Archive for the ‘Whys & wherefores’ Category

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Time for cut our losses?

April 25, 2010

I’m not sure how it happened but I ended up on a mailing list for the British magazine The Spectator last year. Luckily, their messages are infrequent.

Several weeks ago, I got a message which caught my attention. It contained the image and text below.

Debate: Too Late for Britain?

Tuesday 22 June 2010

Spiralling debt, a City in crisis, and unemployment is on the rise – Britain has faced crises before but is this time different? Are we beyond salvation? Is the really sensible move to pack up and clear off?

FOR the motion:
• Rod Liddle, columnist, The Spectator
• Catherine Mayer, London bureau chief, Time
• David Selbourne, Political philosopher

AGAINST the motion:
• Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP
• Tristram Hunt, historian
• Bonnie Greer, playwright and author

Join The Spectator debate, chaired by Andrew Neil, at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 between 6.45pm and 8.30pm.

I know that a debate in Britain is something roughly like a Chautauqua meeting here in the States; an opportunity to hear people talk about, or to discuss with others, a variety of topics. So I expect that this particular debate is something they’d do as much for entertainment as for other reasons.

Nonetheless, I found it a spooky topic. Has it come to this? I wondered.

And, what’s worse, the description of the problems is one that fits the United States all too well. Should we be considering the question too?

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People have responsibilities

April 18, 2010

When my sons were young boys, I took the time to acquaint them with the U.S. Constitution and with the idea that there are rules and limits for the government’s behavior just as there are rules and limits for individual behavior. By ‘acquaint’, I mean we read the U.S. Constitution aloud and discussed each article and amendment.

But I also was also careful to point out that if the government doesn’t try to make a safety net – and I don’t think it should try to – then someone else needs to that. And that someone else is all of us.

Bad things happen to people that they can’t control. Courage in the face of adversity is admirable but isn’t always enough for survival; sometimes folks need a hand. It can happen to any of us.

I like to live in a society where there’s some "social surplus": one where, if you happen to fall on hard times, other people have the means, the time and the willingness to give you a hand voluntarily.

When I was near to graduating high school Boyd Goldsworthy, my friend’s dad, offered to help with my college tuition. He assumed (rightly) that paying tuition might be a problem for my family. I didn’t accept his offer since I didn’t go straight from high school to university but I’ve always remembered that he made it.

If we’re all living in penury, we can’t lend a hand. If we’re all so focused on ourselves that we don’t pay attention to what’s going on around us, we won’t lend a hand. But it’s a task reasonable people don’t shirk in my view.

I thought James Lileks made a good point once when he said he’d never seen a hospital called "Libertarian General" – which caused me to recall that the two largest and most respected hospitals where I live are St. John’s Mercy and Missouri Baptist.

All that said, you’ll see why I liked this clip from one of Milton Friedman’s speeches at Stanford back in the 70s.

Posted in US government, Whys & wherefores | 1 Comment »

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A sense of life

February 22, 2009

Last night we went to see the film Slumdog Millionaire. My wife was a little taken aback by the depiction of poverty and abuse in India. I’m not sure why or what she expected India to be like. It reminded her of Cairo and I thought that was a pretty fair comparison. They’re both large (> 10 million people) and Cairo has the same striking contrast of hard poverty against cosmopolitan affluence that Mumbai showed in the film.

I enjoyed the film quite a bit and I’d recommend it to anyone with a couple of hours to spend. Here’s a shot of the hero, Jamal Malik, looking over the new buildings that have replaced the slum in Mumbai where he grew up.

Slumdog Millionaire

Jamal Malik, the Slumdog Millionaire

I liked this film because of Jamal’s unflagging determination to find his girl, Latika. They met as children, when he took in her in out of the rain. They were separated after a few years. But he regarded her as his destiny and he never stopped trying to find her again – and to be with her after he did find her – despite all the misadventures of his young life (which included a couple of direct rebuffs from her).

Since he grew up an orphan in India, alone with his brother, he and his brother had to ply a number of low-paying trades and work several scams just to survive. The story of their doings is nicely revealed in flashbacks as the background to Jamal’s success on the game show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?

The film’s plotting and production values were both outstanding, as was the acting. It deserved the awards it received, I think.

Today I realized that what this movie showed so well was the positive sense of life that Ayn Rand described in her essays and novels. People are not at the mercy of the universe, or their god(s), or their society, or their enemies. We may not always win but we can always choose to try.

Were Ms Rand still alive, I’d bet that she’d like the movie too – and for that particular reason. It had the feel of Hugo’s Les Misérables, a story she admired.

In a word, I found the movie uplifting.

Slumdog Millionaire also reminded me of a quote from Harlan Ellison that I ran across just last week.

My philosophy of life is that the meek shall inherit nothing but debasement, frustration and ignoble deaths; that there is security in personal strength; that you can fight City Hall and win; that any action is better than no action, even if it’s the wrong action; that you never reach glory or self-fulfillment unless you’re willing to risk everything, dare anything, put yourself dead on the line every time; and that once one becomes strong or rich or potent or powerful it is the responsibility of the strong to help the weak become strong.

I’d never have guessed that Mr. Ellison would write something like that; I’m glad I found it.

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