A Christmas message

• “Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” – Calvin Coolidge, 30th president of the United States
  
  Regardless of your religious or ethnic background, the spirit of giving, peace and goodwill celebrated on Christmas Day is a potent reminder. A reminder that the phrase “…on Earth, peace and goodwill towards men…” wasn’t conditioned on race, creed, color, age, nationality, orientation or any other definition.
  
  As you think about the Christmas Holiday, I would like to share and encourage the spirit of inclusion, tolerance and acceptance represented by the Christmas Spirit.
  
  As the wise man said 47 years ago:
  
  “He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. Maybe Christmas, he thought... doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps... means a little bit more!” 

   

   

  

Book review - The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenberg

Politics has evolved over the last 50 years from a spray and pray approach to campaigning to a much more data and demographically driven approach. Using various measurements and statistics, political campaigns are able to use rifle shot precision to target those voters that are most likely to swing an election result with a message that will resonate.

The book discusses this approach in detail - in fact, too much detail. Some of the history - especially the early days through the 1992 campaigns - is interesting. The remaining parts of the book - taking the reader to the 2012 election - becomes redundant and bogs down in names and seemingly endless and forgettable small vignettes and names of data scientists and rehashed approaches.

There is very little actionable here for most political scientists. It is more of a history than a how-to. Probably a useful read for someone fascinated by the subject, but for the casual reader, the book gets quite dry after the first 200 pages.

Book Review - On Writing Well by William Zinsser

The biggest concern I have in writing this review is that I now realize how poorly I write. "On Writing Well" should be required reading for everyone age 16 and up. The author's style embraces humor and directness. Where many books could read like a textbook, Zinsser's conversational tone and relaxed style feels like a personal discussion with the author. I expected a slog, and instead experienced an enjoyable journey through non-fiction writing techniques.

Zinsser is modern and relevant. Even though this is an older edition of the book, it covers modern technology and the challenges of tech slang and new vocabulary. There is nothing truly dated in the book other than the copyright.

It's been 20 years since I took a writing course, and this book was my gateway back to writing improvement. I am amazed at how bad my writing became, and how difficult it is to truly write well. When you read this book, you will experience the same realization, and I will guarantee that your writing will improve - if only through self-awareness. It is a must read.

 

Book Review - Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

I had the opportunity to hear the author speak, and following his very interesting and enlightening presentation, decided to buy the book. As with most authors, the presentation given largely paralleled the book, and both were worth the time. Ferrazzi overcame what would for many people appear to be near insurmountable odds to become a master networker and a professional with an Ivy League education and a Rolodex that would be the envy of most executives.

The book explains many of his approaches - and the fundamental one that resonates best with this reader is that you will do better when you figure out how to make others more successful and connected than you do by driving your own agenda. As noted by many of the other reviewers, nothing here is overly shocking or groundbreaking. Yet, it is well written, concise, and peppered with anecdotes and stories that bring the techniques to life. It also bears mentioning that the approaches - when used with this reader - can range from endearing to enraging. I am not a huge fan of the telephone ambush or the hyper persistent pest. However, the book will provide valid techniques, tactics and give comfort to the novice networker.
 

Book Review - Why Liberty by Tom Palmer

This collection of essays provide a nice introduction into libertarian political philosophy. Written at a level that can be read and understood by the typical student or adult, the book eschews big words and intellectualism for practical and approachable big picture views of how libertarian policy works in theory and practice.

The anthology of essays, many written by students, cover elements as diverse as the history of the movement, healthcare, tax policy, free trade, slavery and minimal government. Some of the most persuasive arguments for the support of a minimalist state as well as positioning libertarianism as a centrist political position are well articulated in the book.

Short (less than 150 pages) and well edited by Tom Palmer, this is a must read for anyone looking to explore a libertarian worldview.

