Thinking

In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here....

My ideal government would be decentralized. The national government would be tiny, maintaining a national military and acting as a mediator between smaller governments. Local governments would hold a great deal of power and local citizens would control the means of production. There would be many powerful small governments, but no centralized big government. No big corporations. The people would be taxed using a flat sales tax for necessary government services, but extra projects would be funded by inflation-indexed rate-capped government bonds....

For what reason is the ideal social unit a group of two? For every man desires a woman, and every woman a man… or, more broadly, every body generally desires a partner. Of course, there are exceptions, but one cannot doubt the “couple” is a prevailing trend. It is so pervasive that many feel it is the goal of life, necessary for”completion” – they seek their “other half” so that they may grow old together....

After my last post about the apparent appeal of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle… and a lively debate with my uncle, who claims the Obama administration is setting the USA up for socialism… I feel compelled to write more explicitly about my thoughts on the capitalistic system that exists today. For whatever reason, changing that system seems unfathomable to many people. That bothers me. As long as I have been alive, and for as long as my uncle before me, the United States has been infatuated with capitalism – and Americans have benefited from it....

I imagine a man in a thick forest, wandering around in search of berries or roots. He carries a sharpened stick for spearing fish. He has no dependents and is content to sleep in makeshift shelters. This man has few constraints. He requires food and water. To obtain these things it costs him significantly fewer than eight hours a day. With his free time he may do whatever he pleases, granted his options are somewhat limited....

When I was applying to colleges, I was tasked with telling the countless admissions boards about myself. What I was. What I did. Why I did it. I had about five hundred words to work with and nearly as many rough drafts. What I eventually decided upon was a piece that related who I was, by investigating exactly what I was not. Upside-down, perhaps, but most would deem the attempt a successful one....

I have trouble writing when I’m traveling. I’ve been traveling a bit. I’ve been having trouble writing… Perhaps spurred by my own self-doubt over the past few days, I’ve been contemplating originality. What it means to make something new. What must be in place before the thought of creation can even be entertained. How many contributors are involved in something as simple as this sentence. I write for myself here, using borrowed words and shapes from centuries of inherited forms of communication....

Dear Thankful, Today is your day to take front-and-center. Which is funny, because I thought I saw you do that yesterday. You have that really confounding habit of being at once so unique and too generic, so I can’t really be sure if it was you or not. I mean, I remember a smile… Regardless, today is your day. And I’m cooking for you; well, me and millions of others. We are glad to do it!...

I’m going to set out to relate some things specifically that I think many of my posts already state implicitly. I am mostly doing this for myself, as a way to record some of my thoughts, earmark some topics for further investigation, and explore some other ideas directly. Of course, I encourage you to chime in, weary Internet surfer, if you have anything at all to say. I have a problem with the way people run this country and the way many people run their lives....

You know, I’ve been investing in stocks since the day I was able. I made some exceptional returns a few years back, but the past few months have been brutal. You already knew that, but wait: here’s something you may not expect. I DO NOT WANT YOU TO BAIL ME OUT. I knew exactly what I was doing: risking my money; you did not risk my money. If I lost it all at the casino, I would not expect you to reimburse me....