An Article Nearly Every American Should Read

It's this one. It came out yesterday from Paul Krugman at The New York Times:

When Government Succeeds

Two snippets:

Of course there are bad decisions and bad programs. But modern American political discourse is dominated by cheap cynicism about public policy, a free-floating contempt for any and all efforts to improve our lives. And this cheap cynicism is completely unjustified. It’s true that government-hating politicians can sometimes turn their predictions of failure into self-fulfilling prophecies, but when leaders want to make government work, they can...

Conservatives want you to believe that while the goals of public programs on health, energy and more may be laudable, experience shows that such programs are doomed to failure. Don’t believe them. Yes, sometimes government officials, being human, get things wrong. But we’re actually surrounded by examples of government success, which they don’t want you to notice.

Now. Go. Read it all. It's brief, I assure you. 

It will do you---and your country---good.

Quote of the day -- on the path to progress

''Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying 'yes' begins things. Saying 'yes' is how things grow. Saying 'yes' leads to knowledge. 'Yes' is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say 'yes'.'' 

—Stephen Colbert

Quote of the day--on cynics, cynicism, life and progress

“Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. 

Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. 

But saying 'yes' begins things. 

Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say 'yes'.” 

― Stephen Colbert

Looks like another great documentary coming

From IMDb:

Jeremy Irons sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem, as he travels around the world to beautiful destinations tainted by pollution. This is a meticulous, brave investigative journey that takes Irons (and us) from skepticism to sorrow and from horror to hope.

Link:   Trashed (2012) - IMDb

Inspiration

A New Story of the People from Sustainable Man on Vimeo.

Quote of the day

"Cynicism is the greatest enemy of reform." --Robert Reich, American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator

Links: https://www.facebook.com/messages/504376805#!/RBReich

http://robertreich.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Reich

Don't give in to cynicism

It's as Robert Reich keeps saying, we can't be lazy and we can't give in to cynicism.

I miss my Calvin & Hobbes.

The importance of not giving up

As Mr. Reich says, first, it's important to not be cynical and give up.

Second, it's important we work together. After all, we're the "working class." Together, we can change things for the nation and for the better.

Finally, at least to me--but I'm not alone on this--we have to get the big, ugly, corrupting money of the wealthy and corporations out of our election system, and so, out of our government. Forgive me for repeating but it really is that important. If we don't get this huge money out of our system, nothing will ever change.

I think we all recognize that.

Links: www.robertreich.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Reich

Our form of government?

This is the way an associate of mine signatures his emails:

Faux Democracy brought to you by the plutocratic oligarchs.

It's pretty difficult to debate, too, I think.

Enjoy the warmer weekend and sun, y'all.

Quote of the day--on Michelle Bachmann

"Michelle Bachmann for President.  For those who think Sarah Palin is too much of an intellectual."  --Bill Maher, "Real Time with Bill Maher"

On cynicism

Having gone over this morning to Midtown Miscreant's blog for another reliable good read (If you haven't seen it, you might want to as it's good, he's funny and he's right, I think:  http://midtownmiscreant.blogspot.com/2011/01/fast-eddie-friday-house-cat-with.html)

It got me to thinking about cynics and cynicism so I looked up a formal definition of cynicism.  I found this on Wikipedia:

Cynicism (Greek: κυνισμός), in its original form, refers to the beliefs of an ancient school of Greek philosophers known as the Cynics (Greek: Κυνικοί, Latin: Cynici). Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, and by living a simple life free from all possessions. As reasoning creatures, people could gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which was natural for humans. They believed that the world belonged equally to everyone, and that suffering was caused by false judgments of what was valuable and by the worthless customs and conventions which surrounded society. Many of these thoughts were later absorbed into Stoicism.


Check that out:  "the purpose of life" is "to live a life of virtue in agreement with nature."  


Zounds.  


That doesn't sound very cynical, at least not by our current usage of the word, does it?  And "rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health" (I don't understand that last one) "and fame, and by living a simple life free from all possessions."  "...happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which" is "natural for humans."  "...the world belonging equally to everyone..." and "...suffering...caused by false judgments of what was valuable and by the worthless customs and conventions which surrounded society."


Far from our current ideas of cynicism, this sounds positively virtuous, positive, supportive and democratic (in the bigger, older form of the word, having nothing to do with any political party).


How did this word turn in usage?


Or, to be more specific, how did we get so cynical?


Link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism

Quote of the day--it's all agin' us

"It's a shitty world and the fix is in. The drinks are watered, the decks are stacked and the laws are cobwebs for the rich and chains for the poor. You can eat all you want, but that's because they know you'll just fill up on bread. The House always wins and democracy means you get to choose between two straight male protestant businessmen who went to school together. Meanwhile the oil rigs explode and the wars go on and the taxpayers pay the bankers' bonuses because a contract's a contract. In sæculum, et in sæculum sæculi. Like the Jerk said, it's a profit deal, and anyone who tells you different is either protecting you or they don't know what they're talking about." And get this--it's actually from a comedian, writing comedy. I love this guy. Link to original post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/i-love-america-because-no_b_635696.html