Thoughts on Philosophy, Politics, and Policy

Strong Feelings

One who feels very strongly about a controversial issue is ignorant. With education one can appreciate both 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. True freedom is anarchy. Laws create order by constraining freedom. Enforced order brings security. Question anybody who claims to be making a law to protect freedom.

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

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

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

God

I am unconvinced of the existence or non-existence of gods. An omnipotent God needs nobody to speak on its behalf. Anybody who speaks on God's behalf has an underlying motive.

It seems probable that it is human nature to envisions a god in order to explain that which can not yet be explained by research.

Faith

Faith is trusting unproven explanations. Faithfulness requires avoiding difficult questions. This is a poor trait for scientists, journalists, and leaders, but necessary for soldiers.

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

Interior Decorating

The most beautiful spaces have space. Excesses of objects are the trappings of poor taste. A beautiful home is that of one who avoids the temptations of consumption.

Are You Liberal or Conservative?

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

If your response is about decision making and work ethic then you are a conservative. If your response is about opportunities then you are a liberal.

Corruption

Rewarding diligence, not station, benefits all. Decisions about the resources of many made for the gain of some is theft. The antidote to corruption is openness. "Sunshine is the best disinfectant." Corruption is avoided if diminishing privacy accompanies rising station.

Preemptive War

The doctrine of nations not to attack another unless it has gone on attack first ensures peace. It saved the world from nuclear annihilation during the Cold War.

The US wars in Korea and Vietnam were entered into during an attack on at least a semblance of another independent nation. George H. W. Bush's Gulf War was against Iraq for attacking Kuwait.

The doctrine of no preemption was replaced by the "Bush doctrine" during the presidency of George W. Bush to justify wars in Afghanistan and Iraq against nations that had conducted no attacks on other nations.

The Oklahoma National Guard did not invade Michigan, which had harbored Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols as they planned their terrorist attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Nor did the Oklahoma National Guard use its overwhelming force to invade nearby Wisconsin, a midwestern neighbor unrelated to the Murrah Building terrorist attack.

The US military invading Afghanistan, which had harbored the terrorists who attacked New York's World Trade Center sets a dangerous precedent. The US military invasion of Iraq, a middle eastern neighbor unrelated to the World Trade Center attack sets an even more dangerous precedent.

Terrorism

Terrorism has existed throughout human history, as has the use of mind altering substances. No war on terror can eradicate terrorism any more than a war on drugs can eradicate drug use.

Fighting terrorism and stopping attacks before they happen, whether domestically or internationally requires policing. The application of military force has limited effect on preventing terrorism while fomenting hateful feelings that might motivate future attacks.

Afghanistan

The US war in Afghanistan bears the following resemblances to the US war in Vietnam.

Continuity during Leadership Changes

It is important for the internal coherence and external credibility of an organization that its policies change only gradually after a change in leadership.

Decades of carefully negotiated treaties including the US/Russian Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Kyoto Protocol, International Criminal Court, and doctrine of no premptive war were all scrapped during the first year of the George W. Bush administration. Deeper national political divisions and international distrust of the US ensued.

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.

Budget Deficits

A responsible government treats its tax paying beneficiaries fairly by operating with a balanced budget.

Operating at a deficit should only be tolerated in situations of unanticipated crises and should be compensated for by operating with a budget surplus during times of stability. To the extent that ongoing long-term efforts such as a cold war, a war on terrorism, or a war on drugs are necessary, they should be budgeted and do not justify deficit operation.

Taxation

There are three ways to tax: what comes in (income), what is possessed (property), and what goes out (sales).

Sales tax provides incentive for saving over spending. Property tax is proportional to the enjoyment of society's benefits. Income tax provides disincentive for hard work and entrepreneurship.

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. Let's index the minimum wage to inflation to measure its effect throughout economic cycles without frequent fluctuations in relative purchasing power.

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 replenished. As the world population increases, the problem of the diminishing supply of such resources worsens.

Some totalitarian 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. With an ever growing population, we would 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 sustainibly 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 manifest through war, hunger, and disease.

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 patriarchal 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

Government need not recognize marriages recognized by religions. Religions need not recognize marriages recognized by governments.

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

Government should hold both biological parents of a child responsible for the child's reasonable upbringing.

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

It is human nature to feel a loving connection to more than one person. It is not only appropriate but expected that one loves multiple family members. It is common to love multiple friends. It also human nature through dating, engagement, and marriage to feel jealous upon recognizing that a loving partner has other loves. Is it wrong to have a deep, personal, and/or even private relationships with somebody outside of one's sexually monagamous cohabitant?

Collective Bargaining (Unions)

US trade unions were important for ensuring workers' rights for fair pay and working conditions in the early 1900s. With the advent of the national minimum wage and OSHA the government now provides such protections. Unions today often strong-arm struggling employers for benefits that are detrimental to the long term business health of the employer.

Workers in today's non-union auto manufacturing businesses are not substantially worse-off than union workers in comparable jobs. However, the employers of union workers are at a competitive disadvantage that threatens their survival in the marketplace. Survival on which union workers are counting for their pensions in retirement.

Most trade unions in the US have outlived their usefulness.

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 indentured servitude.

Historically, in many societies, children were expected to repay the debts of their parents if the parents were 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 paid with an entire lifetime of work, then it is possible in such societies for a child to be born into indentured 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 indentured servitude of their creditors.

Productivity & Power

Even basic subsistence 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 possessions.

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.