Category politics

Fox News and the human brain

The human brain hasn’t evolved much in 20,000 years. This is not a good thing, given we no longer live as we did 20,000 years ago. And there was no Fox News back then, either. All they had to worry about were sabre-tooth tigers.

When do we panic?

Panic feels like it’s the right way to feel at times, especially in this god-awful year of 2020. Panic, however, is never the right choice, unless failure and doom are your goals. Not submitting to panic means finding another way to cope.

Oregon Vote-by-mail: why it works

Oregon pioneered Vote-by-Mail. After a few cycles, it worked so well that we made it the only way for Oregonians to vote. (Well, you can visit your county elections division and cast a ballot; I did that once when I’d…

ideology, compassion, self

Telling people like trump and Fox News to go to hell is defensible; their actions are inhumane and purposefully so. But their supporters and viewers? Tens of millions of Americans who have nothing to gain and so much to lose – they can go to hell? This is a difficult question.

Failures of liberalism: humans

Liberalism, as a political philosophy, is one of the best of human inventions. The problem has always been that it has had to be implemented by humans, and that means its imperfections will eventually surface and, unless sufficient steps are taken to address the resultant problems, the programs – and the ideals – of liberalism will be threatened.

enough of the fear

Fearing a bad outcome is a terrible way to move forward in politics. Even with bad outcomes possible, I refuse to let fear control me; I'm committed to believing in my beliefs all the way.