Over the years, I've heard many friends and acquaintances tell me, "Rob, you think too much." I suppose that its probably true. I am the sort who will contemplate a problem until the last possible moment before making a discussion. I try to take little for granted. I think about the meanings and origins of words and expressions when I hear them, and not just the meaning the user was intending to convey. For instance, look at the expression "These are the shoes I used to wear." Most people read that expression to mean that I'm presenting shoes I wore in the past but no longer wear now. But the word 'used' is stuck in there. What that sentence literally means is that I'm telling you how I once used the shoes. That sentence is equivalent to saying "I used these shoes for wear". In every day language, however, these sentences have rather different meaning. I think about this sort of thing a lot. I wonder how each came to mean a different thing, even though they say the same thing.
So perhaps I do think about things too much. I think while resting, I think while exercising, I think while falling asleep. I do some of my best thinking in the shower after waking up. Perhaps my mind sorts out things nicely while I sleep at night, producing really good ideas by the time I wake up in the morning and shower. The text in this web site is the result of a lot of this kind of thinking.
Philosophy
It is difficult for me to write my philosophy of life on a web page. I will attempt it here, but perhaps by reading the entire site you will glean more about it. My philosophy is one of becoming, not being, and therefore ever-changing. My views and reactions to some current issues are also a valid way to convey my philosophy in whatever state of flux it may be. To that end, I'll share some of my opinion on issues of the day here.
The very idea that people are conscious is quite interesting to me. Not that I doubt it, but I have difficulty understanding exactly how this is true, and understanding exactly what people are conscious of. It seems to me our awareness has limitations. The logical mind has reductionist ability to model the world in three dimensions and time. The intuitive mind has the ability to experience the universe in a more direct way, but no way communicating that experience without changing its true form. I often wonder how much of the true nature of the Universe we don't even suspect because its beyond our capacity for perception and thought.
Having said that, I believe that mankind has an inherent responsibility to learn and explore. Carl Sagan, one of my personal heroes, made this moral obligation clear when he noted that every constituent atom in our bodies was at one time forged in the heart of an early star through nuclear fusion. We are made of star-stuff! We are the Universe's chance to come to know itself! Sagan's idea is a very powerful one, and is very important to me and how I live my life. Science and exploration of the Cosmos (a good Sagan word) is also self-serving for mankind; at some point our Sun will age and die. At that time the Earth will not be able to support human life as we know it now. If we have not learned a great deal more about our world by then, our world will extinguish us.
In the last paragraph I mentioned a 'moral obligation'. I do not intend my use of that language to imply a set of absolute morals imposed on mankind by a deity. I am more inclined to support an existential point of view on morals. There is no right and wrong in the Universe. Morals come from within and need no divine right for them to be useful or kept.
"There is nothing either good or bad but that thinking makes it so." -William Shakespeare, Hamlet 1602
Politics
I'm not very politically active. Although some degree of campaigning is necessary for candidates and issues, the chief mechanism of political and social change in the United States is the vote. I vote very carefully and I do not care for those who vote casually or on an uniformed basis. Voters who rely on gut feeling, name recognition, and sound bites dilute the well-considered opinions of the educated and informed. This is precisely why Ben Franklin made education a Federal requirement.
I believe very firmly in the Constitution of the United States. It and the Declaration of Independence are perhaps the two most important documents of the last thousand years of mankind. The wisdom and cunning of the Framers are quite remarkable. I am disgusted by the administrative system of Federal Government that has grown out of the framework of the Constitution because of the largess of the elected representatives. Even the representatives themselves seem powerless to repair the system. Term limits, campaign finance reform, and a flat (or mildly progressive) tax rate are three solutions that could immediately start the government back on the path the Founding Fathers wisely intended.
The business cycle is a natural part of a
healthy capitalist economy. It can be mitigated to some extent by monitory
policy. Using fiscal policy to manipulate the economy has an inherent unfairness
which makes it a dangerous tool. Full employment is not the goal of an
economy. Profit for owners is. Full employment is a natural consequence
of an economy successfully seeking profit. Adam Smith's guiding hand still
works well. The time for powerful unions has past. Its ridiculous that
Professional Baseball players, with an enormous minimum wage, are entitled
to collective bargaining rights. It insults those who have to work hard
just to survive. The rights of such workers must be protected, but the
balance of power is too far to that side.
Welfare is too easy to get. It would be very nice if no one had to work. But not everyone can be rich, by definition. Government relief should only be available as a last resort. It should ensure survival and a way out. Nothing more. It should not finance a relatively comfortable life-style.
Crime should not pay. There is an entire underground society in the prison system which makes prison a more palatable experience. Our corrections system should be more like the jails of old; Individual cells with doors, no communal meals or sports, no TV. There should be no opportunity for illegal prison violence or black market because the inmates should never have any interaction with each other.
The death penalty is wrong. It serves no useful purpose to society other than to satisfy some reptilian sense of revenge. No one should die to satisfy another's need for emotion. Capital punishment is the most calculating, premeditated form of murder there is. Because of court costs, it is not cheaper to execute a criminal than to keep them in jail for life. If execution were cheaper then I can think of no more despicable reason to kill someone than to save money. It is important to remove those individuals from our society who are too predatory and dangerous to live among us. But we do not have a collective right to take a life any more than an individual does.
Christianity is not the State religion of the United States. Our Founding Fathers recognized this fact despite their strong Christian faith. The Constitution was not passed until it came with a Bill of Rights designed to protect the minority's basic rights from the will of the majority. Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech are two of the Bill of Rights' guarantees. They must not be ignored as they are precisely the things which make our country great. Any law which enforces the Christian tradition for its own sake (such as forbidding the sale of alcohol on Sunday) is wrong. Any law which would restrict thought and speech (such as a prohibition on burning the Flag) is wrong. Our right to practice any religion (or none) and our right to speak against government policy make us singularly unique in history. We should fight the rising tide of mediocrity to keep our rights or we stand for nothing.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin, 1759
Writing
Another place you can investigate the result of some of my thought is in a series of columns I've been writing for Oasis Magazine. The magazine is targeted to young people who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual or think they might be. The columns address these issues as I've experienced them. The titles below link to each column.
