both ends of the political spectrum. And it is the left that is unguarded by watchdogs of democracy.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">……………………………………………………………<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, but particularly Trump, agitate emotions rather than reason. We need citizens educated in the basic principles of democracy. Eleven years before the Declaration of Independence, in 1765 John Adams wrote that “…liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.” Today, if knowledge of civics were required to vote, many of the electorate would be disenfranchised.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Nevertheless, the country has faced challenges in the past – many more severe than what we now face. Men like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan appeared when needed, and the nation had a course correction. The American actress Ilka Chase reputedly once said: “Democracy is not an easy form of government, because it is never final; it is a living, changing organism, with a continuous shifting and adjusting of balance between individual freedom and general order.” She was right.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Was Trump the best answer to the concerns so many had seven years ago? Perhaps not, but there was a sense that government had become too elitist, too distant from people and their traditional beliefs in faith and family, a concern that has intensified over the past three years. Yet, the man who has been pilloried has been kept alive by the very people who detest him the most. Mr. Trump craves attention. And the media gives it to him: publicity-seeking prosecutors seeking criminal charges and a never-ending rehash of the January 6 saga. If he were ignored, he might fade away. But the media realizes he drives viewers and eyeballs, more than the failing Mr. Biden. And woke progressives cannot help themselves, so the public is constantly exposed to him. It falls to conservatives – not Mr. Trump – to save our republic. Enter stage right (I hope), Nikki Haley.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-77755295765592671282023-11-21T05:01:00.000-08:002023-11-21T05:07:14.961-08:00Thought of the Day - "Bari Weiss and The Fight for the West"<p> <span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Sixty years ago tomorrow President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Most of us remember where we were. I was in a college classroom, when I saw the American flag being lowered to half-mast. It seemed impossible that a young, attractive, vibrant President could be dead. Four of our Presidents have been assassinated, the first three within a traumatic thirty-six-year period: Lincoln in 1865, Garfield in 1881, and McKinley in 1901.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><div class="WordSection1" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri; page: WordSection1;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">On a cheerier note, we are two days from celebrating Thanksgiving, that special American holiday when the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for having survived their first winter and for the bounty of their harvest. We, too, owe thanks to God for the bounty that is ours, but more important to all those who came before that we might live freely in this exceptional nation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">I hope you are able to spend it with family and friends, for they are the glue that secures our civilization. Caroline and I will be at our daughter’s with her family, and with our younger son and his family – twelve in all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;">Happy Thanksgiving! Sydney<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“Bari Weiss and The Fight for the West”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">November 21, 2023<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“There is no place like this country. And there is no second America to run to if this one fails.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Bari Weiss (1984-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Speech, Federalist Society’s Barbara K. Olson’s Memorial Lecture<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> November 13, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Civilizations may be compared, but they are not comparable. Freedom, equal rights, rule of law, living standards, property rights vary considerably among cultures. None is perfect, as man is not perfect. But the West, as defined as Australasia, Europe, and North America<a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="color: #0563c1;" title="#_ftn1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;">[1]</span></a>, has provided the fairest system and the best opportunities for the aspirant, which is why so many have chosen to immigrate to those nations. The West traces its origins to classical Greece and ancient Rome. Judaism is often cited as the first monotheistic religion.<a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="color: #0563c1;" title="#_ftn2"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;">[2]</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And Christianity was birthed in the eastern Mediterranean basin. Over a 2,300-year period, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, Montaigne, and others gave voice to the West’s culture. It was enhanced by the Enlightenment (1585-1815), with individuals like Shakespeare, Locke, Adam Smith, Rousseau and founding fathers of the United States: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. Novelists like Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charles Dickens, and scientists like Charles Darwin and Marie Curie added to its stature, as did artists like Michelangelo, Titian, and Rembrandt; and composers like Mozart and Beethoven.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">The West is not just a physical place. It was (and is) an idea – here in the United States it was (and is) an experiment in self-government, embedded in a melting pot of free people. Today, we who live in the West are beneficiaries of three thousand years of Western culture. We are fortunate to live in countries with the greatest individual freedom and the highest standards of living. We thank those who came before us, who fought and persevered for our liberties. Yet it has become popular, in recent times, to denigrate the West, to focus on its weaknesses, mistakes, and limitations, and not on its strengths and its slow move toward equality, justice, and fairness – to sublimate the individual to the group with which he or she identifies.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">…………………………………………………..<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Bari Weiss defends the West. She is remarkable – a journalist, writer, and editor, who describes herself as a “liberal uncomfortable with the excesses of left-wing culture...a left-leaning centrist.” However,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Vanity Affair</i>described her as a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>provocateur</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and other publications claim she is a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>conservative</i>. From my perspective, she is commonsensical.