Five Things Wrong with Today's Party in Power

With the Fourth of July here, this seems like a reasonable time to take a look at the current regime party holding power in the US.  There are many more problems within it, but here's five pertinent and prominent ones:

1. All They Value Is Money  Help for the poor?  Efforts to reduce inequality?  Education or training assistance?  Nope.  To today's government leadership, if you haven't earned a lot, there's something wrong with you.  Likewise, if the field you're in isn't high-earning, then they view you as having made foolish choices, and, again, deserve nothing.  So much for farmers, nurses, firefighters, police officers…

2. All They Value Is Power I  The will of the people?  A government by, for, and of the people?  Not so much.  A government where they make the decisions is paramount, and whatever means it takes to get to that end, they will use.

3. They Can't Handle the Truth  You may have noticed that just about any policy, statement, or anything else that comes out of the administration doesn't align with science, facts, or reality.  Nor do they care about expertise, education, or experience.  Why?  Because truth isn't something they can exploit.  Truth does not bring power—not that they can see.

4. All They Value Is Power II  The ultimate political power is that which has no checks upon it, and no balance with competing authorities.  This is primarily why Congress has been so inactive and the Supreme Court so permissive, even with both being controlled by the ruling party in power.  Much simpler to just issue presidential edicts than pass laws, even when unconstitutional.  Because the Constitution, in their view, is simply a competing authority, to be disregarded at best, destroyed at worst.

5. They Can't Handle Opposition  We'll see how far they go in this respect.  But, so far, they've at least threatened to arrest or deport anyone who gets in their way, including judges and legislators.  Fortunately, this blog is too minor to be on their radar.  Otherwise they might consider me a threat.  Then who knows what will happen.  But I'm safe.  Aren't I?  They won't come for me.  Will they?

Will they?

Happy Independence Day.

Except…independence from what?

How Smart People Can Get Stupid

If you've been around a while, or even have followed the news, you'll have noticed people of high accomplishment doing something amazingly lowbrow.  I won't bother to cite any examples, because there are far too many of them.  But this is one way a descent into foolishness can happen.  The (il)logical progression goes (mis)step by (mis)step:

1.    A person excels in some way.  Can be in an academic field, can be in business—whatever.
2.    They sensibly think, "I did something excellent."
3.    That fairly reasonably grows into, "I'm excellent in that area."
4.    We all like to think well of ourselves.  We all need self-approval.  So it doesn't usually take too long before they senselessly think, "I'm excellent."
5.    And so doing one thing well once then morphs into "I do all things well at all times."
6.    They then set themselves up as experts in all fields.
7.    Their actual ignorance then leads them into error.

It isn't hard to do.  The only way to avoid it that I know of is with time and self-reflection.  It's no secret that I, for example, have had some bad experiences.  Self-reflection keeps me from attributing them all to others' mistakes and mis-perceptions.  Sometimes I screw up.  Sometimes I get stupid.

And I'm no exception in doing so.  To err is human, you know.

Self-awareness is far more of a virtue than self-approval.  Even if you probably have to be around a while to develop it.

"86 47" Explained?

If you've been following the news, you're aware that former FBI Director James Comey posted a picture that showed seashells spelling out "86 47."  The White House, as it is wont to do, promptly got in a kerfuffle.  After all, the argument went, "86" means to get rid of, and so this was, in their view, a call to assassinate the 47th president.

Leaving aside using questionable logic and overexcited hyperbole—not that this White House is wont to do that—I suggest a much simpler explanation.

Comey and "47" are both of an age to have seen the classic TV comedy Get Smart.  (Not to mention the later movie.)  I suggest Comey was merely drawing attention to the similarities between Maxwell Smart, aka Agent 86, and "47."

Smart was a bumbling government official who constantly made mistakes, never adequately thought anything through, and depended on others' intervention to keep disaster from developing.  He always sounded anxious, with his high-pitched, tense voice, while uttering utter nonsense.

"47," by comparison…

Ah.  Well.

So that's my suggested explanation.  And I do consider it plausible.

Completely plausible.  Wouldja believe it?  Completely.

Ah, wouldja believe mostly?