Straight Jacket Voting
We frequently fall in to the trap of thinking that how things work today is how they have always worked. Take for example voting in the United States. The whole concept of an “independent voter” is driven by the fact that today one can vote for people of different parties rather than all representatives from a single party. For example, you might vote for a Democrat for President and a Republican as your Senator.
What I learned while reading The Age of Acrimony is that in the 19th century there was only straight party ballots. The ballots may have been nothing more than a card of one of two different colors. Voting was not in private, one put their colored ballot in the ballot box while everyone else was watching. Elections could and often did become violent affairs. The invention of the ballot booth, with it’s privacy curtain and the ability vote for people running for different offices rather than a party’s representatives cooled the temperature of politics. It also created the idea of the “independent” voter.
You might have noticed that the temperature of politics has definitely risen to higher temperatures over the years, highlighted by the insurrection on January 6, 2021. My theory is that the idea of voting for one’s party, no matter who is running, has become more in vogue ever since Ronald Reagan, when I think the Republican party learned during Reagan’s second term that what letter was next to the name of the candidate was more important than the actual person. The thinking is that what is most important is the party elected to office and not the person because the party’s ideology is what is most important for leading toward the desired outcome. It doesn’t matter whether the President has dementia if the decisions are really made by his handlers.
I think we will see this played out most vividly during the 2024 election. Neither Biden nor Trump are popular among Democrats or Republicans, but they will vote for either the Democrat or Republican candidate. The question will be how the so-called “independents” will vote, and that becomes more difficult when the campaigns become nothing more than don’t vote for the other crazy old person.
Politics is broken because the system is gamed towards the status quo for the benefit of those people who gain from the status quo. Today this is not only the military industrial complex, but nearly every corporation in the United States. How else can you explain why all the candidate we can seem to elect are always of the same generation? Both parties rig it so that the anointed ones are the only options, hence incumbents never are challenged from within, and the non-incumbent pool of candidates are tightly controlled.
Here is a fascinating article about the relationship between vision and football wide receivers. It says that the best NFL wide receivers have less eye dominance, they tend to see equally well through both eyes. Apparently Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is unique in that he alters eye dominance depending on his location on the field.
I think there is a similar relationship between vision and hockey players. As I watch Michigan Tech play I often am shocked when a player makes a bad pass that leads to a turnover and a score against. It seems evident that there is a less field of vision.
Freedom Versus The Internet
The most dangerous affect of bans on books and teaching by government is its erosion on the culture of free speech. While the United States has the first amendment that prohibits government censorship of nearly all speech, a culture of “this is how we do it here” is more important. One way that culture is expressed is when one says, “I don’t agree with what you are saying, but I will fight for your right to say it.”
This article does a great job of explaining why free speech, and thus the freedom of expression of ideas, is so important to liberty and progress. One thing the article does not address is the consequences of time. The time it took for the national mind to change its views on smoking and gay rights was long, and in today’s Internet time, most will now say too long.
What happens in a society when more citizens lived after the Internet and the compression of time that it creates? I think you see this being played out right now with the issue of trans rights, many will not tolerate change taking as long as gay rights did because the have always lived in a world of instant gratification thanks to the Internet.
I think the current tug of war between nearly all dualism is become so intense due to the Internet’s affect on the expectations of change. Half of society demands fast change, the other half prefers slower change and sees the only way to achieve it is by digging in their heels so they can be comfortable. The extremes demand an all or nothing approach, either all change right now, or no change now or maybe never. Both sides are so obsessed with the outcome they cannot see the consequences of the fight.
Oops, she did it again! Second year in a row of snow on my birthday.
Retirement practice
Finished reading: To Follow the Lamb by Ted Grimsrud 📚
R.I.P. Computer Magazine
Ironically, I read about the last print publication of Maximum PC and MacLife via RSS and the web, which long ago for me replaced computer magazines. Harry McCracken writes something like an obituary for the computer magazine.
