Random Thoughts (during the holidays?)

Just a couple of things that have come to mind over the last several days. Naturally, none of them actually have to do with the holidays.

This little item about one of our vaunted public servants, convicted of unethical activities, is now asking for donations for his legal defense just made me stop to wonder at the unlimited gall those with power seem to have and the absolute barest regard they seem to have for the voters' intelligence. (Of course, in light of some of the people that have been elected in the US, maybe that regard is not so far-fetched, after all.) Just to make sure I have everything in perspective, a man who is paid a salary by the people that he is voted to represent then squanders the public trust by engaging in unethical activities (whether he meant to or not only causes one to wonder at his actual competence) and now is soliciting further donations from the citizens he purportedly represents to pay for his legal defense. In essence, he's ripping them off twice - at least. I'd be curious to see who actually pays into that fund. I'd bet that they're the same type of people who invest in pyramid schemes and hedge those bets with lottery tickets for retirement.

It's always funny to me how people conveniently forget, or outright ignore, history and its impact on our views of the present. A good example of this is the view of Afghanistan from a recent historical perspective. This was brought home to me when reading an article in Foreign Policy entitled Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan and viewing pictures from there dating to the 50's and 60's. Yet the pictures that we see today are the result of a nation that has essentially suffered through continuous war for more than 30 years - and still no reasonable end is in sight (in spite of President Obama's promises to the contrary). It made me wonder if someone will look at pictures of the United States (or some other highly developed nation from today) 50 years from now and wonder "What the hell happened? This isn't the United States that I know today!" It may not seem immediately conceivable but it is very possible to envision such a scenario. No nation will last forever (history has shown that to be true) and, as will all forms of life on the planet, every nation will evolve through various peaks and valleys as it develops. It's certainly worth thinking about and seeing what can be done today to avoid the mishaps that Afghanistan currently deals with.

Actually, since New Year is coming up very soon, I wonder if I should make a set of resolutions?

Nah, probably not. It's not like I've ever adhered for more than a short time to any other resolution I've made in my many years here. I will just continue with trying to do the best I can at what I do and prepare for anything that comes the way of me and mine. It's worked out ok so far, I suppose...

Writing

I was reading an article for blog writers that suggested that you pick a subject and focus your blog on that in order to encourage people to return to your blog. Obviously, based on that criteria, I am never going to have a "successful" blog. As any regular reader of this blog will already know, this blog goes all over the place. So the only way for me to follow that particular piece of advice is to either find a single topic that interests me more than any other and upon which I am willing write frequently or to create a new blog whenever I want to write upon a new topic. I am a little too ADD to only write upon a single subject ad nauseum within a blog and I am not willing to setup a new blog whenever I want to write upon a new subject as that is way more effort than should be needed IMHO. (Is it ok to use geek-speak in a blog?)

So the question becomes, for me, what is the purpose of writing a blog? And, as I noted in my very first entry, it was (and remains) an opportunity for me to expound on my varied interests. Of equal importance (though not noted in my first entry) is the chance for me to work on the craft of writing in general. I love to write and to think of myself as a writer. But having gone many years without truly working on my writing has caused me to become rusty. So, I write on random things on this blog and on some technical subjects (though, honestly, I think it is more on peripherally subjective topics) on LessThanDot. Either way, my end goal is to offer my own limited perspective on a variety of issues which interest me - both personally and professionally - and enhance my literary skills. And to that end, I must admit that it has helped me to rejuvenate my creative juices and get back to doing writing when I have the time. I've recently returned to writing poetry again (after a layoff of several years due to professional and personal concerns) and even worked on a few short stories. Perhaps other opportunities will be available as a result - at the very least, feedback and open communication will open new avenues for knowledge and friendships and for that I am always grateful.

What is fair?

In politics, there is a great hue and cry about making things fair and equal for everyone. The typical rallying cry is that the rich should be taxed more and we should provide for the poor. This way, everyone is equal it will be more fair. What this fails to take into account, though, is that it is not fair for anyone. It is not fair for the rich, obviously, as they are being treated negatively for no reason other than being rich. (Substitute "black" for "rich" and then see if you can follow the logical path.) And, in reality, it is not fair to the poor who are being disincentivized from succeeding as they feed from the breast of the government and thus will never have the opportunity to succeed (or fail) according to their abilities. Frankly, it does the same thing to the rich who will see little point to working hard when they will fail to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

This is not to argue that everything in life is fair and that everyone has the same opportunities - it is not and they do not. But if the desire is to make everything fair and equal, then it should be more important to create a fair and equal opportunity for everyone to succeed - not to punish people for being professionally and economically successful. Give children the tools they need to learn and to succeed. Give the perpetually disadvantaged the tools they need to achieve success. Those are the ways to grant some degree of an equal playing field upon which there is a degree of fairness. Do not establish policies that take from some and give to others in the name of fairness in the name of trying to establish an equality that cannot exist as propagated.

The reality is that nothing in life is fair. If life were fair, I would be better looking and have a lot more power (beyond that of the pen/keyboard). If life were fair, my family members would not suffer from illness. If life were fair, people would be smart enough to do the things they want in life. If life were fair, everyone would be happy with who they are and what they do. But life is not fair. The difference is with how we want to establish fairness - through the collective work and effort of a community or via governmental diktat? Government has its purpose and can do good (certainly the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960's stands as one of the best examples of this), but reliance on government to establish "fair and equal" is not the best option as government (and those who run it) will execute its policies on the basis of its survival. And history has shown that every government will set "fair" policies that help it to stay in power.