Top 5 Entertaining Politicians

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Lex

These days I have a lot of trouble taking politics seriously. I do take policy debates seriously, but those usually take place outside of Washington, among academics, and usually with a strong emphasis on a historical perspective.

What goes on in Washington is a food fight televised by CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc. The more entertaining the food fight, the higher the ratings. An entertaining politician to me is a car wreck. I enjoy watching one as much as the next guy. Here’s what it takes:

  • Some degree of insanity
  • Radical ideology
  • Wit and willingness to use it
  • Bad judgment of what’s appropriate to say to an audience
  • Long list of political and personal enemies

Based on that here are my top 5 entertaining (in a bad way) politicians:

5. Newt Gingrich

“Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods, have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works, so they have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day; they have no habit of “I do this and you give me cash,” unless it is illegal.”

4. Barney Frank

“Gay people have a different role than other minority groups. … Very few black kids have ever had to worry about telling their parents that they were black.”

3. Herman Cain

“We need a leader, not a reader.”

 

 

2. Donald Trump

On Muammar Gaddafi: “I rented him a piece of land. … and then I didn’t let him use the land. … I don’t want to use the word `screw,’ but I screwed him.”

1. Sarah Palin

“Polls are for strippers and cross-country skiers”

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Instant-Runoff Voting: Giving the Underdog a Chance

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Lex

Many folks complain about the rigidity and sameness of the two-party system American system of government. Unfortunately, it’s damn hard for a third party candidate to win, because most people feel like they’re throwing their vote away when they vote for the third party guy.

Instant-runoff voting (IRV) to the rescue! (PS: It’s also called “ranked choice voting” in some places). Instead of picking just one person, you have the option of ranking any number of the available options. So, for example, if you’re a Republican, instead of voting for just Romney, you might rank the candidates in the following way:

  1. Ron Paul
  2. Romney
  3. Gingrich
  4. Santorum

If none of the candidates have more than 50% of the vote, then the other choices start coming into play. For more details check out the wiki page.

Unlike our current system, IRV gives the voter confidence to choose candidates they actually want even if it seems like they have no chance of winning, because such a choice will not damage the chances of others. A republican might vote for a Ron Paul and a democrat might vote for a Bernie Sanders (not that he is running).

The instant-runoff voting system is one of those things that obviously needs to be embraced but isn’t for some godforsaken reason. Another example of one of those things is the metric system.

It has a chance of being put into place for the 2016 presidential election. Unfortunately, all the organizations pushing for it are having quite a bit of trouble raising funds. The biggest that I know of is FairVote.org and they’ve only raised $400,000 last year. How are they supposed to buy influence in Washington with that kind of cash ;-)

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The Mind is Not a Boomerang

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Lex

“The mind is not a boomerang, if you throw it too far it may not come back.”

I’m not sure where I heard his quote or who it’s from, but there it is, simple and honest.

It’s a nice way to bring up something that I have been becoming very aware of recently. I have frequent intelligent conversations with people who are arguably dwelling on the proverbial edge of society (and sanity). Whether they are political activist or just unpublished (and almost-but-not-quite-alcoholic) part-time philosophers, they have denied themselves the comfort of conformity for the comfort of free-thinking rebelliousness.

These folks claim to have a handle on the truth that the majority of the population is too pre-occupied with the hassles of life to discover. The sad fact about making such claims is that it makes you an outcast, which I believe is not neccessarily a bad thing. What I think is a bad thing is the kind of spiraling effect that it often produces in the person when they pull on the string of “truth” and uncover a whole underworld of conspiracies that can easily take over their mind.

So, I say to all my well-read comrades: tread carefully… A rare successful example I always think about is Friedrich Nietzsche, who masterfully walked the line of insanity and radical free-thought all his life, in the process producing some of the most brilliant philosophical works in the history of our little civilization. But for every Nietzsche, there are millions who did not develop the kind of rigor, deep-rooted knowledge, and mental fortitude required to survive the journey.

