Thoughts on Philosophy, Politics, and Policy

Strong Feelings

One who feels very strongly about a controversial issue is ignorant. With an open mind one can become educated so as to understand other points of view.

Radical Ideas

Radical ideas are most strongly opposed when expressed plainly. A corollary of this truth is that if you wish for your radical idea to be accepted then obfuscate it.

A Free Society

A free society allows the expression of radical ideas. Abbie Hoffman said, "You measure [a free society] by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists."

Freedom vs Security

Freedom, by its simplest definition, is a lack of constraints. Laws create order by creating constraints that reduce freedom. From that order comes security for those who are in compliance with the law. True freedom is anarchy. Question anybody who claims to be making a law to protect freedom.

Freedom and security are traded for one another across the spectrum between anarcy and totalitarianism.

Total anarchy is dangerous because society becomes chaotic. Totalitarianism is dangerous because remaining in compliance with the law is difficult.

Where the balance lies varies from one government to another. Where the balance should lie is a matter of opinion.

Iraq illustrates a society that went, almost overnight, from totalitarianism to anarchy.

God

I have never seen anything to convince me either that a god does exist or that a god does not. If a god of infinite wisdom exists then that any person can fully understand God's will is impossible. If a god of infinite ability exists then that anybody should speak on God's behalf is unnecessary. Therefore I am skeptical of the message and the motivation of any person who speaks to me on behalf of an infinitely wise infinitely powerful God.

It seems at least as probable to me that it is human nature to envision a god in order to explain everything that can not be otherwise explained as that a god actually exists.

Faith

Faith is trusting someone's improbable explanations. People trained in their lives to have faith are trained not to ask difficult questions. Such people make poor scientists, poor journalists, and poor leaders, but willing soldiers.

... but don't take my word for it.

Interior Decorating

The beautiful homes of the rich and famous have no more posessions than other homes. The beauty of a space results largely from the amount of open space available and much more so than from the things in it. If one wears the trappings of poverty, by which I mean clutter, then poverty-stricken is how one will feel. To avoid that, one must resist the urgings by advertisers to buy their wares.

Are You Liberal or Conservative?

Ask yourself, "Why are some people rich while others are poor?"

If your response is along the lines of, "Rich people made better decisions and/or worked harder" then you are a conservative. If your response is along the lines of, "Rich people were afforded better and/or more opportunities" then you are a liberal.

Corruption

Society functions best when hard work is rewarded above opportunity. This gives people an incentive to work hard. By one's hard work things are improved for all. "Perks" that come with a position should be eliminated.

When leaders accept a gift from a vendor who stands to benefit from a decision, the leader gains, the vendor might gain, and indirectly society pays.

Since leaders derive their positions from the will of those that they represent, the best antidote to corruption is visibility. Sunshine is the best disinfectant. One's privacy should righly diminish as power and authority increase.

The Role of the Federal Government

The original reason for creating a federal government among the British colonies in America was to facilitate and provide for:

• The common defense
• Interstate commerce
• Education

Securing loans for failing corporations, mandating the production of certain consumer technologies, universal health care and social security were not part of the original mandate of the federal government. We would do well to give careful thought to the principles of what are appropriate roles for a national government.

Preemption

As protection against abuse of power by rulers and to hold authority accountable the constitutions of The United States' and other free nations guarantee that no citizen will be arrested and imprisoned without probable cause that the person commited a crime and without promptly either being released or publicly charged with commiting a crime. It is illegal in the United States and other free nations to arrest and imprison somebody because you suspect that the person might commit a crime in the future.

Similarly, until June 2, 2002, it was the stated policy of the United States government to never attack another nation unless the other nation attacked the United States or an allied nation first.

World Government

As communication and transportation technology advances, the people of the world will interact more. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions, of global reach and authority, should be strengthened to facilitate these interactions. This will require a gradual ceding of sovereign powers on the part of all nations. The current air within the world's most powerful nations is one that favors strengthing national sovereignty at the expense of world government.

Budget Deficits

A government owes it to its residents to operate with a balanced budget.

Operating at a deficit should only be tolerated in situations of unanticipated crises. Ongoing long-term efforts to eliminate threats, such as the cold war or the "war on terrorism", should be budgeted and do not justify deficit operation.

Taxation

A sales & use tax as a source of government revenue is nice because it taxes only the money that residents spend, not the money that they save. Therefore, a sales & use based tax system rewards residents for saving their money.