 

2014 Election Issues - Civil Liberties and Gun Control

Individuals should be free to make choices for themselves and to accept responsibility for the consequences of the choices they make.  An individual's right to make choices in life is protected by our constitution and is a foundational freedom.  It does not mean that I necessarily approve or disapprove of those choices. As Voltaire is supposed to have said: "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Full freedom of expression and opposition of government censorship, regulation or control of communications media and technology is critical to the functioning of our Republic. 

Additionally, the freedom to engage in or abstain from any religious activities that do not violate the rights of others is a protected constitutional right. The government should take no actions which either aid or attack any religion.

The Fourth Amendment grants citizens to be secure in our persons, homes, and property. Protection from unreasonable search and seizure should include records held by third parties, such as email, medical, and library records.

Government exists to protect the rights of every individual including life, liberty and property.  Criminal laws should be limited to violation of the rights of others through force or fraud, or deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Actions that actually infringe on the rights of others can properly be termed crimes.We need to look at all criminal statutes on the books and repeal those that do not fit that description, while vigorously enforcing laws that protect the rights of our persons, home and property. 

When a crime is committed, part of the punishment needs to provide for restitution to the victim to the fullest degree possible at the expense of the criminal or the negligent wrongdoer. The constitutional rights of due process, a speedy trial, legal counsel, trial by jury, and the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty, must not be denied. 

Sexual orientation, preference, gender, or gender identity should have no impact on the government's treatment of individuals, such as in current marriage, child custody, adoption, immigration or military service laws. Consenting adults should be free to choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships.

Having been raised in a home where abortion was viewed as a moral wrong, I do not and cannot personally support abortion.  However, recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, I believe that government should neither support nor oppose (through funding or otherwise) abortion - and leave this difficult question to each person for their conscientious consideration.

It is critical that the individual right recognized by the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms not be infringed, and individuals exercising their rights of self-defense should not be punished for it. Law abiding citizens should not have their right to own, buy, sell, transfer or carry firearms taken from them.

2014 Election Issues - Healthcare

Healthcare costs are exploding, and we all want to see some level of sanity.  Nobody wants to abandon the poor, the mentally ill, or the catastrophically sick to fend for themselves.  However, the current approaches, while well intended, will not keep costs in check, provide an incentive for healthcare innovation, or truly provide the level of care intended.

First, we need to stop any further federalization of health-care policy. Federal policies are a major source of the problems in our health-care system. Federal laws increase many of the problems they were meant to address, they produce a host of new problems, and they render states powerless to fix anything. The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") is only moving us further in the wrong direction. Our experience with health care is proof that centralized planning by politicians and bureaucrats simply doesn't work.  Any time the government decides to combine a complex bureaucracy and a complex problem, the results are bad.

Health-care regulation should rest with the states. In addition to eliminating many of the laws, regulations, and tax rules that wreak havoc on businesses and employees, we also need policy freedom at the state level with regard to public spending on health-care for the poor and elderly.


I favor a three-part approach to overhauling public health-care spending:

1. Focus on catastrophic, not comprehensive, insurance/care. Comprehensive insurance programs are ridiculously expensive, but the benefits in health outcomes do not justify the cost. The most salient benefit is protection from financially ruinous catastrophic health problems, which can be provided at much lower cost by catastrophic insurance. Washington needs to open its borders to competition for health insurance, and allow market forces to set insurance policy prices, benefit offerings and coverages.
2. Focus public spending on mental-health care. Studies suggest high returns on public spending on mental health.
3. Focus on cash subsidies. Rather than having bureaucrats decide what services should be available and at what cost, providing cash subsidies gives patients greater flexibility to meet their individualized health-care needs, purchase insurance that gives the coverage they desire, and restores market incentives to keep costs down and to innovate in the provision of services.

Second, we need to recognize that the federal government is not the only source of bad laws that undermine a well-functioning health-care economy. There are numerous examples of state laws and regulations that are designed to insulate market incumbents from competition.

