In the early 2000s, I worked for a year as an IT contractor at Amtrak’s headquarters in Washington DC. My experience there showed one of America’s greatest problems, as well as its solution.
The U.S. federal government created Amtrak in 1971 to consolidate private railroad companies that were ...
Until quite recently, U.S. President George Washington was considered the ideal American: honest, brave, wise, and patriotic. None of that has changed.
Washington offered some good advice about how to have a healthy society and a just government:
"We ...
Yale University historian Timothy Snyder wrote a short book called On Tyranny that's quite good. Each of its 20 chapters explains a way to preserve freedom and civilized society in the face of attacks by tyrannical government.
The book came out in ...
Most people aren't familiar with the idea of "othering," but they are familiar with what it is. They've seen it. They've done it to other people, and they've had it done to them.
To "other" a group of people is to devalue their lives, welfare, and concerns. It's not new, nor is it done only by humans. In their ...
Many people say that "the arc of history bends toward justice."
Pardon my French, but ce n'est pas vrai. It's not true. In fact, it's the opposite of the truth.
If there is going to be justice in our world, we have to make it happen -- and we also have to get lucky. Very lucky.
Sure, everyone ...
You've probably heard the joke about why a ham sandwich is better than eternal happiness:
Nothing is better than eternal happiness.
And a ham sandwich is better than nothing.
A ham sandwich isn't perfect, but it's better than having no food at all.
Do you want to live in a perfect society? ...
What if we just can't agree about some issues?
Suppose that we've had calm, rational conversations with people on the other side of the dispute. It does happen occasionally.
And suppose that each side understands the other. People on each side believe that the people on the other side are sane, well-informed, and acting in good faith. ...