On the other hand, high income earners have more opportunity to save and are therefore rewarded disporportionately by a sales & use based tax system. An income tax is more fair across the range of income earners.

A third alternative source of government revenue is property and excise tax. This tax discourages property ownership, unless government allows the tax to be deducted from other more costly taxes.

What is best, a tax on assets flowing in, a tax on assets held, or a tax on assets flowing out?

Retirement Savings

Each year each citizen should be allowed to invest 15% or her/his annual earnings or 30% of the average citizen's annual earnings, whichever is lower, in a tax-free retirement account. The cap value based on the average salary should be adjusted annually.

Minimum Wage

We have the same debate every few years as to whether raising the minimum wage will help poor people on average by increasing their earnings or hurt them on average by causing businesses to hire fewer workers. Lets find the best balance and then index minimum wage to inflation, to be adjusted annually.

Population & The Environment

There are certain natural resources in the world that contribute to our quality of life and are being consumed faster than they are replensihed. As the world population increases, the problem of the diminishing supply of such resources worsens.

Environmentalists would have us each reduce our personal consumption, at the expense of our quality of life, in order to reduce the rate of total consumption. The problem with that approach is that, with an ever growing population, we will need an ever shrinking amount of personal consumption in order to achieve sustainability.

For any particular resource, there is a world population limit at which that resource can be sustainably consumed in such a way that everybody's desire for personal consumption is satisfied without compromise. Today we exceed that population level for many resources.

Our leaders and governments, if truly concerned with our long-term best interests, will take actions to reduce the world population (needless to say, gradually and humanely). Unfortunately, since this opposes the teachings of major world religions, governments are taking no such action. As a result, people of the future will suffer a reduced quality of life.

Family Planning

Families with fewer children have a better quality of life for the children, for the parents, and for the society in which they participate. Since women expend far more work in bearing children and in most societies far more work in raising children, societies in which women make reproductive decisions tend to have families with fewer children. Changing patriarchial cultures to allow women to make family planning decisions is one of the best things that we can do to improve society.

Women's Equality

Preference for sons in many societies is often a cause for poor family planning. Changing cultures to increase appreciation of daughters is beneficial to society. Making such a change depends on the women that those daughters become being able to independently earn a living by which they could support their parents in old age. Enabling women to earn an independent living requires that they be educated. Educating girls and women is one of the best things that we can do to improve society.

Marriage

In societies with greater wealth people depended less on their families for support. In other societies the purpose of marriages is to create children who, by being members of two families, create connections thereby strengthening the community. That marriage traditionally exists between only two people is to maximize the connections between families. That marriage is traditionally between a man and a woman is to enable reproduction.

Modern marriage in wealthy societies has little to do with linking families, but has two major personal implications: a religious link with another person that usually encompases monogamy and a legal link with another person. That a religious link be restricted to certain combinations of genders or even a certain number of parties should be a decision for each religion to make. One religion need not recognize marriages performed in another religion.

The most important implications of the legal link created by a marriage is an implied shared ownership of all assets (and liabilities) and the authority to act on behalf of a spouse. With the recognition under the law of joint ownership and the existence of legal tools such as power of attorney, wills, and living wills our legal system has the tools to provide all of the traditional rights and privledges of marriage under the law without any special recognition by the law of one or another religion's definition of marriage.

A government that appropriately recognizes the separation of church and state will neither legalize nor ban gay marriage. Similarly, such a government will neither legalize nor ban polygamy.

Monogamy

Monogamy prevents the spread of certain diseases. As individuals, the less that we are monogamous, the greater probability we have of contracting diseases. Monogamy with a monogamous partner is just as effective as abstinence at preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Love & Cheating

Love, in the sense of unconditional caring and support, is how one feels for family. It is not only appropriate but expected that one loves multiple family members. Can not one have the same feeling for a friend as for a relative? Can not one have the same feelings for multiple friends of the opposite gender? Why is it expected through dating, engagement, and marriage that love is to be limited to a single non-relative? If one is able, why is it considered wrong to have a deep, personal, and even private relationship with somebody outside of one's sexual partnership?

Public Transportation

Transportation is key to economic growth at a societal and at an individual level. Access to convenient transportation equalizes opportunities for employment and education. Government should invest in reliable, convenient public transportation that is free of fares to the user. Government incentives for automotive transportation should be phased out.

