In 1787 when asked by Elizabeth Willing Powel "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Benjamin Franklin famously replied “A republic, if you can keep it.” That was now nearly 250 years ago, and the United States of America has operated as a republic for longer than any other nation in the world. Many crises have been encountered and overcome during this time period, including most of all a horrifying civil war, exactly the kind of event that has resulted in autocratic gove...

In 1787 when asked by Elizabeth Willing Powel "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Benjamin Franklin famously replied “A republic, if you can keep it.” That was now nearly 250 years ago, and the United States of America has operated as a republic for longer than any other nation in the world. Many crises have been encountered and overcome during this time period, including most of all a horrifying civil war, exactly the kind of event that has resulted in autocratic gove...

It is crucially important to have something to fight for instead of just resisting. Having a long term goal is what keeps us motivated and resilient in light of near term setbacks. Sadly American politics is utterly bereft of a bold vision at the moment (the recent book Abundance falls comically short of its title). A great inspiration for a positive vision of the US today can be found in the original Star Trek from the late 1960s. We are still a long way from some of the extreme technologica...

It is crucially important to have something to fight for instead of just resisting. Having a long term goal is what keeps us motivated and resilient in light of near term setbacks. Sadly American politics is utterly bereft of a bold vision at the moment (the recent book Abundance falls comically short of its title). A great inspiration for a positive vision of the US today can be found in the original Star Trek from the late 1960s. We are still a long way from some of the extreme technologica...

The US political system is in turmoil because the Republicans have been high-jacked by Trump and the Democrats have become hypocritical technocrats. I have written a fair bit about Trump and will write more, but today’s post is reserved for “everything” I find wrong with the Democrats. There is more and also more detail to each of these criticisms, so consider this to be an overview: Democrats have embraced an intrusive ninny state that patronizes citizens. I blame books like Nudge and the th...

The US political system is in turmoil because the Republicans have been high-jacked by Trump and the Democrats have become hypocritical technocrats. I have written a fair bit about Trump and will write more, but today’s post is reserved for “everything” I find wrong with the Democrats. There is more and also more detail to each of these criticisms, so consider this to be an overview: Democrats have embraced an intrusive ninny state that patronizes citizens. I blame books like Nudge and the th...

Donald Trump is unfit to be the president of the United States of America. He is unfit to hold any public office. It boggles the mind that a number of investors and entrepreneurs have come out in support of Trump despite his obviously disqualifying character, which has been revealed time and again through words and actions. Sometimes there are hard choices to make when people are immensely talented but also deeply flawed. This is not one of those situations. Many years ago while on vacation w...

Donald Trump is unfit to be the president of the United States of America. He is unfit to hold any public office. It boggles the mind that a number of investors and entrepreneurs have come out in support of Trump despite his obviously disqualifying character, which has been revealed time and again through words and actions. Sometimes there are hard choices to make when people are immensely talented but also deeply flawed. This is not one of those situations. Many years ago while on vacation w...

One tried and true tactic for suppressing opinions is to slap them with a disparaging label. This is currently happening in the Israel/Gaza conflict with the allegation of bothsidesism, which goes as follows: you have to pick a side, anything else is bothsidesism. Of course nobody likes to be accused of bothsidesism, which is clearly bad. But this is a completely wrong application of the concept. Some may be repeating this allegation unthinkingly, but others are using it as an intentional tac...

One tried and true tactic for suppressing opinions is to slap them with a disparaging label. This is currently happening in the Israel/Gaza conflict with the allegation of bothsidesism, which goes as follows: you have to pick a side, anything else is bothsidesism. Of course nobody likes to be accused of bothsidesism, which is clearly bad. But this is a completely wrong application of the concept. Some may be repeating this allegation unthinkingly, but others are using it as an intentional tac...