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When Being Gay Was Illegal

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Lex

The mathematician I admire more than any other in the 20th century is Alan Turing. He is widely considered to be the father of computer science. I’ve studied his work and the consequences of his work for the last 10 years, but not until recently did I learn about the man himself.

I won’t get into a long Wikipedia-style retelling of his life, but focus on its tragic end. He was arrested in 1952 for “homosexual acts” which at the time were illegal in England (and remained so until 1967). Two years after that, Turing committed suicide.

Gay rights have been in the courts and in public discourse recently. The point of contention is whether homosexuals should be allowed to marry. I believe that of course they should (though I do believe marriage is a religious practice, and government should only just grant civil unions to everyone). Many people disagree. However, what bothers me is the amount of value the opponents of gay marriage assign to this issue. It seems the Christian community is making this its primary battle cry under the umbrella of “values”.

So whenever someone brings up the issue of gay marriage to me, I think of Alan Turing, and the suffering he endured at the hands of a society that couldn’t accept who the man wanted to love, but sure as hell could accept the brilliant contributions to technology and science that he provided.

To this day, the British government has not pardoned Alan Turing for having sex with another man.

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Coffee is a Way of Life

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Lex

Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee per day or 146 billion cups per year. In terms of per capita consumption, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, and Brazil has us beat.

The most popular reason that women provide for drinking coffee is “it’s a good way to relax”. On the other hand, men go with the vague but aggressive “it helps get the job done”. That it does.

My own experience with coffee has evolved over the years. Something about the process of drinking coffee, almost just the habit of it, focuses my mind on what I’m doing. It has become part of my comfort zone, a key element of a productive environment. When I smell coffee, my brain goes into the mode of “okay, time to get s*** done”. But “focus” doesn’t just mean focusing on work. I enjoy reading over a hot coffee, thinking about life, and how insanely absurd everything is. It puts my own little problems into perspective and helps me consider the things that really matter in my life.

Of course, the taste of coffee ain’t bad either. I look forward to waking up, making a fresh cup of coffee, and sitting down to eat steel-cut oatmeal while thinking about something I’ve read the night before.

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Why Not Talk Politics and Religion

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Lex

There seems to be a general consensus in the United States that it’s not “proper” to bring up politics or religion in conversation with people, even friends.

There is a feeling that no one wants to engage in discussion on those topics. And when discussion does happen, it seems to devolve at the first sign of disagreement. Where the hell are the heated arguments? Why can’t one friend tell another friend that he is completely and utterly wrong in his belief that, for example, the building of the Keystone XL pipeline will have a positive economic stimulus on the nation? You don’t have to have your facts straight either. You can just yell back and forth and learn in the process.

To me, a “passionate” discussion has to be a way of life. Whether you’re talking about heavy literature, personal triumph or tragedy, why not challenge ourselves, without name-calling or personal attacks, but a simple debate of the issues from the biggest to the most minute.

Of course, there are different personalities out there. Some love confrontation, some hate it, but I don’t see a statement like “interesting point, but I still disagree” as confrontational. I see it as invitational; it’s saying “let’s think and learn about this crap together”. But perhaps it is true, that the subjects of politics and religion are fundamentally plagued with emotional landmines and so as conversation topics they are breeding grounds for strong disagreement. So, for now maybe I’ll stick to philosophy, science, literature, and the weather.

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Hard Work or Hardly Working

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Lex

Main point: Everyone has a personal definition of words like “productive”, “busy”, “hard work”, but progress is driven by the evolution/expansion of these definitions.

Yes, here comes another obvious “wisdom” of the relativist variety.

I like to use sport for analogy, because sport somehow boils down the basic struggles of life into a concrete measurable game of skill and chance. So let’s talk about the treadmill (here’s me running on a treadmill). I used to think that an 8 minute mile was hard. I mean I have friends that are runners and can keep a 5-6 minute mile pace for several miles, but I never even acknowledged that as reality.

