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The Wonder of Not Knowing and How it Applies to the Acceptance of Not Understanding

06/23/2013

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I was listening to the comedian Pete Holmes the other day and he was talking about how people have lost the wonder of discovery (my words – but basically the gist).  His bit was essentially about how people no longer have to not know something for any length of time.  And because of that, when they learn something (a minute or two after they begin to wonder due to easy access to the internet and all the information of the world at our fingertips) the awe of discovery, of learning something new is lost.  Now, of course, he made it pretty funny.  However, as usual, I began to think about the non-funny aspects of WHY this is the case…

Basically, back in the day, if you were curious about something it often took considerable time to get an answer to your question.  You asked your friends (who of course did not know), you asked your parents (who quite often didn’t know), you asked teachers, other adults and time after time you would be sent away knowing no more than you did before.  Sometimes you even had to go to great lengths to find an expert on a given subject to get your answer.  For those of you that remember libraries (the kind with books, not computers connected to the internet as we have now), you could eventually get there and look into encyclopedias, dictionaries or other such books.  But what of questions that could not easily be found in such books.  Mr. Holmes’ example was of the hometown of a particular NASCAR driver.  You would ask and ask and eventually, after days or weeks of searching you might find a buddy’s second cousin-once-removed’s boyfriend’s uncle that remembered that the guy was born somewhere in Florida.  Wow!  But the length of time it took to find the answer would only increase the level of appreciation for it.  Now days it would take 30 seconds to pull out your smart phone, connect to the internet as you drive across the country at 70 mph (or sit in class ignoring the teacher, …) and Google the answer.  You’d get it.  Maybe even more exact.  All the way to the street address of the hospital should you choose.  But where is the expectation?  Where is the great satisfaction?   Most importantly, where is the great sense of accomplishment you feel in all the effort put in?  And the feeling you get in FINALLY finding the answer after all the build up and anticipation?  It no longer exists in today’s society.

What’s more, people are losing the ability to analyze the problem and determine the best way of finding the answer.

I am sitting in a local cigar bar at the counter (that is where the electrical outlet is) typing this blog.  The guy sitting a few stools away wonders to the barkeep what the percentage of all beer sales are Bud Light.  Nobody knows.  It is a simple question.  I consider logging on the internet and Googling the answer (I don’t, but it was the first thing that popped into my mind).  Bottom line: nobody in the entire establishment knows.  Life goes on.  Do kids these days get the same feeling?  Are the day-to-day “pressures” they feel as teenagers of the 21st Century tied to their own expectations of “needing”, or being expected, to know whatever it is the moment the question is asked?

Let’s take it a step further.  Since all this “power of information” exists at the click of a mouse or a couple of cell phone button pushes with your thumb, could this be the reason for the dumbing down of society?  Back in my day (not really all that long ago but it sounds good), the watchword of education was as much about learning to find the answer as it was learning information in the first place.  Kids aren’t even being taught anymore how to find information – how to come up with answers.  The why of the how?  Or is it the how of the why?

With the technology we have available to us, especially the kids, we no longer have to learn to think, to analyze a situation, to consider the possibilities and ramifications.  We just look it up on-line and everything is there for us.  Someone else has done the work (possibly even correctly).  But we are left with no understanding of how that work was done.  How was the final answer achieved?  The example of a birthplace is a relative no-brainer.  However, it is a fact.  It is not an opinion.  Much of what we need to do in our lives is forming an opinion.  Should I do this or should I do that?  What is the better investment for me?  Should I lease or buy?  These types of answers can actually be Googled.  But you will be getting the “opinion” of someone that has no clue of your particular circumstances.  Many people, not knowing the how and why of the outcome, will just take the answer at face value and proceed from there. Then we have such questions as: Should I take this job or that one?  Should I live in this town or somewhere else?  Google might not be so helpful here.  Nor would much of what are kids are being taught in school.

