RIP "Too Big to Fail"

I'm not a believer in the concept of government bailouts of private industry.  For one thing, as someone who has been self-employed for nearly 20 years, I have an acute understanding of the risks and rewards of entrepreneurship -- if you want to pursue a business strategy you think could yield greater profits for your wallet, you also take the inherent risk that your strategy might fail and instead leave you broke.  To paraphrase Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own, there's no crying in business.  Second, it's been my empirical observation that bailouts of soon-to-be-failed companies tend to benefit the largest equity stakeholders the most -- typically, the institutional investors and the executive team.  So the picture that leaves me is one of the average U.S. taxpayers pitching a few nickels into a hat in order to keep the wealthiest among us from suffering a major hit to their private balance sheets, something that offends my left-leaning sensibilities.

The Changing Image of America

My family just returned from a wonderful vacation in Australia.  It was a terrific trip and included a number of really special memories made at places like Darling Harbor in Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef.  We like to travel abroad about once a year in order to experience other cultures, see new things and challenge our perspectives.  There is, of course, a great big world out there beyond the borders of the USA.

One thing that I was struck by on this recent trip, however, was the dramatic change in perceptions of the United States government -- and our president in particular -- among "local" residents in the country we were visiting.  In recent years, I've had surprising conversations with waiters, taxi drivers and train passengers in countries such as France, Spain, Italy and England . . . conversations that have left me a bit disheartened about how people in those countries viewed our government as reckless and imperialist.  So it was shocking and altogether encouraging to hear quite different comments from average working folks in Australia, all of whom expressed confidence in our current president as a man of diplomacy and restraint (and a sense of admiration for America that we elected someone as our chief executive who would not have been allowed to use the same Mississippi drinking fountain as me just two generations ago).

Our Country Ought to be Lovely

Edmund Burke, the great 18th century British philosopher, wrote that "there ought to be a system of manners which a well-formed mind would be disposed to relish. To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely."

Although Burke was thinking about his own country at that time, his words have been recited by lovers of democracy for the past two centuries and celebrated as a standard that all free societies should seek in their public discourse.

A Patriot in Our Midst

Regardless of how the implementation of health insurance reform transpires over the coming years -- if indeed it withstands court challenges and potential shifts in the Congress over the next two elections -- I think it's safe to say that political scientists recounting the political maneuveuring required to pass the bill will long be writing about the pivotal role played by a single member of the House of Representatives.

The Health Care Hysteria

Democracy is messy.  It's part of the essence of our system of government that we elect officials whom we think best represent our own political values and priorities, then empower them to go speak for us in the creation and implementation of laws that govern our nation.  That very basic principle guarantees that there will be ongoing debate and differences since so two Congressional districts, no two states and no two Americans are likely to have identical views on every issue facing the country at any given time.

So it's not the conflict of the past year regarding health care reform that troubles me; our system was designed for debates like this and it's the hallmark of America that we wrestle with these tough social issues in a vocal and public way.  What troubles me is the hysterical characterization of the various ideas on this issue, which has clearly reached a crescendo this month.

What is Arete and Why Should it be Pursued?

"Arete" is a Greek word that is most frequently translated as "virtue" or "moral excellence" in English, and in fact was the name given to the Greek goddess of virtue, excellence and goodness.  Although this sounds like something that would be reserved for discussions in graduate school classrooms or seminaries in 21st century America, arete was actually one of the most common values in ancient Greek culture.  Homer, Socrates and Plato all wrote about the pursuit of arete, but it was Aristotle who challenged his audience to consistently acquire more knowledge about what it means to be virtuous and to dedicate themselves to the infusion of arete into the public square.