Sandbox Rules

How to be a Good Example: Why two wrongs do make a right. Part 1 of 4

 

Recently I’ve been reconsidering my life, and re-imagining what it might have been like. I’m one of those guys that follows the rules; all of the rules, all of the time. I stand patiently at the corner near where I work, while watching others march into the cross walk ahead of me without waiting for the Walk sign, and sometimes despite the traffic.

 

The fact that they aren't following the rules bugs me, and what I’ve recently realized is that I’ve always been this way. The house where I grew up had a very big yard and I had a great sandbox as a kid. It was huge, more than 20 feet square although one side had a random shape that affectively cut off part of one corner; so it wasn't a full 400 square feet of sand. Still, there was plenty of room for imagination.

 

I spent a lot of time in that sandbox, building roads and playing with cars, and one of my best memories was playing with a rock that was about the size of your palm. It was oblong, very smooth, flat on the bottom and flat on top except for a bump that was offset from the center. I imagined it to be a super-secret car like Batman might have kept hidden in the Bat Cave; only to be brought out in the case of a serious emergency. I loved that rock!

 

A couple of years ago as I on-ramped onto the freeway in my squarish not so flat car, I suddenly remembered something that happened in my sandbox. My next door neighbor and I were playing cars, as usual, and we had built roads and a couple of small towns. Naturally with police cars, fire trucks, dump trucks, and trips to town, there was far more to do than the two of us could manage at once. Like kids are supposed to do we took turns deciding what the cars and trucks were doing at any given moment, stopping at the stop signs and going about daily life in the sandbox.

 

From what I remember it was serious stuff. Anyway, on this day my friend suddenly decided to cut across the open country with his car, not following the roads we had so carefully laid out in the sand. I was shocked and upset, and I remember trying to get him to go around as he was supposed to. He didn't want to, of course, and eventually I let it go, ignoring his rude sandbox etiquette and accepting his failure to comply with the rules.

 

Since my recent moment of recollection I’ve been questioning my life-long compulsion to follow the rules. Why don't I complain about the things that typically upset other people? Why do I just accept rude people for who they are, without saying anything? Why do I go out of my way to follow all of the rules all of the time? I’m beginning to envy those people marching into the cross walk without waiting. I’m also beginning to realize that they are a better example than I am.

Do the Right Thing

The People

Democracy and the Death of Choice: Why the liberal struggle for a better world will fail. Part 6 of 6

 

I believe that one of the problems of modern society is that the collective will of the people is being applied to everyone via an “all-powerful” central government. Our United States was formed by taking advantage of the differences exemplified by the colonists, and the individual states supported by the Bill of Rights, flourished on principles that were at times opposed.

 

This mixed regime incorporated the elements of the common good and encapsulated the virtue of its citizens, even with their flaws. The diversity found in this mixed regime model has been slowly but systematically replaced by a centralized government that is more concerned about conformity and less concerned about the rights of individuals.

 

I believe that once again the will of the people within each of these states should be allowed to flourish even if their principles are opposed to the ideals of the central government. Diversity is essential in the growth and health of any civilization, including our own. By allowing one all-powerful government to oversee and control our lives we are progressing toward a single regime; one which is ultimately unstable, for it will have nothing to check its weaknesses and abuses of power.

 

I would also argue that the Bill of Rights as found in our Constitution is more than a small collection of laws willed by The People. These rights were demanded by the states, were held as sacred by their citizens, and reflected our belief in human nature. By allowing these rights to be filtered by the conditions of dialogue and modified by the common will our society is being significantly changed; not progressing towards a better world.

 

By requiring relativism and tolerance modern liberalism is contributing to the failure of society as we know it by intimidating the individual in favor of the general will, ordered by nothing other than itself and administered by a central government. If preserving principles is indeed more difficult in a democracy than in any other regime because of liberalism, then the principles which we hold valuable will continue to be subjected to dialog and competition, and slowly replaced by principles unconcerned with Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. By accepting conformity, the collective will of the people are allowing their own rights to be restricted to the extreme and by passing control of our lives over to a central government our freedoms will disappear, possibly forever.

My Dad was my Hero

Memorial Service

My Dad was my hero as I was growing up, and although I never told him that I loved him I think he always knew that.

 

There was something about my Dad that people really like in a person. He grew up on a farm, worked hard all of his life, and he did the best that he could at all times. Of course his way was always best, which made life difficult at times, but I don’t think it was about being better than everyone else, he was simply doing the best that he could.

 

As I was growing up my Dad seemed almost perfect and I wanted to be “just like him” in a lot of ways. He took me hunting even before I could carry a gun, and fishing even though I often snagged my line. He taught me how to ride a bike, drive a car, run a boat, and fly a plane. I’ve often said that if I could have been just half the pilot that he was, I would be one of the best pilots ever.

 

He let me hang out in the garage and watch what he was doing. He taught me how things work, how to build things, and how to fix things. I grew up with the confidence that there didn’t seem to be anything that my Dad couldn’t do, and do well.

 

After I left home I realized that my Dad wasn’t perfect and he wasn’t always the best example. He often called me a knucklehead while I was growing up; I learned to not call people names! He sometimes spanked me with a wooden hanger; I learned to deal with problems in a gentler manner! He was narrow-minded and opinionated; I learned to tolerate the ideas of others!

 

He wasn’t afraid to ask a high price when he sold you something, and he wasn’t afraid to tell you the price was too high if he wanted to buy something from you; I learned that money was not a good measure of value!

 

As an adult we didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, like politics, religion, or money, but somehow that didn’t stop him from being one of my hero’s. I will always remember him as a hard-nosed kind of guy, with a good side and a less than good side, and I will always cherish the time we spent together.

 

What I learned from my Dad, I condensed into my own personal mission statement, which is “To leave the world a better place than I found it, by being a positive influence to others, and by doing the best that I can at all times”. I think my Dad lived up to that mission statement too. He was certainly a positive influence on my life, and I expect the lives of many of you here today.

 

Tomorrow on Father’s Day I will honor my Dad as I always have, with respect and with honor. And for the rest of my life, Dad, you will remain one of my greatest hero’s. I am grateful for what you shared with me, and I will always love you. But then, I’m sure you’ve always known that.

It May be Too Late

The Common Will

Democracy and the Death of Choice: Why the liberal struggle for a better world will fail. Part 5 of 6

 

While I would defend the argument that we, as individuals, should “act in the best interests of society”, I’ve realized that the common will of the people is not always properly focused: Often it is guided by personal gain, or misinformation, or simply usurped by political and corporate power. The problem is that dialogue and affirmation by the people will not keep political evil at bay, nor will a misguided attempt to maintain a free and open society protect us from those who disagree with our ideology.

 

Unfortunately, natural law is too often forgotten or ignored and our rights are assumed to be dependent on existing law. As a result, if a person proposes some form of truth that we (society) did not make and also proposes that we can know this truth, such as a belief in God or the basic rights of individuals (including the unborn), then that person becomes a threat to liberal civilization. In other words, if you are thinking for yourself you are acting against the best interests of society.

 

I believe that goodness, virtue, and morality are not simply emotivist attitudes but do provide objective content. Human life is sacred and the human person is social. The economy must serve the people, we should recognize the responsibilities and limits of government, and we should participate in the essential roles of voluntary association.

 

I believe that we need to move away from “rights talk” founded on human will and move toward rights grounded in human nature. For instance, while I would argue that society cannot “in good conscience” discriminate against gay marriage, I would also argue that society should not continue to permit the murder of unborn children.