There are basically two sets of viewpoints influencing most people in America today. You might call them the “red state” (Republican) or “blue state” (Democratic) mentalities, although it’s far deeper than politics.
CULTURE
Oprah’s Hate Speech
Emotional charges of racism? What a convenient way to escape defense of your own flawed viewpoints.
Random Thoughts November 2013
Random thoughts on the passing scene.
Thanksgiving, Rationally Speaking
Give thanks…to the rational man.
Book Review: Henry Bushkin’s Biography Johnny Carson
A new biography of Johnny Carson by the lawyer he fired, Henry Bushkin, is ultimately too shallow and calculated to be credible.
The Moral Equals The Practical
It’s the pragmatists—those who reject principled morality—who are naïve.
Purpose in life: “the poetry of work”
“Poetry of work” is worth pursuing. It gives us purpose—and it gives us happiness.
The Producer Vs. the President
Steve Jobs and Barack Obama are a contrast in two types of man.
Movie Review: 12 Years a Slave
Written by John Ridley and directed by Steve McQueen,12 Years a Slave, based on the book by Solomon Northrup, deposits us into slavery in the 19th century’s American South. It is an excellent example of the best type of cinematic naturalism, delivering characters to...
Does the State Own the Child? Obama and Germany Say “Yes”
It’s preposterous to even suggest that banning any form of education promotes “diversity.”
Allan Gotthelf: A Shining Example of a Life of Reason Well Lived
“Allan saw his love of Aristotle and of Ayn Rand as of a piece. He was right, because Aristotle and Rand do advocate the same fundamentals: the commitment to reason and to living life fully, realizing one’s highest potential as man.”
Western Values are Superior to All Others
Western values are under ruthless attack by the academic elite on college campuses across America.
How To Be Happy
Happiness comes from achieving your values: pursuing a career you love, a romantic relationship, perhaps raising a family, or running a successful business.
Obamacare for College … It’s the New High School
As with health care, Obama merely seeks to consolidate and completely nationalize higher education by placing it under control of the federal government.
A New York Public Librarian’s Egalitarian Hat Trick
Punishing achievement in the name of egalitarianism.
Are We Serious About Education?
Educators who produced outstanding results for minority students shut down by public system.
Obamacare for Education
Obama—and the federal government—are going to do for college education what they have done for everything else: Create deficits, bankruptcy, mediocrity, unaccountability and inflation.
Random Thoughts
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” (John Adams)
Why Are the Intellectuals’ Views on Self-Interest Wrong?
Ironically, it is not altruism but the morality of self-interest that makes genuine benevolence and kindness possible.
Black Education Tragedy
Rachel Jeantel at the George Zimmerman Murder Trial is in Part The Result of Gross Educational Fraud
Random Thoughts July 2013
Random thoughts on the passing scene: Edmund Burke said, “There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men.” Evil men do not always snarl. Some smile charmingly. Those are the most dangerous. If you...
Acting on Principle Pays
An MBA student of mine who had just read my book commented: “Those principles you write about make a lot of sense, but at the same time, business is ruthless, and most people do not follow such moral principles. How can you act on principle when others don’t?” My...
Ayn Rand in Chicago
The American city that comes to mind at the mention of Ayn Rand is probably not Chicago, a metropolis one might associate with other bestselling writers and authors, such as Studs Terkel, Carl Sandburg or even the current U.S. president, Barack Obama , whose...
The Mindset of the Left: Part IV
At the heart of the left’s vision of the world is the implicit assumption that high-minded third parties like themselves can make better decisions for other people than those people can make for themselves. That arbitrary and unsubstantiated assumption underlies...
The Mindset of the Left: Part III
The fundamental problem of the political left seems to be that the real world does not fit their preconceptions. Therefore they see the real world as what is wrong, and what needs to be changed, since apparently their preconceptions cannot be wrong. A never-ending...
The Mindset of the Left: Part II
The political left has long claimed the role of protector of “the poor.” It is one of their central moral claims to political power. But how valid is this claim? Leaders of the left in many countries have promoted policies that enable the poor to be more...
The Mindset of the Left
When teenage thugs are called “troubled youth” by people on the political left, that tells us more about the mindset of the left than about these young hoodlums. Seldom is there a speck of evidence that the thugs are troubled, and often there is ample...
Paula Deen: It Ain’t All About the ‘N’ Word
In a legal proceeding, most would probably have lied in such a circumstance. Paula Deen elected to tell the truth.
Tackle Tough Long-Term Issues with Three Pages a Day
In Thinking Tactics, I teach a set of thinking procedures that each take under 10 minutes. They can be used to clarify most confusion, resolve most conflicts, and figure out the next step on most projects. But not everything. Sometimes you face a bigger...
Restaurant Impossible’s Robert Irvine a Great Cognitive Therapist
If you want to better understand the concept of cognitive therapy, tune in to an unlikely source: Chef Robert Irvine’s Food Network series, Restaurant Impossible. Food Network’s website describes the show as follows: “Turning around a failing restaurant is a daunting...
Trading is the Secret To Getting Ahead
The best way for human beings to survive and flourish is not to be givers or takers but traders.
Wimps Versus Barbarians
When the nationwide campus disruptions and violence of the 1960s gave way to quieter times in the 1970s, many academics congratulated themselves on having restored peace. But it was the peace of surrender.
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