Last week my wife told me the amazing news of a new brick and mortar book store opening within a mile of our house. The news brought back memories of spending hours in Borders and Barnes and Noble, both which were within a mile of our house and long since gone. (Sadly the Barnes and Noble building still sits empty more than a decade after it closed.) One of the main things I did in these stores was thumb through, and often buy, computer magazines, sometimes I would just read them while sitting in their cafe.
At one time I payed for subscriptions to several magazines, but over time as the web grew, there was little point in buying them. The web, and more specifically my blogs, even enabled me to live out the fantasy of being a writer like Jerry Pournelle.
And, so the excitement of the news about the new book store near me faded fast. Why would I shop there? Today I only buy ebooks and I get my computing news and do product research online. I know for many the medium is the message, and I truly hope there are enough such people living near me to keep the new book store open. Yes, I spent many hours browsing book stores and reading magazines but I’ve never once missed the glossy print magazines nor the heft of Computer Shopper.
Finished reading: How the South Won the Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson 📚
In both of those eras (before and after the Civil WR), rich men attempted to garner power through words and images that convinced American voters that extending the right of self-determination to people of color, women, and poor Americans would destroy it for white men.
We live in a time in which there are problems to be solved, but our politicians only want to use problems as leverage against their opponent. The Trump administration’s reactions to COVID are one example, and the Democrat’s lack of action on abortion since Roe v. Wade is another. Gun violence is another example. People who disagree on many things can work together when they both agree to work toward solving problems, this is when compromise becomes real. Until we rediscover the difference between governing and running for office, our government will continue to be disfunctional.
With all the banning of books and now social media, it really feels as though we are living in 1984.
What a difference a few days of sunshine and warm weather makes.
I dare any professional Christian to preach on the relationship of Christ crucified and the idol that is the 2nd amendment to the U.S. constitution. While Jesus is the solution, Christianity is the problem.
Anyone with eyes, ears, and a conscious knows that things are very, very wrong in the United States. For most it’s self evident that things cannot continue has they are, and yet we feel helpless to do anything to fix the problems. I submit that helplessness you feel is the self evident sign of idolatry. Yes, violence is part of the world, that is the self evident truth scripture tells in the story of Cain murdering Abel, which by the way is the first time the word sin appears in scripture. Whether or not one is religious, it is self evident to those not caught up in the thrall of the U.S. idol that more violence will not stop the killings. source
The NFL streaming pricing remains as ridiculous as always, and sadly that won’t change until the NFL is willing to break themselves free from the feeding trough of cable TV.
First blossom on a flowering tree of the season.
First daffy to appear this spring 🌱 🌼
How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?
The paradox of freedom, Florida style, is that it’s really an assertion of control. People like us should be free to do what we want, and free to stop other people from doing what they want when we don’t approve
That’s it right there in a nutshell. Freedom for me does not mean freedom for you.
Happy Easter
Easter has become so individualized that it has lost it’s transformative message for the world. What really happened on Friday? The powers of the world employed the only thing they know, which is violence (the sin of the world), in an attempt to stop the movement, the Way of Jesus. On Sunday we see that the powers and their violence do not have the last word. The reason why the powers still have hold today is that we continue to believe in them.
What I think is most troubling in this article about Clarence Thomas is that he appears to not care how others think about him. It seems to me that a fundamental requirement of ethical behavior is actually caring about what others think. While Thomas' continued participation in extravagant trips that he does not pay to attend is not illegal, it creates the appears of quid pro quo. Ethics isn’t about laws, it’s about appearance and trust. Americans are right to not trust the Supreme Court when justices don’t care about ethics, and given that the Supreme Court is the most authoritarian branch of the U.S. government, the lack of ethics is frightening.
Seems like some are forgetting that a grand jury is who is indicting Trump, not the DA. A DA brings an accusation to a grand jury decides whether there is enough evidence to warrant charges. The point of a grand jury is to take politics out of charges.