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Him: “Ya know, leading up to 1776, there was a lot of thinking and discussion and compromise before they felt the need to start shooting.” Me: “Right – but all those considerations were only debated among the few intellectually adroit. Like today, the Majority didn’t know or didn’t want to know. Today, you can see them waving their “Ignorance Is Bliss” flags or sporting their “Yawn for Apathy” bumper stickers.” Him: “Well, I maintain that the forces for goodwill ultimately win out.” Me: “If you believe those “forces of goodwill” exist within Government and will solve the problems caused by Government is naïve at best, and dangerous at worst . To believe those “forces” exist outside Government is to endorse Revolution – not that there’s anything wrong with that - although historically, Revolution doesn’t assume peaceful solutions. Governments don’t abide Revolutions of any flavor; people will be killed.” Him: “What we need is for Donald Trump or one of his acolytes with his values and i...

What is the Most Important Word? In a recent YTBPF* Poll, the result from among all respondents was a virtual tie: Love 49% Hope 49% Faith 1% Rambilicus 1% *Yet To Be Paid For Remarkably, out of the 5,298,812 polled, not one mentioned the correct answer! This in itself is an indictment of our society and a leading indicator of how things became FUBAR, to borrow a popular acronym. For those still wondering, our Most Important Word is: Why You are most likely proving its status right now by asking “Why” is “Why” our Most Important Word? Why that’s quite simple. Without “why”, Ignorance would abound, even more ubiquitous than it is already; Aggressive Ignorance has already reached pandemic proportions rivaling the Dreaded COVID – but at least “AI” has a cure: Facts. Without ‘Why”, we miss knowing the most important answers. Where, When, Who and How don’t hold a candle to “Why”; in fact, most ar...

Does the name Baba Dioum strike a familiar note? Dioum, 84, a Senegalese forestry engineer, authored one of the greatest insights into human nature during a 1968 speech in New Delhi on – of all things - Agricultural Development. “In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we’re taught.” It’s amazing how much human nature can be revealed in a speech on agriculture conservation. His summary observation reveals a compelling question. If we “understand only what we’re taught”, who is our “teacher”? To instruct us all the way to “the end”, such an instructor would have to be our constant companion, every day, everywhere, anywhere, all the time – 24-7-365. Who could that be? Our parents oversee us 20 years or so; school teachers 6, 12, 18 years tops but, even then, for only a few hours daily and only for a fraction of the year. Who teaches us what’s good, bad, ugly; what all the cool kids are doing, what’s happening a...