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We spent a cold dark winter in St Louis going to hear every speaker brought in by the 3 universities and the community college system. Many speakers were of a political nature, different POV. They were on the same page 85% of time, both in identifying and in their solutions to current issues facing the country.
Kindness always is the better route.
I will also suggest that perhaps if we had flat tax rate we would not feel somebody was always getting screwed by our completely outdated, unmanageable and unfair taxing system. Everybody pays the same rate, no deductions. No government picking winners and losers. Individuals and businesses, all the same, no deductions. How a business spends their money to grow their business should not be a concern of the government.
And then stop the gerrymandering to favor whichever party controls in the census years. Just stop it. Gerrymandering is against everything this Republic is supposed to be to function for all the citizens.
Yes. But the media won't let that happen. Watch their focus on any events, it's usually spins anything to paint a specific political picture. Nothing good can be said or done without also making a point that everyone considered "the others" are bad bad bad even when it's not part of the story.
There are people who have been murdered performing a kindness to strangers. Just like locks are for an honest man, kindness changes or affects only those who have some level of conscience.
Hey, I have to admit, this is absolutely true. It could be that people do less for others these days because we simply don't know if we can trust the guy/gal on the side of the road who looks like they could use a hand. Of course, a big part of the reason we feel this way is the constant coverage we receive of literally everything horrible that happens in this country. I mean, we are actually living in a much safer society than we were even 20 years ago, yet if you watch the news everyday you would think we all live in a war zone full of gangs, pedophiles, rapists, and killers. I mean, I'm not saying these things don't happen or that the "boogeyman" isn't real sometimes. But things are no where near as bad as the media would have you believe. And because of the constant saturation of horrible things that we see/hear on the news every day, we are all much more paranoid than our parents or grandparents were, even though the crime rates were higher back when they were raising us.
Personally, I think more often than not you will be able to tell who is really in need, and who's running a scam or potentially dangerous. You just have to use common sense. I'm not telling people to go out tonight and pick up the guy with the eye patch and his thumb out on a back country road at midnight tonight, even though he may have just been a guy with a flat who had bad luck fishing last weekend. I'm saying when genuine chances for you to lend a hand to someone arise, try to seize that moment. Simple acts of kindness may not change the world, but you can help someone have a better day. And honestly, it feels pretty good too. It's a little rush, and will leave you smiling to yourself as you drive home. Something about knowing you have done something good without expecting anything for it is quite pleasing to most of us. I'm sure many of you know the feeling I'm talking about. It just really feels good to help sometimes.
But noone takes me seriously when I say hopping on your bike and taking public transit to work is better for EVERYONE and if EVERYONE did it in tandem we'd probably have a huge impact on avoiding that 2-degree Celsius societal death sentence.
That and eat less red meat.
You'll feel better.
And legalize pot. It's nowhere near as damaging as alcohol and has various health benefits.
Okay, I can work with this....sort of.
As for biking to work, I can get behind that if you live within a reasonable distance and you don't have to transport items to and from work. Unfortunately for me, I can't ride a bike to work. Most of my jobs are 45 min to an hour away from my home, and that's by car. Not to mention that my job requires me to carry large amounts of tools along for the ride. So while I think public transit and bikes are great ideas, it definitely would not work for everyone.
As far as meat goes, sorry, but I can't get on that train. However, I do eat far more chicken than any other meat. But I love a good burger or steak.
And finally, absolutely, I can get on board with legalizing pot. It is absolutely less dangerous than alcohol in my opinion.
no,people want too many thing for free, they are being brain wash that everything, college degrees, mandatory income, medical should be free, thay have noo skin in the game. it will always be evil people out there
Ignore the extremists and most of us are somewhere in the middle. If the extremists on both sides would get lost, the rest of us could get together and have a pretty darn good country again=minus the hatred.
There will always be some who are selfish and childish and want their own way. Some want free college, some don't want to be "forced" to have their tax money help others, some want health care for themselves but not for anyone else, some want things for their own group or their own religion or their own race, some want government, some want no government-this needs to stop because we are all Americans. We need to act like adults and compromise because we are not little babies who always get their own way. I wish some of the politicians would go take a flying leap! We are good Americans. Where are the leaders who recognize this and will unite us again?
Voltaire is usually described as the first "classical Liberal"; some of my fellow libertarians (small 'l', please) like to characterize him as the first libertarian, but even though he's a pivotal figure of what we now call the Enlightenment, I think that's pushing it.
And I have friends, whom I otherwise respect, who are Fundamentalist Christians who vilify him at the mention of his name. And what's more depressing is that they spoon-feed this dogma to their kids without even being able to explain their prejudice.
And I myself have to remind myself regularly of Voltaire's most famous quotation (so common that it can't be linked to a specific occasion or syntax; "I disagree with everything you say, but will defend, to my death, your right to say it." that's principle of which I have to reflect upon regularly, given the outrageous conduct of some of the opposition.
