The Emotions of Politics

I almost titled this post 'The Insanity of Politics', but I realized it's really about emotions. It isn't really insane; it's just ... well, ok, maybe it is.

My wife told me of a semi-celebrity who posted a supportive comment of Mitt Romney on her fan page the other day and, while there were some supportive comments, the feedback quickly degenerated into a childish fight. People expressed support for Obama, then for Mitt, then for Ron Paul, and then they started throwing insults at each other. There were some attempts to calm the rhetoric, but it was mostly silly.

I don't know exactly why people get so charged up about politics, but I think it's an unfortunate commentary on human nature. I see that kind of discussion going on and I just sigh; I laugh silently at the circus; and I long for some semblance of sanity to return to public discourse. That may be wishful thinking, but I do occasionally hear rational discussions in the public sector.

I actually think all three of those guys the fans talked about are pretty decent. I strongly disagree philosophically with a couple of them and I'm sure they're all far from perfect, but at the same time, I see good in all of them. But for some of the supporters of any one of them, all other candidates appear to be demons.

My approach in times of campaigning is typically to stay away from the news completely. I'll check out headlines and occasionally read a story, but I often feel disgusted after that and I go back to my old ways.

Another trick I've tried off and on is to turn on the talking heads and mute them. Try it sometime. It's pretty amusing and very therapeutic. I can't do it for more than a few minutes or I get bored, but it's a nice little diversion.

Religious discussions sometimes devolve into the same kind of childish spat. Maybe that's why religion and politics have become taboo in certain social settings. It's just too easy to make people mad. Which is a shame because both topics are pretty important and well worth discussing. I don't bring them up at work very often, for example, though I try to live my life such that people can see my philosophy in both domains shine through my actions.

When I find people who can keep a level head while talking about those topics that strike so close to the heart, I really enjoy sharing my ideas and hearing theirs. But I think rational debate requires us to adopt the mindset that we're not out to prove our point, but rather to share with one another in an attempt to jointly arrive at a better understanding. This philosophy of debate seems rare. Maybe that's what I find so sad. Maybe our public debate is a reflection of the arrogance that seems so inherent in human nature.

David Copperfield

I finished reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens a few days ago. No, it has nothing to do with the magician. I love everything I've read by Dickens. His stories are neatly woven, a little too neatly perhaps with loose ends being tied up in unrealistic ways, but the stories are beautifully poetic, witty and funny, and delightful to read. The book was really long, but enjoyable.

I think my favorite of Dickens' books so far is Nicholas Nickleby, but I enjoyed Copperfield too. I'm not in the mood to give it a thorough review, but in researching Dickens' own life, it sounds like there's a lot of correlation with his personal experiences and his fictional story of Copperfield. That book is probably the closest thing we have to an autobiography of Dickens - though calling it that is a bit of a stretch. In the preface, Dickens tells us that Copperfield is his favorite fictional creation. Perhaps that's because he sees so much of himself in the character. It seems to me that he may have created in Copperfield a romanticized, idealized version of himself that, if I were him, I would imagine I would look on with some fondness. Fun book. If you haven't read Dickens, give it a try. And tell me what you think.

Adam Smith on the Poor

I did a little more reading in Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' last night. Here's what Smith had to say about the poor in times of growing prosperity.

[A] common complaint [is] that luxury extends itself even to the lowest ranks of the people, and that the labouring poor will not now be contented with the same food, clothing, and lodging which satisfied them in former times. ...

Is this improvement in the circumstances of the lower ranks of the people to be regarded as an advantage or as an inconveniency to the society? The answer seems at first sight abundantly plain. Servants, labourers, and workmen of different kinds, make up the far greater part of every great political society. But what improves the circumstances of the greater part can never be regarded as an inconveniency to the whole. No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged.

Well said. I have heard/read people accuse Smith of being unfeeling toward the poor because he advocates freedom of commerce as a means toward building national wealth. Capitalism seems to be harsh at times and would seem to lead to great inequality of wealth. Yet Smith's aim is to study how nations build wealth, not how governments or elites build wealth. As a professor of moral philosophy, he seems to be interested in what is beneficial for the people as a whole, not what is good for the elite.

Whatever might be debated about the validity of his theories, I think the above quote makes his intentions and philosophy pretty clear. I think the man's heart was in the right place. And for what it's worth, I also think there's a lot of value in his theories.

Library Part Deux

And the saga continues in the living room ...

See the previous post for part one of the story. I love my family.

Library

I love libraries; don't you?

No school today, so the family engaged in a favorite pursuit. I love this picture!

Happy

I went to our temple recently and saw people we have known over the years who live in various parts of the city. I think I met eleven people I knew and it was so fun to see them all. Three of them were from our current ward and there were four stakes represented by those eleven. Seeing each one brought a smile to my face and it struck me that some of them had probably never seen me smile so broadly. I had the impression I shocked a couple of them with my greeting and I realized how much happier I have become since we moved to our new home.

Mt. Timpanogos Temple ... posted because it's beautiful

When I think of some of our new friends, particularly those at church, I start to smile. Seeing them regularly and associating with them in various settings makes me smile even more. I feel like I've got a perma-grin lately and I love the feeling.

I have become so much happier and I feel so blessed. As I drove to work this morning, I was thinking about how amazing it was that we were able to sell our house and find such a perfect house to buy. The finances worked out so well that I think it's miraculous. I feel like blessings have been pouring on our heads ever since and I think I can justifiably blame God for our happy circumstances. Better schools, better commute, wonderful neighborhood and neighbors, amazing house, fantastic ward ... we really are blessed and I am so grateful for the miracles that have brought us here.

Toothpick Bridge

This is a bit late, but before the Christmas break, my wife and I attended several class parties and activities for our kids at school. One of them was a toothpick bridge testing party. Here's the bridge my oldest son built with his group.

It didn't support as much weight as some of the other groups, but they did better than others. The bridge's deck collapsed first, but they probably had the strongest towers of any of the groups. I think he felt good about it and it was fun to be there with him.

Jam Session

Last night, we got together with two other families for dinner and then the three men had a jam session. The hosts have a nice little music room with several guitars (acoustic and electric), a keyboard, a mandolin, a ukelele, and a couple of drums. We, the guests, brought our guitars too, so we had a TON of instruments.

We played several songs and improvised quite a bit. I had so much fun making music with those guys. They're both a lot of fun to talk to, which made it so much more enjoyable. We sang 'Lean on Me', 'California Dreamin', 'Hotel California', 'Country Roads', 'Candle in the Wind', 'Blue Suede Shoes', and a bunch of others. We pulled from several different time periods and genres and even changed the style of some of the songs as we went along. Successive sounds came from the keyboard including organ, harpsichord, and something that sounded sort of like bubbles popping. It was so fun!

I can't really describe how much fun I had, but I LOVE making music and the chance to make music with such great people was fantastic. It was also fun trying to keep up on a couple of songs that I didn't know.

I think we played for about 1.5 hours and I would have loved to play longer, but we had our kids with us and I wanted to get them to bed. We had so much fun that we're hoping to do it again, maybe once a month or so. One of these times we'll do it without the kids and maybe we'll end up playing even longer.

Esther

My girls have a poster of Queen Esther hanging in their room. One day I walked in to find it slightly altered.

I guess she didn't look happy enough in the original. Later, I found it modified again.

The star of David became a CTR sticker. CTR stands for 'Choose the Right'. Cute girls.