My contention (and not only mine) is that too much of education in the U.S. today is focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).  We are giving them algebraic formulas for algebraic equations.  The most they have to figure out is what type of equation it is and then match it to the formula.  We give them rubrics for virtually any assignment.  Follow the rubric and you get a good grade.  They even use the rubric to determine where they can cut corners and still end up with a good enough grade (notice “good enough”, not an “A” – sometimes I wonder).  However, is this really preparing them for the real world?  When they get out of school their boss isn’t going to hand them a rubric for every (or any) task they are given.  During my first assignment in the military my targeteers had checklists they would go by to build strike lines.  Heaven forbid they didn’t have their checklist next to them and actually had to know how to do their job.  Problem was, during minimum time tasking exercises they didn’t have time to look at the checklist.  They actually had to know what they were doing.  This caused MANY major problems.  So the first time I saw this I took away ALL checklists from the builders.  The checklists were used only by the quality control NCO too confirm everything was correct before it went out the door.  A few times through the exercise and it was amazing how more accurate the products were and how much more quickly they were complete.  They learned their jobs.  More importantly, they had to THINK about what they were doing and why they were doing a specific thing in order to accomplish the result that would get past the quality control step.

What am I getting at?

Not only aren’t our kids getting the sense of accomplishment when they actually come up with an answer on their own, we are essentially “teaching” kids HOW to build a bomb.  What we are not teaching them is how to decide whether or not we should use it.  Yes, there are exceptions out there (my class for one) where we ask “why”.  I expect my students to analyze given case studies and provide a considered, supported opinion.  However, that goes against most of what the “experts” in education today are trying to accomplish.  We are trying to keep up with the Jones’.  The theory is that many other countries are far ahead of us in science, engineering, technology and mathematics.  This is based on the outcome of international standardized tests.  Of course, the thought is never given to the actual real world results of our education.  What country is the world leader in the space race (a significant indication of a country’s citizens understanding of STEM)?  What country has the preponderance of new science and technology discoveries?  The preponderance of original discovery?  The answer to each of these questions is the United States.  In the past two centuries, the US growth has produced per capita incomes about six times greater than the world average.  Currently the US holds 4.5% of the world’s population and produces 22% of the world’s output.  A disproportionate number of the world’s great accomplishments in medicine, electronics, and other technology have come from America.  But somehow there is something wrong with our education system and we must change it to meet the expectations of these standardized tests.

Nor is consideration given to how our kids (with their obviously poor education) are getting into some of the top ranked schools in the world.  Eight of the top ten, and 17 of the top 20, universities in overall education worldwide are in the United States.  Seven of the top ten in science, ten of the top ten in engineering, nine of the top ten in computers, and six of the top ten in mathematics.  The majority of the students in those universities are graduates of US secondary schools.  How are the top schools being filled with US students yet our secondary schools are not up to par?  What sense does this make?  And why are so many foreign students working so hard to get into our schools?

Based on the foregoing, I contend our schools are actually doing just fine.  Not all of course.  But why change the ones that are just for the sake of change.  We obviously have schools that know what they are doing.  How about, instead of coming up with, and spending millions (billions?) of dollars to implement, the newest theory in education every few years we just look at the schools that are doing well and copy that method in schools that aren’t.  Hmmmmm…

Bottom line:  let us get back to the liberal (renaissance) education where our future citizens are taught more HOW to think rather than just to apply formulas or solve equations.  Don’t get me wrong, the basics such as mathematics, language, sciences, etc are all important in education.   It would be hard to teach analysis and application of the thought process without the basics.  But too many experts are pushing schools to limit their education to STEM.  Even to the extent of having English classes teach using technical manuals vice the classics.  This is just wrong and the trend needs to be reversed.

To circle around to the beginning – The Wonder of Not Knowing and How it Applies to the Acceptance of Not Understanding…

We need to re-instill not only the wonder of not knowing, but the desire of discovery in our children.  As it stands, not knowing is not a concern, but the acceptance of not understanding should be.  The acceptance of not knowing (at least for a time) and the wonder of discovery is achieved by slowing down and understanding the analysis that is knowledge.   The process that leads to wisdom.  Unless we do, they will never understand the decision making process and “dropping the bomb” (a metaphor for any decision if you didn’t get the drift) will be via a checklist and not a considered evaluation of the circumstances.  Let us get back to a renaissance education.  Let us teach our children what they need to know to make decisions in the real world and forget about keeping up with the Jones’.