One example of bad state regulation is the "Certificate of Public Need" regime. Before a health-care provider can offer a new service or purchase a major piece of new equipment, it must prove to a state bureaucracy that there is a "public need" for the additional services being offered. The state bureaucracy exercises discretion under the influence of protectionist lobbying. The result is a process that is costly, counter-productive, and patient-harming. It snuffs out job-creation, entrepreneurship, and cost-saving innovation. It is totally unnecessary. The very fact that an entrepreneurial physician, or other service-provider, is willing to take on the business risk of making a major capital expenditure and offering a new service should itself be sufficient evidence of public need. The regulatory regime offers no additional benefits to the public, only private benefits at public expense.

Federal laws and regulations undermine competition and innovation in the health-care industry. State governments cannot undo these counter-productive policies, and in fact add their own policies to further undermine a well-functioning health-care market, resulting in increased costs without improved health outcomes.

Political control of health care ends up siphoning money into whatever is politically popular, rather than what is most beneficial.

Bring the power back to the state.
I strongly advocate a return of health-care policy to the states, either directly, or through conversion of Medicaid into block grants to the states with policy freedom at the state level, or via waivers allowing the States to redesign programs more intelligently.

Removing the stigma of mental illnesses.
Many voters with mental illnesses have lamented the social stigma that goes along with having a mental illness. But attitudes are changing, especially at the generational level. Young people are increasingly understanding of mental illnesses, including of the science behind them and the use of drugs, therapy, and other methods to treat them. Focusing on the treatment of mental illness will reduce overall medical costs, crime rates and poverty.

Removing state-level barriers to health-care service provision.
As noted above, state governments often make the problems stemming from federal regulation of health care even worse. Washington is no different. State-level regulations have numerous damaging effects that reduce the availability of services, increase costs, and decrease competition and innovation. 

I discussed the "Certificate of Public Need" problem, above. In another example, our current system inhibits nurses from practicing independently and offering primary health-care services to the public. That decreases options and drives up costs for patients. The overregulation of health-care professionals via increasingly onerous licensing requirements, restrictions on what those professionals can do, and centralized planning of the use of medical resources all work to harm patients, especially those suffering from mental-health issues.

While Washington is progressive in its allowance of naturopathic practitioners to write prescriptions, and in other areas of alternative care, we must continue to revisit our state-level laws and regulations to make healthcare accessible and affordable, not just focus on federal policy and implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

2014 Election Issues - Childhood Education

Education is fundamental to economic and social prosperity. Top-rated schools attract businesses and prepare our children for success. Great teachers can have influences on students that last a lifetime.  I remember fondly many of the exceptional educators who left an impression on me as a young man.

Unfortunately, our existing school system has challenges that are impacting our ability to educate and develop our children. Too many students graduate high school without life and job skills needed to succeed. Many others don’t graduate at all.

Good teachers, who provide the greatest value in the classroom, end up overworked and underpaid.Their time is wasted on bureaucratic requirements that crowd out lesson-preparation, and their passion is sapped by standardized-testing mandates that crowd out actual learning time. Many end up leaving the profession for more lucrative or rewarding careers.

Parents, teachers, and taxpayers recognize these problems, so why does the status quo continue? Because politicians and bureaucrats are in charge, not parents and teachers.

To prepare our children for the real world, we need to adopt a modern approach that is proven to work and built to last. This means two things:

Parents, not politicians or bureaucrats, should be in charge of the education dollars spent on their children.

Teachers need to be freed from the politicized, bureaucratic status quo and rewarded for the education they provide.

To accomplish these twin goals, I propose:

1. Maximizing school choice through:
   • A universal system of tax credits and school vouchers from pre-K through graduate school,
   • Expansion of charter schools, and
   • Public-school matching programs.
2. Ending education fads:
   • Demand actual learning and eliminate artificial "Standards of Learning" that are merely a measure of how well teachers can prepare students for standardized tests, and,
   • Reward quality instruction - not just credentials and seniority, and
   • Pursue cost-effective solutions supported by teachers, not wasteful spending preferred by politicians.
3. Deregulating private schools, and encouraging public-school reform of:
   • Licensing/certification rules,
   • Accreditation requirements, and
   • State mandates.
4. Fostering, in every aspect of education policy, an open and competitive environment for education  - allowing parents, students and educators to collaborate on designing an education and educational approach that is effective for the student.