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">She is the founder of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Free Press</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and hosts the podcast<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Honestly</i>. She is young, a 2007 graduate of Columbia University, first hired as a Bartley Fellow that same year by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i>. The next year she became a Dorot Fellow in Jerusalem. She worked at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>until 2017 when she was hired by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The New York Times</i>. In 2020 she penned a public resignation letter to the publisher, Mr. A.G. Sulzberger. She wrote of a new consensus having emerged in the press, “…especially at this paper: that truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">But it is her November 13 speech at the Federalist Society’s Barbara K. Olson’s Memorial Lecture that demands focus. Her subject was the fight for the West: “You Are the Last Line of Defense.”<a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="color: #0563c1;" title="#_ftn3"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;">[3]</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The speech should be read in its entirety, but it is worth reviewing. She spoke of the “civilization war we are in” – including an ongoing war against Islamic terrorism. Barbara Olson, on American Airlines flight 77 that slammed into the Pentagon, was murdered by al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001. Twenty-two years later, on the morning of Shabbat, Hamas terrorists, in “a scene from the history of the Nazi Holocaust,” raped, mutilated, and butchered 1,200 Israelis. She drew attention to differences in reaction to the two events. Twenty-two years ago the world was horrified. On October 8, people took to the streets. They “rejoiced on the streets of Berlin and London and Toronto and New York.” “The social justice crowd,” she said, “– the crowd who has tried to convince us that words are violence – insisted that actual violence was actually a necessity.” She spoke of university presidents who, lucidly (and correctly) condemned George Floyd’s killing, now “offered silence or mealy-mouthed pablum about how the situation is tragic and ‘complex.’”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">She spoke of how antisemitism has moved “from the shameful fringe into the public square.” But, as she noted, it is not just about Jews: “It is an early warning system that society itself is breaking down.” She argued that we have lost the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil and that we have replaced ideas with identity, debate with denunciation, and “the rule of law with the fury of the mob.” She spoke of how this inverted worldview swallowed “all the crucial sense-making institutions of American life:” universities, media, cultural institutions, major corporations, high schools and elementary schools. It is a world view that “measures fairness by equality of outcome rather than opportunity.” Merit, hard work, aspiration, talent take a back seat to “unearned privilege.” In Gaza today, Israel and the Jews are “powerful and successful…, so they are bad; Hamas is weak and coded as people of color, so they are good.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">“So,” she asks, “what do we do?” Her answer: First, “we must recover our ability to look and discern.” We must distinguish between good and bad, between just and unjust. We must remember that it is “human beings – not cultures – [that] are created equal.” Second, the law must be enforced: “Everyone needs equal protection, not only of the law, but from forces of chaos and violence.” Third, double standards regarding free speech, especially at universities, must be eliminated. For too long, they have played favorites “based on the speech they prefer, and the racial group hierarchies they’ve established.” And fourth, she said you must “accept that you are the last line of defense and fight, fight, fight.” It is, she added, “time to defend our values – the values that have made this country the freest, most tolerant society in the history of the world – without hesitation or apology.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">……………………………………………..<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Our democratic system is fragile. It is one that has, historically, welcomed criticism. However, there are those who, in the pursuit of personal power, would destroy what time, “blood, sweat, and tears,” and ideals have created. President Reagan used to warn that democracy was always one generation away from failing. On September 17, 1787, in response to a question by Elizabeth Willing Powel as to what the Constitutional Convention had created, the 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin, replied: “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Our system of government, born in the Age of Enlightenment, is a political manifestation of Western civilization and its values. Threats to it by those ignorant of history are real, especially when those threats come draped in the language of social justice. We must respond affirmatively to Franklin’s assertion. Bari Weiss is doing her part to keep alive the ethics and standards that the West gifted us. We must do our part. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br clear="all" /><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><hr align="left" size="0" width="36%" /></span></div></div></div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="color: #0563c1;" title="#_ftnref1"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;">[1]</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In defining the West, some include western Russia, along with Central and South America.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p></div><div id="ftn2"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="color: #0563c1;" title="#_ftnref2"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;">[2]</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Others claim the first monotheistic religion was Zoroastrianism in Persia.</p></div><div id="ftn3"><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><a contenteditable="false" href="about:blank#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="color: #0563c1;" title="#_ftnref3"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align: super;">[3]</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Her speech:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a contenteditable="false" href="https://www.thefp.com/p/you-are-the-last-line-of-defense" style="color: #0563c1;" title="https://www.thefp.com/p/you-are-the-last-line-of-defense">https://www.thefp.com/p/you-are-the-last-line-of-defense</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-40535217423768542742023-11-18T04:41:00.000-08:002023-11-18T04:41:35.548-08:00More Essays from Essex - "Downsizing"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I have been working on a Thought of the Day, which I hope to get out early next week. But in case it does not come together, I want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Just don’t eat too much and travel safely.