Category: American Culture
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I often have asked myself why, given the huge income inequality that exists in the US, the wage stagnation that has left most middle-class workers with a much lower standard of living than they had 40 years ago, the increased unemployment among middle-age, middle-class men since the recession, the foreclosure crisis, and a host of…
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It does not, or certainly should not, need to be said that it is very difficult for any individual to lift themselves out of poverty, let alone lift themselves out of the often-degrading lifestyle of poverty in the ghetto. Republicans are constantly saying that if you’re poor and unsuccessful it’s your fault. As though we lived in…
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A healthy democracy depends on a large percentage of the electorate voting and on the voting outcome being the result of a debate on issues and policies. Our democracy is far from healthy on both these fronts. (I know there are other problems, but those are not within the purview of this post. See, for example,…
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If you have a 3-year old child or grandchild, he or she will most likely live until 2090. His or her children … your grandchildren or great-grandchildren … will most likely live until 2115. What kind of environment do you want to leave them … one that creates hardship and even threatens life or one that nurtures…
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There has been much in the news these past few months about both the abuse of women by men, and the mistreatment of Blacks by the police. To the extent that articles about these issues examine the causes, writers blame respectively an ongoing misogynistic attitude among many men and racism within the police force. While…
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In his first inaugural address, Thomas Jefferson said, “a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement …” In that sentence lies the answer to this central issue in American democracy … what is the proper balance…
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We have been bludgeoned over the past few years with the Republican’s mantra that if you haven’t made it, it’s your fault (see my post, “The Mendaciousness of the Responsibility Game” under Politics). So it was with a huge feeling of nostalgia that I was reminded recently of a time not so long ago when…
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In my writings, I often refer to this iconic phrase from the Declaration of Independence – together with its companion language setting forth our unalienable rights and the statement that government’s purpose is to secure those rights – as the touchstone against which all acts of our government should be judged. Yet this very phrase,…
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In my previous post, “Changing Free Will from a Harmful Illusion to a Life-Affirming Fact,” I argued that we are programmed by our learned experience to act, and react, in certain ways and thus do not have free will in the way that term is normally understood. But, if we were properly nurtured, even as adults,…
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Underlying many of the social systems and moral perspectives that govern our society is the concept of free will. Whether stated as the ability to know right from wrong or whether it’s the belief that anyone can pick themselves up by their bootstraps, our system of laws, both criminal and civil, and government’s approach to helping…
Preserving American Values 