Dave, I want to agree with you, but in the real world I’ve seen so many contradictions. For instance, here in Oregon, they’ve caught a couple hundred illegal aliens registering to vote and voting in elections. Does that mean that Biden wasn’t legitimately, elected? There’s no way of knowing because neither party will allow an investigation. Back in the 70s, my buddy and I joined a commune. It didn’t last longer than a summer because we didn’t want slackers dictating what we were doing and how much work we were donating. Or as a famous rock band once said, “we won’t get fooled again”.
Appreciate you sharing your opinion, Mr. Morrison. You got broke by Jan 6. It has affected your entire perspective. Pushed you back into your comfortable leftist beliefs. Now you denigrate and generalize on those that voted for and support Trump. Perhaps it is time for another tour in which you interview said supporters.
You raise an important set of questions. How do different kinds of authority interact and intersect, complement and limit each other -- biologically, spiritually, politically? How should they? I am grieving the loss of distributed authority personally. I think that when we stop trusting our institutions, we are really in danger of the whole system becoming imbalanced...
The sad fact that your intelligent musings highlight, is that it’s not Trump or Elon (or Noam Chomsky) that is the real problem here…it’s us. And it has always been so. From the democratic mob that killed Socrates, the Tammany Hall cronies that ruled New York, to the KKK….the ridiculous but horrible wars of the 19th and 20th centuries,..ad nauseam, we have been betrayed by our own “mob-think” every time. The most intelligent and reasonable of us have been susceptible to the pull of the group.
That’s why we need independent thinkers and leaders that understand this. How fortunate we were to have so many be our founding fathers. They knew this and took great pains to try to prepare our fragile new country for these very trials that they could foresee. Will it prove to be enough?
Great insights Dave. Sometimes I fancy myself as becoming a benevolent dictator and it doesn't take long into the thought where I see myself become totalitarian and would be perceived as cruel by some groups.
In governance you can't meet everyone's desires, needs maybe.
The one great aspirational virtue of any human should be to have the ability to absorb whatever they see happening around them and make a critical decision on what is right and what is wrong, without interference from authority. Yes, you should be able to listen all sides of an argument before you make a decision on anything.
Sadly as humans we tend to become involved in the emotional outcome of an argument long before we sit back and give reason a chance to do its thing. This is what fuels politics. Everywhere. The solution is supposed to be democracy, but democracy sometimes goes out of balance. What is important is to never let it lean too heavily on one side because when that imbalance happens the results can be catastrophic.
The best thing in the world is to have a political system that strives to keep things in balance. I don't think that American democracy is in danger. Things seem fairly well weighted in both directions. Y'all just gotta learn how to smoke the peace pipe a little better is all.
Ever heard of legislating from the bench? Congress allowed these changes, or has failed to do the job and legislate when SCOTUS exercises powers beyond what was granted.
I learned a new term recently that apparently has been around a couple of decades -- Gell-Mann Amnesia -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_amnesia_effect, that really describes my experience with the media. In the context of an old-fashioned newspaper, it describes the experience when you read an article about something you are familiar with or deeply knowledgeable about, and you think. "Wait, that's not right. It's either just flat out deceptive or leaves out or misrepresents significant nuance or information that make what I am reading just plain wrong."
But then you read the rest of the newspaper just blindly believing everything else there, even though you know that may be wrong from your experience.
I am now to the point where I have some sort of reverse Gell-Mann Amnesia. When it comes to mainstream media, I just pretty much assume that what I am reading is wrong or a flat out lie. I wish I didn't feel that way, but my experience is that they have lied so many times, I just cannot take what they write as truthful by default.
There are many examples I have, but the latest is the Tapper/Thompson book "Original Sin". I knew most of all this already, but the number of stories I saw unquestioningly denying the cognitive decline of Biden is still shocking.
And please, please please -- do NOT try to convince me of some sort of "oh, ok....yeah we messed up back then and led the public astray, but NOW we have learned our lesson and you, the American public, should trust us now.....because are really, really serious about reporting the truth now.....honest to God...."
Wow, that's a lot to consume. My opinion. Trump did not win as much as the DEM candidates lost. In 2016 and 2024, the DEM candidates were either unqualified or were just far from the best who could have been nominated (not coronated). DEMs were much too focused on what the candidate looked like instead of what the candidate could do; this meant far better candidates were left out, not to mention chucking their primary in 2024 altogether and just saying “Here is who you WILL vote for.” In 2020, Biden was seen by many as “just someone who is not Trump,” and that was a big DEM error again. But he won – barely. And, well, we all now know what happened. It set the stage for Trump to win yet again. Biden was obviously losing it and Harris didn’t even seem to notice, so Trump said out loud what many others would not say and that’s a main reason he won along with all the other obvious policy stuff. So Trump, on a tear to get stuff done NOW, looks pushy. Fine by me, stuff needs to get done and fast. I just wish Trump would be more careful with his words. Thanks, Dave.
Also, you have to remember that Bernie was the actual candidate that was voted for by those of us in the party, but it was overturned by the party leaders, cause they really wanted, Hillary. So the popular candidate, the peoples candidate got kicked to the curb
Dave, I want to agree with you, but in the real world I’ve seen so many contradictions. For instance, here in Oregon, they’ve caught a couple hundred illegal aliens registering to vote and voting in elections. Does that mean that Biden wasn’t legitimately, elected? There’s no way of knowing because neither party will allow an investigation. Back in the 70s, my buddy and I joined a commune. It didn’t last longer than a summer because we didn’t want slackers dictating what we were doing and how much work we were donating. Or as a famous rock band once said, “we won’t get fooled again”.