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">More Essays from Essex<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“Downsizing”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">November 18, 2023<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“I believe your home tells a story about who you are and who you aspire to be. We represent ourselves<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">through the things we own…We should surround ourselves with things we care about, that have meaning.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Nate Berkus (1971-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Interior Designer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>New York Daily News</i>, May 2, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">At some point, almost everyone downsizes. It is said we amass too many things over our lifetimes. But getting rid of stuff is not easy. It is the subject of a new play<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>I Need That</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Theresa Rebeck starring Danny DeVito as Sam, the hoarder. And “hoarding is a damaging psychological condition, and not just an annoying habit,” according to a recent article in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Wall Street Journal</i>, quoting researchers at Stanford University.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">For most, downsizing occurs in one’s later years, when the house where children were raised becomes too large – too much for aging muscles and bones. For us that happened in 2015 when we put our home in Old Lyme on the market. It was a house we had designed and built between 1991 and 1993, when we moved east from Greenwich. It sits on nine acres, on the estuary of the Connecticut River about a mile north of its mouth, where salt water from incoming tides dominates fresh water flowing south.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">By the time we sold the house and moved, Caroline and I had been married for over fifty years, raised three children and were grandparents of ten. We have always been collectors; so living amidst the antique and used-bookstores of eastern Connecticut, as well as living in the art colony of Old Lyme, was like catnip to a kitten. Given the length of our marriage and our collecting habits, we ended up with a lot of stuff. Moving from a 5,500 square foot house to a 1,450 square foot apartment meant adjustments.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Nevertheless, for us the process was relatively painless. Our biggest problem was unloading a few thousand books. Many were taken by our children. A few were sold. About two thousand were donated to the local library, and approximately 700 accompanied us to Essex Meadows.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">We were fortunate. Our three children appreciate “brown” furniture, as long as drawers on old bureaus work, and one can sit on a caned chair without falling through. Their homes have walls on which pictures were hung, floors on which rugs were laid, cabinets that accepted curios, and shelves that took in books. And we did our share. Minimalists we are not. A few might use the word “clutter” to describe our apartment, but to us our “treasures” are treasures. On our walls, including the hallway outside our apartment, hang almost 200 photos and pictures. And I confess there are a few dozen books that have been relegated to the floor. As a son of sculptors, we have examples of my parents’ work, including rubber animals, which in mid 20<sup>th</sup>Century were sold to schools around the world under the name Red Shed Rubber Animals.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">So, while downsizing may be necessary, it does not mean we have to live like monks.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Chacun à son gout</i>, as my mother-in-law used to say. We empathize with Sam and his “castle of clutter.” As for researchers at Stanford, we justify our squirrel-like habit by arguing that collecting is not the same as hoarding. Books, pictures, furniture, objects carry memories. And, as Nate Berkus said, they reflect who we are.</p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-477597354724968572.post-68872228232828459122023-11-13T04:39:00.000-08:002023-11-13T04:39:58.304-08:00"Moral Clarity"<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I hope this essay does not come across as narcissistic or sanctimonious.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #4472c4; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Certainly, no one should read into this essay that I am an example of moral righteousness, for I am not. But it is a subject which many of us think about, especially now with both political parties being held hostage by extremists, with neither side listening to the other and with both deliberately misinterpreting what is being proposed; with hatred pervading our elite universities, as seen in a rise of anti-Semitism; and with both presumed presidential candidates lacking a moral spine. Given our time and place, some thoughts on moral clarity seemed timely.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b>Sydney M. Williams</b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">Thought of the Day<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">“Moral Clarity”<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">November 13, 2023<o:p></o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 10pt;"><a contenteditable="false" href="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com" style="color: #0563c1;" title="http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com/">www.swtotd.blogspot.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Over the years, I have come to understand a critical difference between the world of fear<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">and the world of freedom. In the former, the primary challenge is finding the strength to<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">confront evil. In the latter, the primary challenge is finding the moral clarity to see evil.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Natan Sharansky (1948-)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0in 1.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Soviet dissident and Israeli politician<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <i>The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror</i>, 2004<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Critics of “moral clarity” claim the world cannot be divided into good and evil, that there are too many nuances. As well, these critics tell us that the words “moral clarity” suggest exclusionary views, such as that expressed in the phrase, “My country, right or wrong.”<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In my opinion they misunderstand the words, as they assign a moral equivalence based on claimed beliefs. The fact that Nazis justified the extermination of the Jewish people as a means to achieve a pure, Aryan race was an act of pure evil, as was their concept of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>lebensraum</i>. It was evil that drove Hamas terrorists to parachute in and slaughter Jewish civilians, including children, in the most horrific manner. None of what they did could be compared to Israelis giving Palestinians two weeks to leave northern Gaza before sending in armed forces to ferret out terrorists in tunnels beneath Gaza City’s civilian population. Moral clarity is the ability to think clearly about good and evil, of what is right and what is wrong. There are times when wars are fought for good causes. Moral clarity implies the existence and ubiquity of evil.