Our Democratic Republic under attack

As the legal noose tightens around the president and his cohorts, it seems like a good moment to remember some recent history.

Our precious democracy was (and by all accounts, continues to be) attacked by hostile powers. Especially of concern, is our voting system (one of the foundations of free and fair elections in a democratic republic). At least one of the hostile powers was an external agent called Russia. The other hostile power was the Republican Party. Through a well-thought-out and concerted effort to inhibit voting by persons they believed to be opposed to their agenda, Republicans became an internal threat to our democracy.

One needs only to observe the public reports of their behavior before, during, and after the recent elections. Under the guise of protecting us from voter fraud (supposedly undocumented alien residents purposely voting illegally by their milliions) Republicans brazenly attempted (and arguably succeeded) to tilt the elections in their favor. They used gerrymandering and every form of voter suppression they could bring to bear. The only reasonable inference one could draw is, these people were convinced they could not win on their ideas and were willing to employ any tactic ( no matter how unfair, unconstitutional, or mean-spirited) to insure their victory. The fact that they were funded by hugely wealthy autocrats also contributed to the travesty.

Were that not a sufficiently horrifying set of circumstances, these hostile powers (both internal and external) appear to be shameless and persistent in their Machiavellian efforts to undo centuries of effort to create a more perfect union.

Cowardly bombers, brave Americans, and a shady President

Washington Post Link here

For those of us too young to remember the era of the so-called “una bomber”, these heinous crimes can be difficult to solve. Let us all hope our law enforcement agencies (including the FBI) will soon bring these tragic crimes to a halt.

It might also be a good time to note, while we can always find a bad apple or two in any barrel, for the most part the folks who do the work of finding these criminals are brave, dedicated, patriotic Americans. They regularly risk their lives to save ours. They continue to do this important work night or day rain or shine and despite the recent overt, despicable, and unsubstantiated slurs leveled at these fine people.

Keep in mind, the person largely responsible for slandering these honorable people is currently under investigation by the people he rails against. The fact that he is being investigated has nothing to do with who is a Republican or Democrat (vicious assertions by Fox News talking heads notwithstanding). One might rightly wonder why I can say this so confidently. Which brings us from the headlines to our bride civics lesson. The President is under investigation because evidence has led investigators to his doorstep and that of his close personal allies/friends. Just so we are all perfectly clear on this point, Special Counsel Mueller does not single-handedly decide the veracity of the evidence. He, like any other prosecutor, must present evidence to a judge and/or a grand jury in a court of law. This is one of the ways in which our legal system helps to sort out personal attacks from valid evidence to be applied in a lawful prosecution. So, naturally it follows, when one casually smears the Special Counsel or his team, one also smears the judge and jury with that same brush.

Re: The Passing of Dr. Stephen Hawking

This idea matters. Why? Because believing this life is only a prelude to some greater existence guarantees the believer will make decisions based upon an incorrect set of assumptions. Rather than promoting a sense of community and cooperation among the other sentient beings, these beliefs bend toward narcissism and tribalism. It logically follows that believers will most highly prize their own ticket to heaven and will tend to cooperate only with others of similar mind. Naturally believers will strive for a better relationship with the invisible/otherworldly deity who holds the keys to their imagined future paradise. The result is people communing with their invisible friend in the sky and failing preserve the only planet they will ever inhabit and failing to attend to their fellow sentient beings in the only life they will ever know.

Evolution of Morals

Video

Article

Okay, so the video goes a bit quickly and one might need to rewind or watch multiple times but I would say it is totally worth doing.  Or read the article.

The fields of evolutionary biology, cultural evolution, evolutionary psychology are things with which to acquaint ourselves and keep our eyes on. One way of looking at this is to acknowledge our inability to apply rigorous gathering of evidence/data points during the long history of human questioning into the nature of our own behavior and moral/ethical structures. In short, despite having some of the finest minds of our species applying their considerable talents to the questions, we were largely consigned to brute force logic (minus hard evidence), supposition, and superstition. To our great good fortune, scientific advancements to our understanding of our own biology along with microscopy, statistics, imaging, etc. have lead us to a place where we can ask the big questions and begin to receive reliable answers. 

I will resist the urge to prattle on and summarize by suggesting a book called, The Moral Landscape as a good starting place.

To the March for Our Lives protesters

I, along with millions of other adults, could not be more proud of you. You stood up when many would have caved under the pressure.

Link to advice from the professionals:
Advice from the ACLU

My personal advice,

1- know your rights and responsibilities before protesting. Be prepared to accept consequences for breaking rules/laws.
2- You will want to “cuss people out” and there are many who certainly deserve it. However, in order to most effectively protest and engage officials, resist the temptation. I suggest taking Michelle Obama’s advice: when they go low, you go high. Keep it civil. Do not resort to name calling. Do not say anything that could be reasonably construed as a threat to a specific person or persons.
3:Realize that no matter how thoughtfully or respectfully you couch your message, the haters will hate.  It is not your job to stop them. Your job is to broadcast the message and leave them no room to righteously malign you or your message. They will attempt to divide you by attacking the way you dress, your gender identity, your color, your perceived social status, etc. Call them out for such behavior but do not respond in kind. Don’t own their fear, anger, and hatred. Stick to your message.
4: Say what is wrong with the current situation but devote most of your commentary to offering/demanding thoughtful solutions. Don’t be afraid to say, “I do not know all the answers”. It can be enough to know what is wrong and say so.
5: If you are of legal age or will be at the next election cycle, Let the elected leaders know you intend to vote for candidates who have displayed by their actions that they consider your lives and safety more valuable than the abstract concept of second amendment rights. If you are not yet of age, make it a personal mission to vote in every single election, local or national, when you are able. It really is the least a person can do for the incredible good fortune of being a citizen of this country.
6: Make it clear that “thoughts and prayers”, are accepted but they are not enough. Thoughtful policy based on evidence is the key to changing the world for the better.
7: Own your dignity, your fears, your anger, and your power but remember to accept help from adults who are subject matter experts and have more experience.

Remember, those who own almost everything and control almost everything don’t fear us individually. Not you or me or anyone you know. However, they instinctively understand the math. There are few of them and many of us. You can be certain they will lie awake at night thinking about millions unified- especially if they have a reasonable expectation of those millions voting.