And I'm not about to apologize for, or moderate my belief while the Old Right certainly advocated censorship, the embrace of a collection of sometimes-contradictory non-"principles" by the so-called Social Justice advocacy, sanctioned only by a collection of absolutes called "Political Correctness" represents a new low.
And I'll admit that while I read Ayn Rand intensely during my undergrad days, I don't venerate her works and memory, but it was not by accident that the use of torture (the "Ferris persuader") wasn't mentioned until the final pages of Atlas Shrugged -- Rand's magnum opus.
Because the use of force is the last resort of a loser in a battle of values.
If one believes, as I do, that clinging to a set of contradictory absolutes is a self-defeating proposition, then it's only a matter of time before that strategy collapses under the weight of its own chains, as was the case with the Soviet Union. But the record of history demonstrates that a lot of innocent people are hurt, or much worse, along the way; this rule holds for either side of our current polarization.
No modern pluralistic democracy which has endured for one hundred years or more has since regressed; and at worst, I'm sure we'd agree to some painful-but-respectful form of separation. But it's bitter to watch our nation drift in that direction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ARaider08
....I'm trying OP. I swear.
But noone takes me seriously when I say hopping on your bike and taking public transit to work is better for EVERYONE and if EVERYONE did it in tandem we'd probably have a huge impact on avoiding that 2-degree Celsius societal death sentence.
That and eat less red meat.
You'll feel better.
And legalize pot. It's nowhere near as damaging as alcohol and has various health benefits.
It was the late Carl Rowan, a diplomat, an African-American, and a "progressive" Democrat, who observed that "People who wear their religion like a badge usually want to force it on everybody else". And what I'm seeing in the post above is nothing short of a secular religion. Time to lock up the liquor, weapons, and anything of value.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 10-29-2018 at 10:20 PM..
Hey, I have to admit, this is absolutely true. It could be that people do less for others these days because we simply don't know if we can trust the guy/gal on the side of the road who looks like they could use a hand. Of course, a big part of the reason we feel this way is the constant coverage we receive of literally everything horrible that happens in this country. I mean, we are actually living in a much safer society than we were even 20 years ago, yet if you watch the news everyday you would think we all live in a war zone full of gangs, pedophiles, rapists, and killers. I mean, I'm not saying these things don't happen or that the "boogeyman" isn't real sometimes. But things are no where near as bad as the media would have you believe. And because of the constant saturation of horrible things that we see/hear on the news every day, we are all much more paranoid than our parents or grandparents were, even though the crime rates were higher back when they were raising us.
Personally, I think more often than not you will be able to tell who is really in need, and who's running a scam or potentially dangerous. You just have to use common sense. I'm not telling people to go out tonight and pick up the guy with the eye patch and his thumb out on a back country road at midnight tonight, even though he may have just been a guy with a flat who had bad luck fishing last weekend. I'm saying when genuine chances for you to lend a hand to someone arise, try to seize that moment. Simple acts of kindness may not change the world, but you can help someone have a better day. And honestly, it feels pretty good too. It's a little rush, and will leave you smiling to yourself as you drive home. Something about knowing you have done something good without expecting anything for it is quite pleasing to most of us. I'm sure many of you know the feeling I'm talking about. It just really feels good to help sometimes.
Hi there Reads2Much, just wanted to let you know I enjoyed reading your OP & also this response too!
There's a saying, "Hurt people, hurt people" & while personally I think there's some truth in that, I also think 'Loved people, love people'.
Who has not been there in either position?
I also think there's some truth in the saying, "It's more better to give than to receive". Being in the position of giving is more better because one simply has to 'have' in order to give to another.
There's a spiritual philosophy that teaches the very best position to have is to not be attached to either, giving or receiving. Rather it teaches a free flowing non attachment. If you have, give, if not, receive. Back & forth & so on.
The 'trick' so to speak is to be gracious in either position & not attached to either.
You seem like a person who is comfortable giving & with the habit of lovingkindness, as an experiment, why not try receiving same? It's an interesting place we got here.
NOPE, way past the point of anything but a total restructuring of the nation being a remedy for what ails it.
The problem is one party wants to restructure the US into a libertarian Darwin contest. Think gilded age but corporations use computers to control 99.9999% instead of 99%.
The other party wants to make The US into UC Berkely with speech codes, reparations...
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I'm saying when genuine chances for you to lend a hand to someone arise, try to seize that moment. Simple acts of kindness may not change the world, but you can help someone have a better day. And honestly, it feels pretty good too. It's a little rush, and will leave you smiling to yourself as you drive home. Something about knowing you have done something good without expecting anything for it is quite pleasing to most of us. I'm sure many of you know the feeling I'm talking about. It just really feels good to help sometimes.
Hi there Reads2Much, just wanted to let you know I enjoyed reading your OP & also this response too! 