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">However, among the extreme Left, the words have become pejorative, as they associate them with American conservatives. They link them to Ronald Reagan, whose popularity has never sat well with the progressive wing of the Democrat Party, and they were popularized by William Bennett in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Why We Fight</i>:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism</i>, a book that highlighted the tension between good and evil. Moral clarity demands the United States has a strong defense, the ability to confront enemies and support allies. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">As Natan Sharansky wrote in the rubric above, the challenge for western democracies is to acknowledge that evil exists. Those living under dictatorships, victims of Ku Klux Klan marauders in the early part of the 20<sup>th</sup>Century, and Jews subject to anti-Semitism today understand how evil infests individuals. In his 1973 book<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Gulag Archipelago</i>, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) wrote: “Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties – but right through the human heart. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years…It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.” That each individual, regardless of race or religion, is capable of evil (as well as of goodness) has long been understood by the clergy. When Jesus was asked by His disciples how to pray, He responded with the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer rooted in the Torah and that includes the line “but deliver us from evil.” Yet there are and always have been nations that use evil to motivate their people, like the Nazis in World War II, and China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea today. They claim some group is intent on denigrating their lives so they must be destroyed, as Nazis said of Jews in the 1930s, and that today the Chinese say of the Uyghurs, Russians say of the Ukrainians, and as Iran’s proxies – Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis – say of Israelis. Evil may arise in individuals’ hearts, but it can be manifested in government actions.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">In his 1794 book<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Interesting Anecdotes, Memoirs, Allegories, Essays, and Poetical Fragments</i>, Joseph Addison wrote: “No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.” It was with that in mind that on November 11, 1997, Justice Antonin Scalia spoke of the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, not just about what Germans did to Jews, but of how it happened in a nation noted for its civilization – a country that had been a world leader in art, music, science, and the intellect. “To fully grasp the horror of the Holocaust,” he said, “you must imagine (for it probably happened) that the commandant of Auschwitz or Dachau, when he had finished his day’s work, retired to his apartment to eat a meal that was in the finest good taste, and then to listen, perhaps, to some tender and poignant lieder of Franz Schubert.” Evil can appear swathed in clothes of the benevolent. Sinclair Lewis’ dystopian novel<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>It Can’t Happen Here</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>comes to mind. Because it can.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Our Founding Fathers recognized the presence of evil, which is why they designed a government with checks and balances and judicial restraints. It was not designed to be efficient – efficiency was left to the private sector – but to be deliberative, with decisions and laws based on compromise, arrived at through consensus. The nation they created had many imperfections – the existence and persistence of slavery being the most notable. But they also created a country where justice was allowed, albeit slowly, to rise. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” That has been true in democracies, where the people have a say in the government under which they live, but it has not been true in much of the world, where rule of law, property rights, free markets, and equal justice do not exist. And even in western democracies, the move toward justice can be uneven.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">We hear complaints of the wrongs America has committed, and no one can deny that slavery existed, that native populations were killed and/or mistreated, and that limits were placed on who could vote. Those wrongs existed but were corrected. Time and history must be considered, and credit must be granted for adaption to change. Man was not created pure and good, and neither were nations, but both should be measured on how they adapt over time. Man first appeared perhaps 300,000 years ago. For most of that time he was tribal. It took thousands of years for him to begin living in communities and cities. Survival meant constant wars, and the defeated were often enslaved. Progress was slow and uneven, as we know from earlier civilizations that flourished and disappeared. We who are alive today are fortunate to live where and when we do. Are not Americans better off today than a hundred years ago? And were not most Americans better off in 1923 than in 1823. And were not Americans in 1823 better off than colonialists in 1723? It is not just standards of living that have improved over time, it is that freedom, gradually, was extended to more people – at first to those of non-European heritage, to non-property owners, and then to blacks and women.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">But we cannot be complacent. As Ronald Reagan once said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same…” We should respect this exceptional nation that has lived more closely to dictates of moral clarity than most others. But we should not boast of our fortune. Like religion, we do not have to carry patriotism on our sleeves, but we should not forget that we are an example for the oppressed and dispossessed across the world. We should never be ashamed of who we are.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">Rape, murder, incest, torture, and robbery are evil in every culture. They and the seven cardinal sins – pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth – are the antithesis of moral clarity. We must restrain the evil that is present in each of us and promote the good, which is also within us. Yes Virginia, there is such a thing as moral clarity. It is not a catch phrase or a figment of the imagination. The path toward moral clarity is not always clear. It may be disguised and hard to distinguish; it may be elusive. But, as Justice Potter Stewart once said about pornography, we know it when we see it. Most important, it is a code to live by. </p>Thought of the Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01845998314332468070noreply@blogger.com0