Respect for Authority should be our rule of thumb.
Some in authority, prove they don’t deserve that respect.
Some who voted for Trump followed this formula: 2016, vote against Hillary.
After 4 years of success, 2020/2024 voted for Trump.
Is he an egotistical blowhard? Yes, but we need a bit of “hardball in your face” style when dealing with the world’s dictators.
Appreciate you sharing your opinion, Mr. Morrison. You got broke by Jan 6. It has affected your entire perspective. Pushed you back into your comfortable leftist beliefs. Now you denigrate and generalize on those that voted for and support Trump. Perhaps it is time for another tour in which you interview said supporters.
Best wishes for continued success.
You raise an important set of questions. How do different kinds of authority interact and intersect, complement and limit each other -- biologically, spiritually, politically? How should they? I am grieving the loss of distributed authority personally. I think that when we stop trusting our institutions, we are really in danger of the whole system becoming imbalanced...
The sad fact that your intelligent musings highlight, is that it’s not Trump or Elon (or Noam Chomsky) that is the real problem here…it’s us. And it has always been so. From the democratic mob that killed Socrates, the Tammany Hall cronies that ruled New York, to the KKK….the ridiculous but horrible wars of the 19th and 20th centuries,..ad nauseam, we have been betrayed by our own “mob-think” every time. The most intelligent and reasonable of us have been susceptible to the pull of the group.
That’s why we need independent thinkers and leaders that understand this. How fortunate we were to have so many be our founding fathers. They knew this and took great pains to try to prepare our fragile new country for these very trials that they could foresee. Will it prove to be enough?
Wonderful. We have defeated many of checks and balances the founders implemented.
Wonder if there is any way back?
Great insights Dave. Sometimes I fancy myself as becoming a benevolent dictator and it doesn't take long into the thought where I see myself become totalitarian and would be perceived as cruel by some groups.
In governance you can't meet everyone's desires, needs maybe.
The one great aspirational virtue of any human should be to have the ability to absorb whatever they see happening around them and make a critical decision on what is right and what is wrong, without interference from authority. Yes, you should be able to listen all sides of an argument before you make a decision on anything.
Sadly as humans we tend to become involved in the emotional outcome of an argument long before we sit back and give reason a chance to do its thing. This is what fuels politics. Everywhere. The solution is supposed to be democracy, but democracy sometimes goes out of balance. What is important is to never let it lean too heavily on one side because when that imbalance happens the results can be catastrophic.
The best thing in the world is to have a political system that strives to keep things in balance. I don't think that American democracy is in danger. Things seem fairly well weighted in both directions. Y'all just gotta learn how to smoke the peace pipe a little better is all.
Our government is not so well balanced anymore. Congress has ceded much of its authority to the executive branch and SCOTUS has way too much power.
How did that happen?
Ever heard of legislating from the bench? Congress allowed these changes, or has failed to do the job and legislate when SCOTUS exercises powers beyond what was granted.
I learned a new term recently that apparently has been around a couple of decades -- Gell-Mann Amnesia -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_amnesia_effect, that really describes my experience with the media. In the context of an old-fashioned newspaper, it describes the experience when you read an article about something you are familiar with or deeply knowledgeable about, and you think. "Wait, that's not right. It's either just flat out deceptive or leaves out or misrepresents significant nuance or information that make what I am reading just plain wrong."
But then you read the rest of the newspaper just blindly believing everything else there, even though you know that may be wrong from your experience.
I am now to the point where I have some sort of reverse Gell-Mann Amnesia. When it comes to mainstream media, I just pretty much assume that what I am reading is wrong or a flat out lie. I wish I didn't feel that way, but my experience is that they have lied so many times, I just cannot take what they write as truthful by default.
There are many examples I have, but the latest is the Tapper/Thompson book "Original Sin". I knew most of all this already, but the number of stories I saw unquestioningly denying the cognitive decline of Biden is still shocking.
And please, please please -- do NOT try to convince me of some sort of "oh, ok....yeah we messed up back then and led the public astray, but NOW we have learned our lesson and you, the American public, should trust us now.....because are really, really serious about reporting the truth now.....honest to God...."
Welcome to reality.
Wow, that's a lot to consume. My opinion. Trump did not win as much as the DEM candidates lost. In 2016 and 2024, the DEM candidates were either unqualified or were just far from the best who could have been nominated (not coronated). DEMs were much too focused on what the candidate looked like instead of what the candidate could do; this meant far better candidates were left out, not to mention chucking their primary in 2024 altogether and just saying “Here is who you WILL vote for.” In 2020, Biden was seen by many as “just someone who is not Trump,” and that was a big DEM error again. But he won – barely. And, well, we all now know what happened. It set the stage for Trump to win yet again. Biden was obviously losing it and Harris didn’t even seem to notice, so Trump said out loud what many others would not say and that’s a main reason he won along with all the other obvious policy stuff. So Trump, on a tear to get stuff done NOW, looks pushy. Fine by me, stuff needs to get done and fast. I just wish Trump would be more careful with his words. Thanks, Dave.
Also, you have to remember that Bernie was the actual candidate that was voted for by those of us in the party, but it was overturned by the party leaders, cause they really wanted, Hillary. So the popular candidate, the peoples candidate got kicked to the curb
Agree