Ruminations

President “Not My Fault” (Sad!)

Bryan Watson9 years ago01 mins

As if on cue, a defender of the White House rushed to respond…. Yes, Benghazi. Still. Clearly, and unsurprisingly, this passionate defender missed my point (and, by doing so, reinforced my point).

Nothing that is going on now is about President Obama or Secretary Clinton. What is going on now, and in the future, is about Trump – no one else is making the decision about what we do next.

Yet he could not resist. He cannot speak unless he is attacking someone – he must always attack, always denigrate, always demean, and always cast himself as a victim of that other person’s failings.

“Fear was a big part of it”

Bryan Watson9 years ago3 years ago01 mins

Listen to what we are being told:

Fear those who cross our country’s border from Mexico – the are rapists and murderers and drug lords.

Fear those who cross our country’s border from Mexico – they are rapists and murderers and drug lords.

Fear those who run from brutality and death in Syria – they are terrorists who hate our freedom.

A Teaching Moment, Squandered

Bryan Watson8 years ago5 years ago02 mins

Give 30 minutes to walk out and return, then give an hour to study of these basic tenets of being a citizen in the US, their history, the difficulties of conflicts between rights and safety, how bills become law, and how protests change (or don’t change) law, how courts decide conflicts.

Basic civics education.

THEIR own self-interest? Or ours?

Bryan Watson8 years ago02 mins

I think people always operate in their own self-interest. Always.

And I think we rarely know what someone else sees as their own self-interest. Instead, we impose on them what we believe they should be interested in.

TWOFER: Tax and Health Care Cuts

Bryan Watson9 years ago01 mins

Trump has two top legislative priorities: “Tax Reform” and “Repeal the ACA”. Today, they intersected: his “Tax Reform” plan cuts exactly one tax from the ACA – the 3.8% Medicare tax on Net Investment Income for high-income taxpayers. It has long been a badly-kept secret that the driving force behind “repeal the ACA” has been…

Common But Not Normal

Bryan Watson8 years ago01 mins

In the wake of the most recent mass shooting – this time, in a Florida school – many commentators are noting, sadly, that tragedies like this have become the “new normal.” I disagree – tragedies like this have become “all too common“, but I reject the notion that this is “normal“, whether new or old….

Winning Elections

Bryan Watson8 years ago02 mins

If you consider that an election is just marketing, then you would do what a marketer would do — look at who is gaining market share and copy what they are doing. Why? Because you are going after the same market, the same population of consumers. So, if McDonald’s introduces Filet-o-Fish with huge success, Burger…

“Our Sacred Honour”

Bryan Watson3 years ago2 years ago01 mins

In 1776, they signed their names to a revolutionary document, pledging “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honour” to defend the radical idea that “all men are created equal “ – that they equally enjoy the natural rights of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” – that governments are needed to protect those…

Good Government

We Persist

Bryan Watson4 years ago4 years ago02 mins

We are now being tested, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. What progress we have won seems to be slipping away, not by the natural forces of time and change, but by the sinister forces of greed and wealth and power and deceit. Like our predecessors whose radical ideas have gone before, we must persist.

Candidates: How Do You Decide?

Bryan Watson7 years ago5 years ago01 mins

We elect people to do one thing only – to make decisions.

But we never ask them the fundamental question: ”How do you make a decision?”

Kill Off Debate Combat Now!

Common But Not Normal

There’s 7 New People Born

Does a Liar Tell the Truth?

The Next Generation, and the Next

Declaration of Independence Day – A Weekly Remembrance

President “Not My Fault” (Sad!)

“Fear was a big part of it”

A Teaching Moment, Squandered

THEIR own self-interest? Or ours?

TWOFER: Tax and Health Care Cuts

Common But Not Normal

Winning Elections

“Our Sacred Honour”

We Persist

Candidates: How Do You Decide?