Point Made

We are a confusing species. I’m reading Francis Fukuyama’s latest, “The Origins of Political Order.” At the beginning of the book, as he sets the scene for his thought process, Fukuyama talks about research in primates to study the natural state of human behavior. Are we meant to live as independent operators merely satisfying our own desires, or are we wired to be a more cooperative species that seeks ways to coexist with others? Or do we learn to cooperate because we have negotiated away from our natural state as independent operators? If you come down on the side of human's being naturally cooperative, you might ask if you're looking around and noticing recent social history is the individual celebrated and the social progress derided. Maybe I’m overreacting, but people being famous for being famous trump those who actually accomplish something is a trend that is confusing and highly illogical to me. Let me pose a simple quandary. Who is more important to us as...

Getting Old One of my favorite authors, James Lee Burke, in his recent Dave Robiecheaux tale entitled “The Glass Rainbow” wrote a beautiful piece of dialogue regarding the pain of men endure as they grow old. Now many women will just roll their eyes at this revelation, but the truth is that if they listen they will understand the sudden sadness some men feel when they face up to the limitations age puts on us with little or no time for preparation. Dave, in his role in law enforcement in New Iberia, Louisiana, is interviewing an old patriarch, a left over remnant of the anti-bellum southern aristocracy. Dave has no respect for this man and his kind, who, Dave believes, has acquired his power and fortune by trampling on those less fortunate. He also believes this man might have something to do with the cruel and horrible murders of two young women, probably not by his own hand, but possibly with his permission or at the very least knowledge. They are on the patio of thi...

There was an interesting article in New York Magazine last week about the NYT columnist, David Brooks. Brooks holds the NYT conservative seat previously occupied by William Safire. Brooks is also a regular on NPR programming & ‘The News Hour” opposite Mark Shields. As a committed liberal, I read Brooks with admiration and learn from him consistently, even though I don’t always agree with him. It might be that as I age I am tending to be more moderate and that may blend well with Brook’s more moderate stance on most issues and his refusal to get caught up in the wedge issues that tend to stifle any kind of conversation across the aisle. It got me to thinking about some of the other must read columnists I read and why. Why do I read Tom Friedman and not Maureen Dowd? Friedman is a graduate of my alma mater in St Louis Park High School and we probably had the same English teacher. But Tom has moved way past the pleasant pastures of Suburban Minneapolis and into the wo...

The cycle is gaining more frequency. The ups and downs of things and people we like, or even just notice, get to be more rapid than a preteen pop star. It’s cool to like one day and so yesterday the next. Democrats were high when they captured majorities in the legislative branch and the White House, only to see things come apart almost immediately. Their demise is widely expected this fall, as opponents hope that the economy doesn’t turn rapidly for the better and derail their opposition momentum. I never remember when the “what have you done for me lately” crowd held so much sway. There are the adamant Republican supply-siders who, despite recent history containing abundant truth to the contrary, still believe that less regulation, taxes, and government, in general, will solve all of our problems. We have been doing this since the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, and it has accomplished three things. We have suffered through a myriad of economic failures, brought on by ...

If there is a frustration in looking at the political atmosphere, it is perpetuating lies and the ease with which that happens. All parties to this situation, whether they be the politicians themselves or the interest that carries water for them, are guilty. As I like to say, lying is not a partisan issue. It’s just a shame. I know that we all like to believe that the things we agree with are correct in themselves. They are because they sound right in our ears. They are just, and they support or justify our beliefs. Despite volumes of evidence to the contrary, a large percentage of people believe the Saddam Hussian was directly instrumental in the attack on the World Trade Center. Many people vigorously believe that President Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States. There is a continuing belief that President Bush engineered the attacks on 9/11 to justify starting the war in Iraq. These things began as rumors, and all have been disproved to reasonable p...

There are some things that we love to hate. Sports stars and movie stars, in general, can make normally nice people have strong, irrational feelings. I'll admit I have a strong aversion to Tom Brady and Tom Cruise. Politicians make it their business to cultivate the “We v They” atmosphere around their campaigns. But politicians, sports figures, and movie stars are people. They have press agents and handlers that control the access to them and the image they want to create. That all works well until one of their husbands sneaks out and has an affair with another woman. Or, they decide a threesome with two underage girls is appropriate. In many ways, they can earn our anger and disrespect. But what about brand names? In a recent article in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/technology/24apple.html?hpw columnist) , Miguel Helft writes that success, Apple has now become the bad guy in the technology sector. This is after being the company you loved because they w...

If you are an online reader, like I am, you undoubtedly read the reader comments attached to almost any article, whether it’s the New York Times or a local site like OnMilwaukee.com. What is amazing to me is the stuff the website editors allow to be published under their banner. I guess it’s because I’m of a generation that remembers the Letter to the Editor section of the paper where often well-written and thoughtful arguments about the day's issues were printed. I’m not saying from time to time, the editor wouldn’t throw out a weird response to an issue. You vacillated between thinking his junior high school kid took over the job of vetting the letters for a day, maybe the editor the letter would promote circulation. The publication policy of the “Comment” section of today’s press varies. Most of them state that your comments will be looked over before publication. Often you read the comments posted, and you wonder what you’d have to write before they wouldn’t pub...