We need to encourage the effective education of our children, and instill a spirit of lifelong learning.  Those goals are best achieved through flexibility, collaboration and competition - not politicians and standardization.

2014 Election Issues - Job Creation and Economic Growth

The foundation of personal success is the ability to be able to have the freedom and ability to achieve economic success.  We should have the freedom to choose our own definition of success, and our ability to succeed should be determined mostly by our innate abilities and freedom to choose opportunities.  Those opportunities will drive job-creation, economic growth and rising incomes.
  
Critical to creating the right environment for success are open and competitive markets that reward value-creation. For many of us, the markets are neither open, nor competitive.  There are many laws that are designed to keep us out of certain markets and professions, and restrict our ability to earn a living - while protecting monopolies and special interests. 
To achieve this goal, we need two types of broad-based reform:
First, we need to root out special-interests that are costing taxpayers millions, and level the playing field for small business. I propose:

• Focusing economic regulation and law enforcement on the protection of rights and preservation of an equal playing field for all parties;
• Eliminating regulations that insulate market incumbents from competition;
• Phasing out government subsidies of specific industries or companies;
• Phasing out special tax and regulatory treatment of particular industries or companies;
• Keeping government neutral with regard to technological solutions, investment decisions, business inputs and business methods;

Second, we need to simplify and streamline the tax system so that revenue raising is transparent and least burdensome to individuals, families, and businesses alike. I propose:

• Eliminating or dramatically reducing the B & O, Machine & Tools, Merchant Capital and other business taxes that hide the cost of taxation, burden employers, inhibit start ups and small businesses, and reduce business activity without consideration for profits;
• Moving to a uniform consumption tax on all final retail sales of goods;
• Reforming property taxes by  lowering the rate applied to improvements to land;
• Preferring, where possible, user fees to general taxes

Bottom line, the government should not be in the position to choose which businesses, technologies and industries succeed or fail.  You should be free to choose which businesses you support with your dollars - and not have those decisions made by politicians in Olympia or Washington.
By leveling the tax playing field, phasing out subsidies and encouraging competition, we will be able to reduce tax burdens on small businesses and homeowners; encourage savings, building and growth; and providing opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation driven by market - not political - forces.

 

Book Review - The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Having never read the Three Musketeers, I resolved to pick up the book and give it a go over the long Labor Day weekend. There is no question in my mind after reading it why the book is a classic and why the story and the characters are so popular. The book contains everything that a great novel should - layers of meaning, symbolism, complex characters, archetypes, adventure, romance, plot twists, suspense. It is all there. In spades.

Based loosely on historical events around the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham and the siege of La Rochelle, the boo chronicles the journey of young d'Artangan from a poor but noble family in Gascony to become a member of the King's Musketeers. Introducing complex characters such as Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter, Dumas weaves an intricate tale of international intrigue, murder and adventure. Expecting to find the book a tough read, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the book, and found it to be as fun and nearly as page turning as any modern novel of the same genre.

If you haven't read The Three Musketeers, I would highly recommend it to any reader - young or old. Dumas is a brilliant author and the story remains timeless.

 

Book Review - Two Treatises on Government by John Locke

This version of Locke's work has many very solid elements for someone new to the philosophy of liberty. First, the work appears to be fundamentally solid, with well chosen source texts. Second, the introduction and footnotes-which would comprise several hundred pages of text all told - gives the reader new to the philosophy an excellent background and context for the work. Third, the work itself was a seminal component of the American Revolutionary thought and had great influence on the development of the US Constitution and the basis for the Declaration of Independence. Finally, while the text retains many of the 17th century spelling conventions and sentence structure, the actual content is surprisingly approachable for a "heavy" philosopher.