Debt & Slavery

Throughout history people have made arrangements to receive a benefit in the short-term based on their credit with somebody else and work off their debt over time. That is endentured servitude.

Historically, in many societies, children are expected to repay the debts of their parents if the parents are unable to do so. Also, in many societies, debts can be traded as assets between creditors. If a debt is so great that it can not be payed with an entire lifetime of work, then it is possible in such societies for a child to be born into endentured servitude, remain there for the rest of his or her life, and have his or her work obligation bought and sold any number of times.

In America today children are not required to pay their parents' debts. If somebody dies with debt it is tough luck for the creditor. This freedom has allowed many Americans to take on a lifetime of debt early in their lives, ensuring that they will spend the rest of their lives working in the endentured servitude of their creditors.

Productivity & Power

Even basic subsistance requires the consumption of resources of general value. Some consume more resources of general value than they produce and others produce more than they consume. Those that produce more than they consume have an advantage. This is true at an individual and a societal level.

Dependence on somebody else to satisfy one's needs is a position of weakness. The ability to satisfy the needs of another is a position of power. The strongest relationship are those in which partners simultaneously complement each other's strengths and weaknesses with a net balance between the disparities. The number of partners need not necessarily be 2.

If maximum power is the goal such as would be the case in building a superpower nation then a simple maximization of productivity and minimization of consumption is the goal. In such a case it is necessary to adjust cultural ideals to value hard work and devalue having extraneous material posessions.

Food Value

Several decades from now the upcoming superpower nations, China and India, will face trade deficits in food and a reliance on food imports. India because of its unchecked population growth and China because of its large population combined with its historically poor stewardship of its arable land. This will give food production an increased value.

Nations with large areas of land and relatively thin populations such as Brazil, Russia, and The United States will see a trade benefit and a corresponding increase in national power. Worldwide, farmers will be financially rewarded and held in increasingly high esteem.

Music

A talented musician today, with less than $1000 of digital recording equipment, can create recordings at the same level of quality as professional recordings of famous artists. Through peer-to-peer file sharing networks it is possible to distribute a recording to millions of listeners for free. With today's technology, listeners should be able to enjoy good music at a cost of about 1 cent per recording and talented musicians should be able to earn a comfortable living making such music.

Today's famous musical "artists" are no more talented than thousands of other unfamous artists. Today's famous musical "artists" rarely write the songs that they perform. So many multi-track digital-effect recording techniques are used that today's famous musical "artists" often can not actually perform their songs in live concerts but must lip sync instead.

Today's famous musical "artists" are famous because they have been promoted. These "artists" were chosen for promotion by corporations in the recording industry usually because they look attractive in videos. Attractive "artists" sell more albums, the revenue from which predominantly goes into more promotion. The Grammy awards were originally invented by Alexander Graham Bell to honor the artist who helped his corporation sell the most Gramophones.

Sharing Music

Downloading music is legal. Downloading a recording is always legal regardless of the copyrights on that recording. Copyright laws limit the copying of art. The person who shares music is making the copy, not the person downloading the music.

By my interpretation of copyright law, if you find a work of art in the public domain that has no clear copyright notice and you are reasonably unaware that the art was released into the public domain illegally then it is legal to make and give away copies of that art. That means that it is legal to share music files as long as those files have no clear copyright notice and you have not been informed that the file was previously copied illegally.

It is illegal to remove a copyright notice and give away a copyright work of art without that notice. That means that it is illegal to remove a copyright notice from the file name of a copyright music file and proceed to give that file away. It is also illegal to remove a copy notice from the id3 tag of an mp3 file and give the file away. It would also be illegal to edit a recording to remove a clearly spoken message indicating that it is copyright and then give the recording away.

It is illegal to make copies of copyright art without permission. That means that if a music file has a clear indication that it is copyright, such as a copyright notice in its file name or a clearly spoken message as part of the recording, then it is illegal to share that file. Furthermore, to make a music file by ripping a CD sold with a clearly written copyright notice and then to give away copies of that file is illegal.

A copyright owner may file a lawsuit and seek an injunction and damages against whoever infringed their rights by copying and distributing the recording without proper copyright notice, but that is neither a problem nor should it be a concern for listeners who download music or share music that has no copyright notice.

There is an international concert of the world's smallest violins being played just for the Recording Industry Association of Ameria (RIAA) and its member corporations.