By Oliver DeMille I recently watched a televised debate on whether America’s two-party system is making our nation ungovernable. During the debate, New York Times columnist David Brooks said something fascinating. He mentioned that political scientists keep track of how much cooperation there is between the two parties in Congress, and … [Read more...]
Lies We Choose To Believe
August 24, 2011 by 1 Comment
“Of course I’ll still respect you in the morning.” “We know exactly where the WMD are located.” “This election is the most important election of our lifetimes.” Of all the lies we choose to believe, that last one is the most pathetic. We hear it repeated ad nauseum during every single election cycle. It’s a manipulative platitude, … [Read more...]
A Tale of Two Warriors
August 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Kevin Mogavero As my daughters are growing, I’m fashioning a series of stories to tell them that will teach them the principles of self-reliance and disciplined optimism. The main characters of the series are two Japanese samurai warriors that are immortal. They wear the same clothes and they look identical to each other. They fight to … [Read more...]
Debts and Deficits: A Jane Austen Story
August 19, 2011 by Leave a Comment
by Oliver DeMille Chapter I: A Truth Universally Acknowledged It is a truth universally acknowledged, that when a nation treats business badly, corporations with extra capital take it abroad and the home nation faces job losses and economic challenges. Such nations experience widespread anxiety about their future, problems feel overwhelming, … [Read more...]
The Decline of Civilizations
August 17, 2011 by 1 Comment
by Orrin Woodward Why do civilizations rise, decline, and fall? Civilizations as diverse as the Sumerians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese all declined, eventually falling under their own weight. Is decline the natural condition of life, with growth being a temporary anomaly in the march of history? Arnold Toynbee, an English … [Read more...]
“Oh, Spaniard, You Should See the Colosseum!”
August 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment
by Chris Brady Here's a snippet from a manuscript I'm roughing while here in Italy; musings on the Colosseum in Rome. I also struggled, as I guess most do, with the purpose behind this amphitheatre. This enormous, beautiful structure was constructed as a showcase of cruelty. Only God knows how many murders occurred here, how many innocent … [Read more...]
Our Government Isn’t Broken: The Third Party Solution
August 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
by Oliver DeMille Our government isn’t broken. It is just caught in the past. Specifically, the current divide between the parties is a mirror image of the country. Politics is a reflection of society, and the bickering right now in Washington is a direct projection of the nation. There is one big exception. The nation is divided into three … [Read more...]
You Can’t Fix Stupid
August 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
by Shanon Brooks Once upon a time and in a land not so far away, there were a people who willingly made personal economic decisions beyond their income capacity. They borrowed money from lenders for cars, clothes, vacations, homes far beyond their ability to maintain payments. They borrowed money to pay for all sorts of luxury items without … [Read more...]
Groupthink and Crimes of Opinion
August 8, 2011 by 2 Comments
by Bryan Hyde The Age of Political Correctness The beauty of totalitarian concepts like groupthink and crimes of opinion is that everyone is a potential thought criminal in need of sensitivity training. For instance, when a student at Alta High School jokingly donned a white pillowcase with eye-holes during a school pep assembly last spring, a … [Read more...]
Be Hardy!
August 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Kevin Mogavero The war hero Louis Zamperini was an Olympic athlete who joined the Armed Forces during WWII. To make a long and impressive story short, Zamperini just didn’t like to back away from a challenge. The outcome wasn’t as important as the value he would gain from the challenge itself. Zamperini was lost at sea in a life-raft with 2 … [Read more...]
