Is Trump a Bad Man?

What seems bad to one person may not seem bad to another person because bad is always defined relative to some standard, and people don't all have the same standards.

For example, I have always believed that good people try to develop their minds and learn about the world and understand how things work, but Trump seems ignorant of the most commonplace facts about history or science and shows no obvious interest in learning anything new.

I have always believed that good people tell the truth, but Trump lies without ceasing.

I have always believed that good people are generous and sharing, but Trump is grasping and greedy.

I have always believed that good leaders find ways for everyone to win, but Trump brags about beating his enemies.

I have always believed that good leaders accept the blame when things go wrong and share the credit when things go right, but Trump takes credit for anything he thinks will gild his reputation and blames someone else for everything that goes wrong.

I have always believed that good people are modest and humble, but Trump is proud and arrogant.

I have always believed that good people have some spiritual dimension to their lives and care about values like goodness and beauty, but Trump, as far as I can see, is completely materialistic and cares only about money and fame.

I have always believed that good people treat other human beings with dignity and respect, but Trump is a name caller, an insulter, a bully.

I guess people who like Trump must have different standards than I do, but to me, relative to everything I have ever believed in, Trump is a bad man.

That's why I have to fight him, and all that he stands for.

If you see some good in Trump please share it in the comments section.

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[Very important book about how people are persuaded in a post-truth world.]

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Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

Cheap Trick "Christmas Christmas"

Cheap Trick got their well-deserved spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 and they are BACK with three new albums in two years including “Christmas Christmas” released on October 20, 2017!

I have been enjoying Cheap Trick music since I heard “Ain't That a Shame” back in 1979 on CHOM-FM coming out of Montreal while I lived in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York as a teenager. It was a live recording I heard, from the legendary “Cheap Trick at Budokan” album recorded in Japan. That song, and that album, defined for me what rock and roll was supposed to sound like and Budokan was the first album I ever bought.

In their first ten years Cheap Trick put out nine studio albums from their scary-dark debut “Cheap Trick” in 1977 to “The Doctor” in 1986. These years included masterpieces like “In Color” in 1977 which made it into Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time (Budokan is also on that list), along with “Dream Police,” “All Shook Up,” and “One on One” in 1979, 1980, and 1982 respectively.

After the first decade the albums came slower but included great moments like 1988's “Lap of Luxury” with the number one hit, “The Flame.”

Then, from April 2016 to October 2017 Cheap Trick went on a Rock and Roll rampage, getting inducted into the Hall of Fame and releasing not one, not two, but THREE excellent albums including the latest, “Christmas Christmas.”

This latest album has 8 covers that provide a veritable history of rock and roll Christmas songs from Chuck Berry's “Run Rudolph Run” in 1958 to Jimmy Fallon's cheerfully nihilist Saturday Night Live song from 2000 “I Wish it was Christmas Today.” Along the way Cheap Trick covers Wizzard and Slade, Harry Nilsson and The Kinks, The Ramones and Charles Brown's 1960 masterpiece “Please Come Home for Christmas” which was also covered by The Eagles in 1978.

The album includes a solemn and beautiful version of the Christmas classic “Silent Night” with majestic chords and three original Cheap Trick songs: “Merry Christmas Darlings” about getting together with family and “Our Father of Life” and “Christmas Christmas” which are a Part 1 and Part 2, the first slow and reflective, the second ending the album with a high energy bang.

Cheap Trick's “Christmas Christmas” sets a high standard for future rock and roll Christmas albums and is destined to be pulled out every holiday season for many years to come.

After 40 years of recording Cheap Trick is still defining what rock and roll is supposed to sound like and what it's supposed to do: fill you with energy and make you feel GOOD.

Merry Christmas Darlings!

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[A great new rock and roll Christmas album for your collection.]
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Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

George 1: George's First Hero

George Washington's father Augustine died when George was only 11 years old. Augustine left three plantations and 64 slaves to be divided among his three sons. He had spent most of his time growing tobacco but he was also active in the Anglican Church and served his community as Justice of the Peace and County Sheriff. He was only 48 when he died.

