First Blog

We live in an era of poker game politics where the only bet allowed is “all-in.” Hedge? And you’re dead. Compromised? You are ostracized. Monopoly? Every day’s homily. Control? The only goal. Trash? You get more cash. A gamble of the first order is “all-in.” You bet. You bluff. You hope. All on the play of cards.

What has happened to the US Government?  It seems like Congress is doing little, either party, preferring to squabble internally, or not allowing compromise.  Sometimes both.  The consequence is that the President makes regulations and takes other executive actions.  Both parties here.  The courts have become the legislature, assuming the job of interpreting the law in some preferred fashion – and their “legal” arguments are increasingly weak and partisan*.  I believe this era of polarized politics is the root cause of the dysfunction. I believe some persons or some organizations are at the switch, keeping this state of conflict at high tension.  For some of these, the goal is the reshaping of America toward some uncertain model.  For others, there seems to be a harkening to return to the traditional certainty and comfort of a remembered past. The central issue these days is Obamacare.  It seems no one likes it much, at least those paying the full freight of premiums.  But whi

We are a nation of heaps.  We live in heaps.  We respond only to issues when they become heaps - and then rarely.  So, what’s a heap? The heap paradox comes from rather vague predicates.  You’ve often heard of a heap of sand or a heap of trouble.  What this means is roughly we cannot distinguish individuals (such as grains of sand from a pile) from the others.  In fact, it is more complicated.  The ancient interpretation of this paradox (also called the sorites paradox ) is to resolve the question as to when, by removal of individual grains of sand, it is no longer a heap?  In this note, we look at heaps from the reverse perspective.  For example, when we add grains of sand to a collection, when does the collection cease being a collection and becomes a heap?  Of course, this paradox has no real resolution, but the word “heap” does seem to apply to many issues of the day. The (reverse) heap paradox is a key social and political situation in the USA.  At

Continuing from http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2013/03/thoughts-part-1.html K.  All I here these days on political news is talking points from both the left and the right. On the left there must be solidarity of the President's message. No deviations.  No doubts. No alternatives are allowed.  The rich must pay their fair share; you may have "built" it but the government supplied the schools, roads, and other infrastructure.  Obamacare is clearly controlling and even reducing costs.  We must invest in America.  On the right most talking points concern taxes (i.e. no new ones), the magnitude of the debt, the repeal of Obamacare, the massive regulations, and of course gun control.    There is not one hint, one scintilla of compromise, excepting on immigration reform, a quest issue by both for votes.  L.  We have always had conservatives and liberals.  The one is much like the other, with differences measured slightly in the degrees of the programs they pass. This is why

June 20, 2012 Changing Your Mind We all change our minds.  This is a natural part of our life's journey. It happens; we understand how necessary this is - at least on an individual basis. But within our political institutions, this has become a pariah.  Any politicians that do change their minds are accused of flip-flopping, vascillating, or worse.  It seems to have become a stigma, a political black flag, for anyone who even entertains in their thinking what is a natural evolution of thought.  But in political institutions, the art of compromise  (i.e. appearing to change one's mind) opens one up to these withering condemnations.  How many of our great leaders were known as superiour precisely because they were great compromisers?  Many, I believe.  How many of our great leaders have refused compromise at every turn?  Name one. We desparately need someone to emerge that understands compromise  is an essential part of successful government administration. We desparately