>>> The day is at a close, the night is drawing in and my cigar awaits – ’til next time…

***The New Dark Ages Cometh

06/16/2013

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Watched Robin Hood yesterday. The 2010 film starring Russell Crowe.  I was getting ideas for the days that come.

At the beginning of the movie the declaration read: “In times of tyranny and injustice when law oppresses the people, the outlaw takes his place in history.  England at the turn of the 12th Century was such a time.”  The United States at the beginning of the 21st is as well.  Much of the rest of the world is already there.

King John was at the end of the old Dark Ages… we are at the beginning of the new.

King John was an incompetent, lying, coward in well above his head. Ring any bells?  The United States currently has an Executive Branch that reminds me a lot of King John.  Like King John, blaming everything on its predecessor and declaring everything it does is owed them and necessary to fix the problems left by others.  The IRS, NSA, Justice Department, … – are they fixing the problems or causing them.

It is not just the current Executive Branch at the Federal level that gives me pause.  The Legislature as well is taking us down the path of tyranny.  Also cowards, but more are leading than following.  The administration as a whole is a puppet…  a puppet of the forces of the party.  Some of these forces operate within the government and sit in positions of power in the Legislature.  Others run things from the background preferring anonymity and deniability.  But culpable none-the-less – even more so since they are pulling the strings.

As well, let us not leave out the State and local governments.  Not to be outdone, many are jumping on the bandwagon of tyranny and oppression.  Even further restricting the rights of their people and/or stealing their means of support through taxation.

That said, I heard over the past week that the U.S. is becoming a single party system (don’t remember who said it).  Not one in name, but in philosophy.  In action.  The Progressive Party.  Not official.  Doesn’t need to be.  Based on “official” party ideologies alone many of these actions could not be taken.  The House and the Senate should be at odds.  But they are not.  The official parties are separate.  The House “led” by one, the Senate by the other.  The, theoretically, underlying ideologies are separate. The actions of the members are not.  Regardless of the party, they are justifying oppression in the name of progression and diversity.  Each and every action taken of late, regardless of party affiliation is socialist.  From firearms to religious freedom to taxation to illegal immigration and border security to…  I could go on and on.  A few will be discussed below.  Others at a later date.  Regardless, we are a Socialist nation.  Becoming, as they all do, more and more oppressive in the name of “protecting” the people (not to mention ensuring their feelings aren’t hurt).

Of course the protection of the people, as is necessary for tyranny to reign, comes in the form of denying them the means to protect themselves (outlawing firearms), denying them a belief in a higher being – in anything other than the secular ruler – (i.e., religious freedom), and taxing them past the limit of capacity to “provide” for the “needs” of the whole.  To name just of few of the tyrannical acts being perpetrated on the American people of late.

The old saying goes, “If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns” is getting closer and closer to reality.  Every new crime committed with a firearm is being used to outlaw more and more of our right and ability to protect ourselves.  On this subject, I defy anyone to provide concrete, empirical data that supports the idea that taking guns from law abiding people reduces the amount of crime perpetrated by those that use them for evil purposes.  One would think that if such proof existed it would be used to back up the actions taken to deny us guns.  However, the “arguments” used are all based on emotion and sensationalism.  Legitimate study after legitimate study, in this country and around the world, proves just the opposite.  As well, every study conducted on the subject demonstrates that when confronted with a firearm in the hands of their potential victim, the perpetrator flees.  Legitimate studies (I keep using that term to differentiate from those “studies” conducted or charted by anti-gun individuals and organizations – the typical study skewed by the questions and illegitimate statistical “analysis” of the results) have shown far more lives are saved each year in the U.S. by the use of a firearm in defense than taken by those committing crimes.  Every one!  I’m sick and tired of having to hear it.  I’m sick and tired of having to say it.  I’m sick and tired of it being ignored!