George's mother was Mary Ball Washington. After her husband died she raised George and managed the land he inherited until he became an adult. When he was 14 George was very enthusiastic about joining the British Navy and most of his relatives and friends thought that would be a great career. All the arrangements were made and he was just about to depart when his mother finally said no.

Good thing for us. Joining the British navy would have radically changed George's life and might have altered the course of U.S. history beyond recognition.

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["Washington: A Life" By Ron Chernow is one of the best single volume biographies of our greatest President.]

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The greatest hero of George's youth was his older half-brother Lawrence. In George's earliest years Lawrence was far away in England going to school. When George was about eight years old Lawrence returned home but soon left again for two years of service in the oddly named War of Jenkin's Ear between the British and the American colonists on one side and the Spanish and French on the other.

Lawrence served in the Caribbean and survived, even though fighting and disease produced a ferocious mortality rate of about 90% on the Americans who served there. (For the men from Massachusetts it was even worse. Out of 5000 who went to war only 50 made it home. 99% died.)

When Lawrence got home to Virginia and inherited an estate from his father he named it Mount Vernon after the Admiral Vernon he served under during the war. That home would later become George's, and is now one of the most famous historical sites in the United States.

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Note:
My biographical study of George Washington was intended for my own education but I thought I would also like to share what I have learned here on my blog. The main sources of information I used were:

First, "George Washington: A Biography" by Washington Irving. I like this one because it was written by one of our early American literary masters and because it was written so long ago that Irving often mentions talking with people who had actually seen George.

Second, "Washington: An abridgement in one volume By Richard Harwell of the seven-volume George Washington" By Douglas Southall Freeman. I wanted the complete seven volume set but that is not yet available on Kindle. Too bad. Still, this abridgement is a great work, packed with information.

Third, "Washington: A Life" By Ron Chernow. This is an excellent modern biography that came out in 2010, helping me to get some of the more recent research missing from the older biographies.

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Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

How to Create a Prosperous Society

"Through Nasar's ambitious storytelling, we see Western society evolve from one in which most people live in poverty to one in which government tries to grapple with unemployment and inflation and raise the standard of living for all."
Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times Book Review

This book promises to show us how economic understanding has led to increased prosperity for much of the world over the last 150 years. I started reading it about four years ago and stopped because it seemed like it was not going to keep that promise. Then I started reading it again about two years ago and gave up again.

Finally I started reading it once more a few months ago and read it all the way through and now I think it is one of the best and most important books I have ever read about creating a better society for all.

This book tells the life stories and great ideas of the greatest economists who have taught society how to succeed at producing and distributing greater wealth then older societies ever imagined possible. Syliva Nasar keeps the story very interesting while still teaching us a good deal about economics.

We learn about Beatrice Potter who had a stormy relationship with a powerful British Cabinet Minister who wanted a subservient woman so she married Sidney Webb instead and spent her life promoting the importance of government aid to the poor. We learn about Hayek who taught that governments should leave the economy alone but, in my opinion, went too far in that direction. We learn about Joan Robinson who was a brilliant economist but who fell for communist propaganda and went much too far in the direction opposite to Hayek, as she defended ruthless dictatorships. We learn about Keynes who taught governments how to manage recessions and we meet Amartya Sen who studies "third world" poverty today.

I think the most important thing we learn from this book is that we have to be both smart and moderate in our economic policies. Governments need to promote free and competitive markets while also providing vital infrastructure like stable currencies, roads, schools, electrical power, communications, public health services, law enforcement, court systems, etc.

Governments also have to referee between various economic actors. They have to find the delicate balance that will allow them to promote the well-being of business without hurting the poor while they simultaneously promote the well-being of workers without making it impossible for business to succeed.

To have good and successful lives in a good and prosperous society it is all about being smart and not going to any extreme, either on the left or the right. This book can help us find the path.

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[Read this great book on economics and how to create prosperous societies.]

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Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Wayne Gadway