Well worth reading. If the spelling and usage were "translated" into modern English for readability, this would have graded out for 5 stars

 

Book Review: City of God by Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo wrote this timeless work nearly 1600 years ago in response to the decline of the Roman Empire and the charges that the decline was based, in large, on the rise of Christianity. Augustine takes the reader through a series if theological and philosophical arguments to demonstrate the fallacy of this charge, and to demonstrate the truth of Christianity as a revealed religion.

The basics of Christian theology are laid out in the book, and the influence that Augustine had with this book on the shaping of the modern Catholic Church are evident - and those insights are relevant and interesting.

The book is not for the faint of heart. I have studied theology for nearly three decades in some form or another, and the book has references and supposes a base of philosophical, theological and literary knowledge that is not common in the modern reader. It was tough sledding at times, as the 1600 year old writing style and apologetics are a bit of a twister on the mind.

If this area of study and knowledge is in your bally-wick, pick up the book.

 

Book Review - The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey

The Covey family has brought us wisdom and holistic perspective in our interpersonal and leadership interactions, and this book by Stephen's son, Stephen M.R. Covey does not disappoint. The concept of trust, the value that is brings to business, and the need to be trusted, to trust, and to create a culture of trust are all solidly on point. As a 20 year business veteran, I can assure the reader of this book review that Covey is squarely on point with the approach, and the concept of the "Speed of Trust" is real, is powerful, and game changing.

So, the book only rates four stars because, as noted by a number of other reviewers, repetition is apparent throughout. The page count is somewhat inflated, and by page 275, I was beginning to feel like the 2x4 was bashing me upside the head rather than providing additional building materials. The last sections on trust outside the business in the market and society in particular, were glossed over. The personal trust piece was longest - and also most valuable. Trust starts with the self and those around you. It was amazing when following Covey's exercises, to see my own areas of strength and misalignment.

This book is worth reading, it is worth owning, and as with many of the Covey materials, has a strong following of business professionals who are familiar with it and the concepts within it. Worth it - especially at the used prices on Amazon.
 

Book Review - The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

I find myself torn between a 5 star review and a 4 star review, so have gone with the lower. Rand does a brilliant job of framing up a cast of archetypes that serve to provide a literary backdrop for her philosophy of objectivism. The protagonist, Roark, is the superman, and is referred to as such at least once in the novel. Toohey, the antagonist, is the classic second-hand life - leveraging the power of society and not creating his own. Domanique is the archetype of the female power player - the perfect complement to Roark.

The book itself is over 600 pages of sometimes very dense writing. I sometimes found myself a bit mystified at the meaning of elements of the story, and some of the dialogue is extremely long, and reads more like a sermon or a philosophy text than a conversation. Having said that, the book will make you think about the role of the self and the creator in society - and whether the self should ever be subjected to societal pressures. Rand's view of the individual as the primary unit of being comes through loud and clear in the book - and the extreme elements of the characters that make the book a tough read make the message an easy one to grasp.

This should be on a short list of long books to read, and is worth picking up. Be forewarned, however. This book is heavy in terms of weight and weighty topics. Not a light or easy read at all.

Book Review: Why Liberty - Edited by Tom Parker - A Must Read Anthology on Liberty

This collection of essays provide a nice introduction into libertarian political philosophy. Written at a level that can be read and understood by the typical student or adult, the book eschews big words and intellectualism for practical and approachable big picture views of how libertarian policy works in theory and practice.

The anthology of essays, many written by students, cover elements as diverse as the history of the movement, healthcare, tax policy, free trade, slavery and minimal government. Some of the most persuasive arguments for the support of a minimalist state as well as positioning libertarianism as a centrist political position are well articulated in the book.

Short (less than 150 pages) and well edited by Tom Palmer, this is a must read for anyone looking to explore a libertarian worldview.