Why can’t we get things done collectively? There are many reasons why our personal plans fall short. One common reason is that our plan is not well thought out. A cure for this is to collaborate with someone. “Two heads are better than one”, attributed to John Heywood in his Dialogue of proverbs (1546), is solid folk wisdom. For the bigger challenges of our time such as gun violence, ruining the planet, and chaotic and massive human migration, we need . . .
Author: Timothy Schell
What Is War?
War has played a major role in human history, whether war is raging or not. During peace-time the military prepares for war, while society absorbs the cost. Some theories consider war to be an integral part of the essence of humankind while others consider war to be the result of specific economic or ecological conditions. Philosophers have wrestled with the concept of being “human” for centuries. Do we have an essence, a nature, which causes us to start wars and . . .
Who are the Poor?
The US poverty rate when first measured in 1959 was 22.4%. The rate declined during the 1960s. Since then, however, poverty has consistently been between 10% and 15%. The most recent official poverty measure estimates that 11.4% of the US population, 37.2 million people, were poor in 2020. In 2018, poverty in the US was set as an annual income less than $25,465 for a family of four with two adults and two children. This measure takes into account the cost of . . .
Innocent, But Convicted
More innocent peopleare jailed than ever before. Exonerations are up exposing a justice system that doesn’t provide justice for the poor. The statistics of who gets convicted while innocent show stark differences by race. Children and people with mental disabilities are also treated unfairly. Why? There are several reasons. Here are important ones: Poverty and Ineffective Defense Counsel: Poor people disproportionately get entangled in the criminal justice system and are convicted wrongfully. A huge cause of this is ineffective assistance . . .
Eight Billion People
Needing Clothes, Food and Shelter The UN projects that the world population will reach eight billion by November 15 this year and ten Billion by 2060! Of course, projections are based on assumptions that may be wrong. Replacement level fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman. At this rate, population is at stasis from generation to generation. The exact rate varies from region to region and is affected by mortality rates and longevity. The current US fertility rate is 1.7 . . .
Russia’s Hobbesian Bargain
Thomas Hobbes declared in 1651, in Leviathan, that without a social contract in which everyone gains security in return for subjecting themselves to an absolute authority, a “state of nature” will prevail. Life becomes “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” when individuals are bound only by their personal power and conscience. Unlimited “natural” freedoms include the right to plunder, rape and murder. Social contract theory asserts that law and political order are not natural but a means to an end. . . .
Why Join a Political Party?
An independent can be defined as someone who votes for candidates on issues rather than on the basis of a political ideology or partisanship. Let’s think for ourselves. Why rely on a political party with its lobbyists selecting a position on a list of issues from healthcare, military spending, gun control, income gap, or climate change? What if you love your guns and are also worried about our response to climate change? Why are these issues tied together? Because that is how the . . .
Sanctions: Blunderbuss Diplomacy
Sanctions are penalties applied to countries, organizations and individuals because of economic, political, military and social disagreements. Sanctions typically include trade barriers, tariffs and/or restricted access to money and are administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an agency of the US Treasury Department. The effectiveness of sanctions is debatable: In a report to the United Nations Sub-Commission on Human Rights in 2000, Marc Bossuyt suggests “these international economic sanctions are based on the assumption that economic pressure . . .
The Selfish Model for Progress
It appears to be impossible to accomplish what we need with our current hope-throttling congressional partisanship. Maybe we need to look at the real costs to society of holding back investment in the people, us? Real Embedded Costs: A current federal minimum wage of $7.25: In July 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Raise the Wage Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage in steps to $15 by 2025. This increase would affect 23 million Americans with a direct boost . . .
The Cost of Progress?
Obviously the planet is choking! Unfortunately human behavior demonstrates that altruism and fairness are not always baked in. Too often we see the Tragedy of the Commons. Pollution is a great 21st century example: certain stock holders get rich while passing the cost on to the rest of us. CAFO’s (Concentrated animal feeding operations) as the name implies, are industrial livestock factories which cram as many animals together as economically possible. The animals are fed vitamins, antibiotics, various other supplements . . .