Anything Smart

Friday, May 31, 2019

Hearing the Falconer #46 ~ 31-May-2019 ~ The Importance of Moderation

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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31-May-2019:
In Defense of Moderation
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Today I am sharing a nice little article about moderation from a man who also wrote a big book about moderation.

I believe moderation is the essential virtue that makes society possible. Unless we are planning to live all alone on a desert island we will need to develop some level of moderation to live in a society and to make that society successful.

One of the things we mean by moderation is just the ability to discuss an issue, and learn from people who disagree with you.

Moderation is the ability to compromise – to get SOME of what you want while giving your opponents some of what they want as well, to get SOMETHING done rather than NOTHING and shutting down the government or leaving it paralyzed.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was filled with examples of moderation and compromise. Without this kind of moderation the United States would not even exist.

It is moderation that makes society of possible, and it is moderation that keeps society safe. As our great Founding Father John Adams said “without the great political virtues of humility, patience, and moderation every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey.”

We should always fight for what we believe in but let's also remember the importance of moderation, avoid extremes, and look for opportunities to compromise.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

If you want to support Hearing the Falconer please click on book links you see here and make a purchase. Hearing the Falconer will earn a commission. Thanks for visiting, and thanks for your support!

Truman

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates

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Monday, May 27, 2019

Hearing the Falconer #45 ~ 27-May-2019 ~ Raising America's Pay

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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27-May-2019:
Raising America's Pay
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One of the fundamental goals of any society should be to promote growing and widespread prosperity. If the median worker's wages and benefits only increased 7.9% between 1979 and 2013 while “economic growth and productivity” grew by 64.9%, that is a problem.

If we do nothing about growing and sharing prosperity I think that is too extreme in one direction. If we try to completely manage the economy that would be far too extreme in the other direction.

Other extreme positions would be to help business but not workers, or to help workers but not business. We all need to work together to increase prosperity for ALL.

I was happy to find this “Raising America's Pay” project that was launched a few years ago at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

The EPI is focused on:

Raising the minimum wage
Protecting the right to overtime pay
Protecting the right to collective bargaining

All these items are important but I think there are a few other factors that could be even more important:

We need to promote innovation so we can create new jobs
We need to promote increasing productivity so we can pay higher wages
We need to offer good educational and training opportunities so people can prepare themselves for better jobs.

By finding the right smart and moderate policies we can make sure prosperity in the United States keeps growing and that all citizens have a chance to participate in that prosperity.

We are all on the same team. Let's do what we can to make sure the whole team succeeds.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Truman

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates

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Friday, May 24, 2019

Hearing the Falconer #44 ~ 24-May-2019 ~ Joe Biden: "Stop Fighting and Start Fixing"

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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24-May-2019:
Stop Fighting and Start Fixing
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I listened to Joe Biden's official campaign launch speech from Philadelphia on May 18, 2019, and the more I listened the more I liked it.

He took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and promised, “You will not hear me speak ill of another Democrat.”

When the crowd started booing a heckler he said, “Other campaigns do it this way. We don't do it this way.”

For me the key line of the speech was “Let's stop fighting and start fixing.” In seeming contradiction, Biden also says, “I know there are times when only a bare-knuckle fight will do.” He also reminds us that Trump deliberately tries to divide people and fill them with fear.

I think the point Joe is trying to make with all these statements is that we DO need to fight about politics, because we have real disagreements, but we also have to STOP attacking and demonizing our fellow Americans.

The current president is dividing us. Biden wants to unite us again. Other candidates are talking about policy details, and that is important. But Biden is talking about something even more important, he's talking about the kind of country we need to be, and how we can't get there until we get a new president.

As a moderate Democrat I am happy to see Joe running, and I believe he deserves to be in the top tier for 2020.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Truman

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates

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Monday, May 20, 2019

Hearing the Falconer #43 ~ 20-May-2019 ~ Andrew Yang and Universal Basic Income

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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20-May-2019:
Andrew Yang's Universal Basic Income
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Andrew Yang is a 44-year-old entrepreneur who filed with the Federal Election Commission to become a candidate for the Democratic nomination on November 6, 2017. He has spent most of his career in start ups working on healthcare software, college test prep, and a program for getting talented students into start ups across the country.

Yang's most famous idea is his promise to institute a Universal Basic Income or UBI if he is elected. This program would give $1,000 per month to every American aged 18-64. The idea is that automation is continually reducing the number of good-paying jobs in the United States and this is a way to help the people affected by this socioeconomic change.

Apparently Yang got this idea from Martin Ford's book “Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future.”

It is true that automation, robots, and artificial intelligence are eliminating jobs and will continue to do so. Still, I think our focus should be on encouraging innovation that will create new jobs that pay fair wages, and on preparing people to succeed in those jobs.

A jobless future is not in anyone's interest. Without jobs the poor and middle class won't be able to put food on the table. Without jobs the rich won't have anyone to sell their products and services to which means, ultimately, they won't be rich anymore. Since a jobless future hurts everyone we should be able to find a solution that will include good jobs for everyone.

As a moderate I believe that NOT helping people displaced by technology is too extreme in one direction but just handing them a wad of cash is too extreme in the other direction.

As independent thinkers and political moderates, we can do better.

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Truman

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

Beyond Red and Blue: How Twelve Political Philosophies Shape American Debates

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Saturday, May 18, 2019

Isaiah Berlin and the Quest for Freedom

Sunday Morning. May 12, 2019.

This morning I was studying the great political philosopher and historian of ideas Sir Isaiah Berlin.

He believed that societies always struggle with competing values where there are no absolute "right" answers about what we should do.

He developed concepts of "negative liberty" and "positive liberty." Negative liberty means the government leaves you alone to do what you want, like start a business, or speak your mind. Positive liberty means you have the ABILITY to do what you want, like go to college, or get medical care.

These are both good things but we will usually find that we can only increase one of them at the expense of the other. And there are no tablets of stone to tell us how to find the ideal balance.

My own example of this is the tension between individual freedom and democracy. If individual freedom means individuals get to decide and democracy means groups get to decide that means we can only get more freedom by restricting democracy, and we can only get more democracy by restricting freedom. We need BOTH. But there are no tablets of stone to tell us where the perfect balance is.

Isaiah Berlin himself believed that the closest the world has ever come to a perfect balance was in the United States of America, during the New Deal under Franklin Roosevelt. Could be....

As I studied Isaiah Berlin this morning I started feeling envious. He spent his whole life studying philosophy and history.

And then I remembered... so have I. ;-)

Sunday Morning

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[If you want to understand politics, REALLY understand it, you have to read Isaiah Berlin.]

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