The new health care laws are pushing further and further into the area of religious belief and forcing both religious “organizations” and privately owned companies to go against their beliefs to comply with the law.  Our government is placing more and more restrictions on individuals and organizations in the name of socialism.  Not only are they severely restricting what is defined as a “religious” organization in order to force this health care plan (something, by the way, we don’t even need and does not in any way fulfill the illegitimate promises made), but are denying privately owned companies from making their own decisions based on their own moral convictions.  We cannot have individual moral convictions.  We may only believe those things that comply with the socialist ideals of Progression and Diversity.  Anything else in their minds is anarchy!  Heaven forbid we have our own beliefs.  Beliefs that have stood the test of time and more often than not have been of benefit to all.  Oh, sorry… am I allowed to say “Heaven forbid” or might I offend someone?  I’m sure in the times to come, regardless of the fact that people have a choice as to whether or not to read my prose, I will be forbidden from uttering such words.

“More taxes” is the battle cry of the weak.  The battle cry of those that have no clue of the way economics and monetary policy works.  Every time taxes are lowered to a reasonable level (yes, the government DOES need funding for legitimate purposes), the coffers of the government increase.  One would think the liberals would want lower taxes.  It would give them more money to waste.  The problem with that is they don’t want more money to waste.  In reality they are not after our money.  It is just the tool used for control.  They want to control us.  For no other reason are our bank accounts being emptied.  And when they can’t empty them anymore, they borrow from our children and our children’s children.  Those yet to be born are already being controlled.  More and more of our fellow citizens are becoming unemployed.  You would think this a bad thing.  However, to the current tyrannical regime, it is what they want.  If you are unemployed you must seek assistance from somewhere.  Since more and more of your family, friends and neighbors are unemployed or under-employed as well, where does one turn?  More and more are on welfare.  More and more are on in the food stamp program.  More and more are being dragged, sadly even willingly, under the yoke of government programs.

These are of course just a few of the issues being perpetrated upon us.  Add them to those of our own making (or at least the making of our fellow citizens). Those such as the large number of men that are too cowardly to stand up and be fathers – those that think being a man is having the ability to get a girl pregnant.  It is not.  Boys can do that.  Men are those that ensure the legitimacy of their relationship with their women and stick around to take care of her and her child.  How about – two years after the birth of an unplanned child, about one third of mothers living with the father [i.e., unmarried] have ended the relationship, compared to only 7% of married mothers.  Does this matter…  Considering the majority of those end up on welfare and in poverty I would say it does.  The median annual income for female-headed households with children under six years old is roughly one-fourth that of two-parent families.  Enough stats…  MAN UP!  btw:  Congratulations on this Father’s Day to those of you man enough to be heads of your households and provide for and lead your family.

This leads to, but is not the only contributing factor, unwed (especially teen) mothers.  Nearly 40% of all births in the United States were to unmarried women in 2007 (I’m sure there are newer statistics but that makes the point – it is getting consistently worse each year though).  Almost half (48%) of all non-marital first births are to teen parents.

There is much more contributing to our fall into darkness.  I’ve discussed apathy…  We will leave it at those for now.

Robin Hood said, “In tyranny lies only failure. Empower every man and you will gain strength.”  This line fell on the deaf ears of King John.  It would fall on the deaf ears of the powers-that-be of today as well.  They, as he, don’t understand.  They, as he, are too cowardly to share power.

Bottom line of all this:  We still have a chance but I do not see us taking it.  Soon the opportunity will have slipped away.  Nay, be given away by our inaction.  We are heading for the New Dark Ages.  You heard it here first.  I will not accept surprise when it happens.  Be prepared!

I’m not sure yet what form this New Dark Age will take.  I will contemplate this and consider enlightening you in the future (knowledge is after all, power! – well, that and good quality firearms!).  With technology in the picture and more and more being controlled by the government it will be difficult for anyone to combat.  We will not exactly be able to jump on horses, draw our swords and battle the king’s forces (although learn to ride and use a sword so far has been my advice).  In the old Dark Ages little real difference existed between the king and a pauper.  As stated by Robin in the movie, “There is no difference between a knight and any other man aside from what he wears.”  Not so much now.

