An Inquiry

 I have been actively aware of politics via the internet since the 2000 election. I could have voted in 1996 but didn’t because I was driving around the country, so I think the first election I may have voted in was 2000, in California.  The candidates I voted for lost—which felt right for a life-long Cubs fan. I also was working for a newspaper at the time and wrote a funny editorial about the aftermath of the election. I think I anticipated that people would forget that the election was disputed and move on with their lives. I was right, in a way, though I think they’re remembering more now. (Is it possible for something to become more clear and memorable and consequential 20 years later—like i didn’t punish your sins until I could recount them, and I couldn’t recount them for 20 years? There’s a rub there.) By 2004, I was fully engaged. A lot of my writing took political engagement for granted, and I was sure that Bush’s adventures in the Middle East were both practically a...

Most people would prefer not to care about American politics. They care about their family, hopefully, their dog, probably, their job, a little bit, how much money they have, a lot. They would prefer not to have to care about the intricacies of tax policy or global warming in general or mass incarceration or all of the myriad ways that active progressive citizens insist people need to care. The new slogan of the left should be, “If you’re not outraged, then you’re not a good person.” Even if millions of Republican voters think the election was stolen from Trump, only a few thousand of them will show up to protest. Liberals on the other hand will organize the largest protests in human history. And liberals also have a bias toward caring about protests. But if millions upon millions of people can’t be bothered to show up, even if they complain like crazy during their local dinner parties, then I don’t understand why progressives pay attention. It’s a smoke show.  They’ve shown, most ...

People accuse other people of having bias all the time. I might be biased. It upsets me that everyone uses the word wrong. Using it in this imprecise way makes it impossible to address. Most people use the word bias to mean that a piece of writing has a hidden agenda, at best. At worst, they make it a negative-sounding word that simply means opinion. People who breath have opinions but having an opinion doesn't mean that you're biased. You're only biased if you cannot see how your opinion is effecting your view of reality. Donald Trump has a self-centered biased caused by narcissism or just a life in which everything has always gone his way. He cannot see reality as anything other than positive for him. If he honestly believes that the votes counted for him are legitimate while the votes counted against him are not, he has a bias toward himself. Except there is no point in using the word bias in this context. It isn't the right word. Donal Trump isn't biased...

Data does not predict the future. Capitalism does not maximize positive outcomes. Learning cannot be legislated. People want to belong to something larger than themselves while expending a minimum of effort. They want their sins to be virtues.   I have some questions about the state of this country I live in and the world right now. Why do we hold on to obviously false underlying values? At what point does rationalization, justification, and logical calisthenics become impossible? Does it ever? Or is everything an overreaction?   I want to use this blog to keep myself investigating. Once a week. Inquire beyond the obvious. Talk to people for the purposes of. Look up the answers to my questions. Tell some jokes. Not for the purpose of figuring it all out. For the purpose of knowing you all better. You can be whatever you are. I want to make sure my glasses are not blurred and my vision is as precise as it can be.