What the H - E - Double-Hockey-Sticks Do I Know?

 Originally posted to Facebook January 8th, 2021. I think that political opposition is a vital and necessary part of a healthy democracy. Even when the party one favors is in power, a robust opposition is an important component of curbing excesses and giving voters a chance to express a loss of faith or desire for different priorities. And so I will voice my disagreement with policies and principles with which I disagree, and at my best give rational explanations as to why I believe those policies and principles to be either immoral, anti-productive, or impractical, but I will do my best to refrain from calling someone holding different political views immoral or un-American. Having said all of that, here are some values, practices, and principles that I think everyone of every political stripe should be reasonably held to, and I believe that there are people of every political stripe who are doing well and also many who are doing very poorly, and we all need to especially hold t...

 Originally published to Facebook October 1, 2020 As far as I can tell, the fear and rejection of "critical race theory" seems to hinge on a few related critical beliefs: 1) The belief that the foundations of the United States - particularly our founding documents and narrative of resistance to tyranny - are pure declarations and instruments of universal rights and liberty, equally applicable to all people of all demographic categories, including gender, race, religion, etc. 2) That any expression of injustice or inequity along any demographic lines (race, gender, etc.) are due to distortions or perversions of the original intent of the founders, and that a restoration of perfect equity can be achieved by strict adherence to those original documents and the institutions and body of law founded upon them. 3) The rejection of the idea that past inequity of access to equal protection under the law, opportunities for advancement, access to wealth accumulated by one's own labo...

Originally published to Facebook August 11, 2020 The sale of indulgences was chief amongst Martin Luther's complaints which inspired the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. To oversimplify a bit, the practice had progressed to a place where the wealthy could donate prodigious sums to the church in exchange for pardon of particular sins, or for the reduction or commutation of the amount of penance or time in purgatory merited by those sins. As practiced, it also created pressure on the poor who already had so little to transfer more wealth to the church for the sake of loved ones who they were told were suffering in purgatory but could be delivered... if the price was right. In practice it created a religious culture where the wealthy could leverage their resources to act immorally according to religious tradition but still be fully accepted into the life of the church and even held up as models of faithfulness, while the poor had to conform to a much higher standard to app...