Celebrate Independents
Posted on July 26, 2010
Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment
I live in Utah, one of the most Republican-leaning states in the country, right? And yet, the majority of voters are not registered Republicans. In fact, only 31.5% are registered as Republicans, and only 7.4% as Democrats. Nearly 61% are registered as “unaffiliated” or independents. Then why does the Republican tail wag the Utah dog? Because Independents mistakenly think they’re powerless and alone.
Monuments to the Faith
Posted on July 22, 2010
Filed Under Religion, Society | 2 Comments
For a long time in the U.S. there has been a battle between people who want to be able to display religious symbols, particularly the Ten Commandments, on government property (such as city parks, government buildings, etc.) and those who think the First Amendment prohibits such things. Christians who want vehemently to display the Ten Commandments on government property assert that “this is a Christian nation.” If so, let’s raise the bar. Read more
Saul, Paul, and Crist (no, it’s not a typo)
Posted on May 18, 2010
Filed Under Politics, Society | 1 Comment
“[Fanatics of various hues] hate each other with the hatred of brothers. They are as far apart and close together as Saul and Paul.” – Eric Hoffer, The True Believer
The animosity between the two principal political parties in the U.S. is unusually high these days. Doubtless there are many reasons, but I’ve been thinking lately more about the ramifications rather than the reasons. These two parties are a set of Saul and Paul of whom Hoffer spoke. They hate each other, but depend on each other for mutual existence. Without the Saul, or “devil” of an “other,” a political party sits like a child on a see-saw with no partner. The party out of power counts on the unrealistic expectations placed in and the incompetence of the ruling party. The opposition knows it will have its turn when we the people “throw the bums out.” So they sit and criticize, whine and obstruct while the ruling party steamrolls, blunders, and overreaches. If it weren’t for the incompetence of each party, the other may never come to power. And so they are like the moon, needing the sun to go away so it can be seen, but not too far away so it can still reflect the sun’s light. Read more
The True Mirror of Our Doctrine
Posted on March 25, 2010
Filed Under Politics, Religion, Society | 8 Comments
The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine. – Montaigne
The other day I saw a news article that said that Glenn Beck, a nationally-syndicated political talk show host who also has a TV show, a man who has millions of listeners/viewers, told them that if their churches mentioned “social justice” or “economic justice” (what he called political “code words” for communism, etc.), his listeners should leave their churches. This was shocking to me, first because Beck and I are both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) and I can’t reconcile what he said with the doctrine I know from our church. Isn’t this a violations of the First of the Ten Commandments? And secondly, because anyone who actually took his advice widened one of the biggest rips in the fabric of our society.
I’m talking about the fact that all of us are bound together in an eternal family. In too much of the political discourse lately, there has been demonizing, name-calling, and dehumanizing. To what end? To get the trajectory of the country to move a fraction of a degree to the left or the right. At what cost? We are sacrificing our kinship with our fellow man to our political objectives. Read more
The True Believer by Eric Hoffer; book review
Posted on March 19, 2010
Filed Under Movie/Book Reviews, Politics, Religion, Society | Leave a Comment
I recently read for the third time a book I was introduced to in PoliSci 101 as an extra credit assignment. In the past, to me The True Believer; Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer was an interesting theoretical book about sociology, based on observations of the past. This time, its voice was contemporary and reverberating. Every paragraph was an elucidating commentary on the news of the day. Read more
Please don’t bomb Iran
Posted on December 17, 2009
Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment
On November 29, the disputed President of Iran announced plans to build ten new nuclear enrichment facilities throughout the country. Everyone’s mind immediately turned to military action, and many assume that Israel will bomb Iran sooner than later. It’s my hope no one attacks Iran. Read more
Contributions to new blog
Posted on April 18, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I would like to invite you to a new blog I am contributing to. I am co-authoring it with my brother, Mike. The name of the blog is The Fearless Path (www.FearlessPath.net). I will post many things to both blogs, but I will save my purely political posts for Not Quite Center. I think you’ll like the new blog.
Letter to Gov. Huntsman re: HB 357
Posted on March 11, 2009
Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment
This is a letter I recently sent to Governor Huntsman of Utah. I feel it’s important. I encourage all to copy the text, make what changes you see fit, then send it to him at http://governor.utah.gov/goca/form_comment.html. Read more
Fallacies of the free market
Posted on March 6, 2009
Filed Under Politics | 6 Comments
Recently I read a piece by Newt Gingrich about letting the market solve the healthcare problem. He said, “We must offer a positive alternative where healthcare becomes more accessible and of higher quality at lower cost. That is what normal markets produce. Think computers and cellphones, where government bureaucrats have zero involvement in design and pricing.” I’m no economist, but evidently I understand economics better than Newt and a lot of free-market advocates. Read more
Watch your tongue
Posted on March 2, 2009
Filed Under Politics, Religion, Society | 1 Comment
As any English-speaker who has learned a Romance language knows, there are a lot of cognates, both true and false, between English and Romance languages. A cognate is a word that resembles its counterpart in another language. For example, even if you don’t speak Spanish, you can probably guess the meaning of the following words: dormitorio, liberador, laboratorio, general, and central. These are cognates. False cognates are words that seem to correlate, but don’t; for example dirección means address, and embarasada means pregnant, a false cognate that can lead to situations that are, well, embarrassing.
Why does English have so many cognates with Romance languages if it’s supposed to be Germanic? One of my linguistics professors told our class that 80% of the words we use everyday are Germanic, but 75% of the words in the English dictionary are of French origin, adopted into the language during the centuries-long reign of the French in Britain after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. French became, well, the lingua franca, literally translated as “French language,” but meaning the language generally spoken or the universal language. English is the modern lingua franca, follow closely by Mandarin.
So are we more Germanic or more Romantic because of our language uses? Does language affect society? Yes, but not linguistically, instead semantically. And those who have begun to change American English are not conquerors in the traditional sense, but they are leaving their imprint on the language—and on society. There is a list of words I hate to hear, and I want to change their usage. Read more
keep looking »