Have we yet hit the last straw?  No, but we are close.  What can we do?  As stated on the hilt of the sword, “Rise and Rise Again until Lambs Become Lions”.  It will become more difficult but, for those of you that don’t mind a little blood, maybe exciting.  The question for now is, what will you do?

>>> The day is at a close, the night is drawing in and my cigar awaits – ’til next time…

Entitlements

03/31/2013

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The definition of entitlement from the Encarta Dictionary: English (North America) “to give somebody the right to have or to do something” [emphasis mine].  Merriam-Webster defines it as “a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also: funds supporting or distributed by such a program” [again, emphasis mine].

What truly are entitlements as the term applies to our daily lives?  According to A Glossary of Political Economy Terms by Paul M. Johnson of the Department of Political Science, Auburn University – the most important examples of entitlement programs at the federal level in the United States would include Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, most Veterans’ Administration programs, federal employee and military retirement plans, unemployment compensation, food stamps, and agricultural price support programs. Based on the definition above, the activities should not be called entitlements.

I would though argue that benefits such as Veterans’ Administration programs, federal employee and military retirement plans should not be included at all.  These programs were earned through employment – as are any such programs in the private sector.  Although programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are paid for by the eventual receiver of the benefit they are unconstitutional activities of the Federal Government.

Oft cited as justification for Entitlement programs is the “general Welfare of the United States” parts of the United States Constitution.  The Constitution contains two references to “the General Welfare”, one occurring in the Preamble and the other in the Taxing and Spending Clause. The U.S. Supreme Court has held the mention of the clause in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution “has never been regarded as the source of any substantive power conferred on the Government of the United States or on any of its Departments.”  This leaves the Taxing and Spending Clause which reads, “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States…”.  However, while the “general Welfare” has been, and I agree should be, interpreted as many things, it says nothing of redistribution of wealth programs – exactly what these so called entitlements are.

Per the official Social Security website: “The constitutional issue about the taxing power had deep roots running all the way back to the founders and to a dispute between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Although both Hamilton and Madison were Federalists who believed in a strong federal government, they disagreed over the interpretation of the Constitution’s permission for the government to levy taxes and spend money to ‘provide for the general welfare.’ Hamilton thought this meant that government could levy new taxes and undertake new spending if doing so improved the general welfare in a broad sense. Madison thought the federal government could only expend money for purposes specifically enumerated in the Constitution.  The Madisonian view, also shared by Thomas Jefferson [an Anti-Federalist], came in time to be known as the strict construction doctrine while the Hamiltonian view is called the doctrine of implied powers.”  Obviously I completely agree with Madison and Jefferson.  When you throw the 10th Amendment into the mix it makes little sense for the general welfare to be interpreted as Hamilton did.  IF, as he suggests, “government could levy new taxes and undertake new spending if doing so improved the general welfare in a broad sense”, thereby opening the door to those “implied powers”, it could basically do whatever it wanted.  It would operate with complete impunity.  Can you say $16T debt?  Can you say 10th Amendment disregarded?  Keep in mind, the 10th Amendment not only covers the States but “we the people” as well.  Considering it is not only our rights being ignored but our money used to pay for these programs, it may be something with which you should concern yourself.  Just a thougth…

According to Paul M. Johnson, “The existence of entitlement programs is mainly significant from a political economy standpoint because of the very difficult problems they create for Congress’s efforts to control the exact size of the budget deficit or surplus through the annual appropriations process.”  As well, “Since the middle 1980s, entitlement programs have accounted for more than half of all federal spending. Taken together with such other almost uncontrollable (in the short run, that is) expenses as interest payments on the national debt and the payment obligations arising from long-term contracts already entered into by the government in past years, entitlement programs leave Congress with no more than about 25% of the annual budget to be scrutinized for possible cutbacks through the regular appropriations process.”  This of course presupposes that you can’t touch such programs.  I have a revelation!  How about we get rid of these programs?  How about if people “need” assistance we leave it to the States (should any individual State choose to have such programs), private charity or family/friends.  Wow, what a concept.  I cannot take credit for it though.  It was around for thousands of years prior to our Entitlement programs being implemented.

