The Pivotal Post

T he left is made up of people who seek a world that lacks oppression and meets basic needs, a world with equity and that values human dignity. Within that framework there are huge philosophical and tactical differences that keep the left apart and divided. One thing that unites the American left at this point is the fact that republicans have taken control of government and their agenda threatens the principles the left belives in. W ith the aid of powerful financial benefactors, and coordinated grass roots mass movements, the right has succeeded in framing the American left to be as bad as its most irrational, aggressive members. It has succeeded in creating a wide-spread belief that the left is anti-Christian and cosmopolitan elitist. The right would have you believe 1. that the left is nothing but irrational and excessive idealogue filled with hate, e.g. the SJW extremists and Marxist culture narratives. 2. that the left is the true establishment, the cultural elites that have ...

W hy aren't taxes officially considered theft? The simple answer is there are no laws that make them illegal. T he 16th Amendment of the Constitution sets taxes as a legal instrument of the state. N evertheless, there are people who strongly believes that mandatory taxes are a kind of theft and we should abolish them. A person has no choice in paying taxes and one is punished otherwise. In principle, saying taxes are theft is a reasonable argument given those conditions. T he main counter to that idea is the social contract theory. In a democracy, people agree to pay taxes in order to live in that society, including participating in choosing the folks who set the taxes. Social Contract Theory - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosopy H owever, as the argument goes, there really is little choice about being in this "contract." One could always emigrate, but there are no habitable places on earth at this time where taxes don't exist. The other alternative is s...

Street Art by Ultraklm Back in graduate school, in the 90s, I found myself surrounded by postmodernist ideas. I remember being really excited by the liberating possibilities of looking at the world through this particular lens. I was a proponent at first, but later came to see the problems with postmodern thinking. I could already see the how this ideological framework was being taken to extremes. I began to understand why there was a reaction against it. Now I look around and see how postmodernism has come to define the entire culture I find myself in. This mindset has become so pervasive as to be "self-evident" to most people -- an ideological norm that is no longer questioned. Postmodernism has shaped the political landscape in ways that are undermining the basis of liberation, democracy. As the world transform, in all its technological glory, I am left wondering if any of this really matters. What is postmodernism?   It means looking at the world with skepticism...

I n 1798, an Anglican scholar named Thomas Malthus suggested that humans used their ability to produce abundance not so much to better their lives but to increase the population. The number of people, he believed, was multiplying geometrically (1,2,4,8, 16, 32) whereas food resources were increasing arithmetically (1,2,3,4,5). Do the math as he did and there was the problem. Malthus advocated the need to reduce population growth to avoid catastrophe. Despite his unmet prediction, his ideas continue to have resonance in a world that has put its faith in technology.   Chart 1 S ince his death, the population has indeed grown exponentially. With the coming of the industrial revolution, humans figured out how to keep people alive, especially children, and soon one billion turned to seven (see chart 1). W hat Malthus didn’t count on was coming technologies that would radically increase the food supply, and the eventual slowing of population growth.  I nnova...

La Liberté Eugène Delacroix, 1830 T o better understand the various terms associated with liberal a bit of history helps. It is a word we all should know. C lassically the term liberal comes from the Latin "liberalis," translated to Old French, a word that eventually made its way into Middle English as Liber, a "free man." The word got associated with politics when used by "Age of Enlightenment," folks like Adam Smith, Jonh Locke and other thinkers from the British Isles.  T hose radical ideas about freedom initiated the French and American Revolutions in the late 18th century, the anti-slavery movements of the 19th century that swept the world and the American Civil War. Liberal Democracy, born through fits and starts, led the way to more universal freedoms... to women's suffrage, civil rights and all of the other 20th century social movements to follow. Famous Great Depression Image* L iberal democracy also laid the groundwork for ...

Paul Signac,  Portrait of  Félix Fénéon , 1890 B eing a writer is a highly individualistic and egotistical endeavor. It really is, and it can be both exilirating and painful. Here I am putting my knowledge and my thoughts out into the world in order to make a difference. Wow, what hubris! T he reason why I blog and post on facebook because I am looking for attention. Of course, let's be honest. Why else do people post?  Hey world! Here I am and I got something to say! But I also want people to challenge my hubris, my assumptions and claims. I looked to be humbled, see. There is value in creativity and in  adversity and you cannot have a worthy life without both. Freedom, balanced it must be. T his general effort in our society to sanitize life of adversity is wrong-headed and is leading to all kinds of grief. On the other hand, too much adversity grinds people down.When people are under the thumb of systematic oppression it is simply wrong and there is a mo...