Bottom line:  this is a pure and simple redistribution of wealth which boils down to legalized (and unconstitutional) theft.  They are taking money from one to give to another.  The first receives no compensation or benefit from the “transaction”.  As well, per the Merriam-Webster definition of “a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group”, one can hardly argue that it is providing “for the … general Welfare of the United States”.  These programs are providing for specific groups of people that fit specific criteria.
That is NOT the general welfare of our country directly or indirectly!  For those that doubt, we will take a look at the Broken Window Theory at a future date.

I went through the Constitution (again!) to look for rationale above and beyond that normally claimed to support these programs.  I found none.  However, what I DID find were violations of MY rights (and yours).  Since those that come up with these ideas seem bent on interpreting the Constitution in any way they see fit, I am going to throw out these arguments as I see them (two can play at that game).

Taking my money to pay for unearned entitlements for others, and, in fact, specific groups such as the poor and farmers, violates my 4th Amendment rights.  That is, it violates my right to “be secure in [my] … effects, against unreasonable … seizures…”  In this case, taking my money to give to someone else is in effect seizing my “effects” (no pun intended).  It is unreasonable since I receive no benefit from the seizure and have no say in either how much is taken or to whom it is given.  In fact, I actually become less secure in my person and house since I have less money with which to secure family and myself.  In a similar vein, this would also violate my 5th Amendment rights.  These being “No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…”  In this case we are not even talking about “private property be[ing] taken for public use”.  The money (property) they are taking from me is designated for specific groups, not to be used for the public.  Due process of law means “a fundamental, constitutional guarantee that all legal proceedings will be fair and that one will be given notice of the proceedings and an opportunity to be heard before the government acts to take away one’s life, liberty, or property. Also, a constitutional guarantee that a law shall not be unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious.”  This specifically applies to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” (i.e., ME!) and, while specified in the 5th Amendment this applies to States as well per the 14th.

I am also going to claim my 8th Amendment rights have been violated.  My claim in this is that since this amendment does not claim to be specific to criminals (as may be presumed by its wording), it is applicable to every citizen.  Therefore, this theft of my funds is an “…excessive fines imposed…” which results in “…cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”.  I am being unduly punished by having my money taken, again with no benefit to me, and reducing my standard of living.

Additionally I am claiming a violation of my 10th Amendment rights.  This of course is the amendment that ensures “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”  I am “the people”.  While I might agree that many of these programs could be enacted and implemented at the State level (should the people of that State so choose and it is done so in a manner so as not to violate my 14th Amendment rights), until then, and as long as it is the Federal government doing it, I am being denied my constitutional rights.  I have all those rights not enumerated in Article I, Section 8.

I am finally claiming my 13th Amendment rights are violated.  As I’m sure you will recall, this amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”  I am claiming that this theft of my funds amounts to involuntary servitude.  I work and do not receive the entire benefit of my labor.  The time I must work to earn that which is taken to redistribute is involuntary servitude.  I have committed no crime.  Why am I being punished?

On the other hand, since we technically live in a Representative Democracy, we may as well just scrap the Constitution (Articles I and II excepted since in order to be a Representative Democracy, you need representatives) and let our duly elected representatives (Congress and the President) enact any laws they wish.  If we don’t like it, we just elect new ones and have them change it.  Based on the treatment of the Constitution over the last 50-60 years (to a more limited extent even longer), we are effectively doing this anyway.  Why not save the money being paid to the Judicial Branch and just scrap it?  No Constitution, no need to interpret it, no need for a Supreme Court (and all the support structure that goes with it).  Per the United States Courts website, “the Judiciary as a whole would receive $6.76 billion” in fiscal year 2012.  More for those Entitlement programs!

You may claim these arguments are silly, unrealistic or just plain ridiculous.  However, keep in mind, when we look at an application of our Constitution based on moving standards vice the original intent of the drafters and common sense, we can eventually make it say virtually anything we want.  Did I say “virtually”?  hmmmmmm

>>> The day is at a close, the night is drawing in and my cigar awaits – ’til next time…