To me an 8 minute mile was something I could do, but would have to put in a lot of “hard work”. Anything faster than that was for physical freaks, who I completely ignored in my analysis. The reality however is that those people struggled with an 8 minute mile as well at some point in their life. But unlike me, they did not settle with this limit. They changed their definition of “hard” first to 7 minutes, then to 6, and finally to bellow 5.

I did the same a couple years back with a 6 minute mile. I just one day decided that I will run at a 6 minute mile pace for as long as I could. I would not quit until my body completely quit. It was torture, but I actually did it.

I think the same is true with everything we undertake in life. I too often settle for my idea of what is “hard work” and don’t try to push the limit. But that’s where growth happens: trying to do the things that seems obviously impossible. It turns out that some of them are actually possible.

Since I don’t run much, and suffer through it every time I do run, I like to use running as an indicator of my mental toughness (or lack thereof). For this reason, I hope to one day be able to run a 5 minute mile. Of course, my real goals are all surrounding research and academia, but those are a lot more difficult to put into words and numbers than the time it takes to run a mile.

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Ron Paul’s Base is the Forever Young

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Lex

Main point: Most people don’t spend enough time planning for the turns and twists of life, not because they are “lazy” or “stupid” but because they are human and thus perpetually living in denial.

The idea of smaller government has been popular lately. People have been sold on the vision that there is a bunch of greedy lazy bureaucrats in Washington that inefficiently redistribute the hard-earned tax payer dollar.

I believe this is unfortunately true, but I also believe it’s the best we got and the best that we can have. You have to honestly look in the mirror, and ask yourself: who would you rather trust with drafting a financial plan for your future: (A) yourself or (B) a government bureaucrat.

It seems that A is the obvious choice for a significant group of Americans. Freedom sounds nice. However, I have come to believe that the majority of crappy expensive troubles happen in the impossible never-will-happen future of when we’re “old”, and so the plan we might draft now by ourselves will fail us when the hard reality of the future hits.

80% of medical bills we pay are for services done after we’re 40 years old (source). That’s a simple fact that most of us intuitively understand, but do not sufficiently plan for. That 80% is an average of $300,000. Three hundred thousand on top of whatever saving you have to do for retirement. Are you ready for that?

Personally, I don’t believe the majority of people have the discipline, knowledge, or time to stay informed and to save for something like that . I believe they (and me) need government to force them to save. Before you tell me that you want the freedom to do with your money what you want, please ponder whether you’re really ready to educate yourself on all the things you should save for and then actually put that money aside month after month. If you say you can, I’m sorry if I am slow to believe you.

That said, there are fundamental flaws in social security and medicare programs as they are now. But the existence of these programs is necessary in a society whose moral code cannot turn uninsured patients away from the hospital.

“I hope I die before I get old” is not just a Pete Townshend lyric, it’s also a widespread blind spot in the minds of the young and healthy. Sadly, most of us don’t remain forever young (including the band members of The Who).

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Vermin Supreme: If Not For Parody, I Would Almost Take Politics Seriously

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Lex

I disconnected myself from the internet all weekend, and now, Sunday night, am checking political news. Luckily, the first thing I stumbled across is a man dressed as a wizard on C-SPAN making an argument about why he should be president. This I believe is all I need to learn on the urgent matter of the republican primary coming up on Tuesday in New Hampshire.

He embodies the absurdity of the political circus. And even though he is essentially a joke candidate, I can’t help but imagine that he is not so different from the destructive dictators that have gained power all over the world throughout the past century.

I closed Google News after watching the above short clip and was content to resume reading academic papers where there are no clowns in giant hats and the game is played with a slightly more honorable intention.

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Happiness is a Cheap Bike

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Lex

For the last 3-4 years, I have been riding a $100 road bike purchased at Walmart. Concerned friends told me that it’s a waste of $100 because it would break down in a week. Instead I was recommended by said friends to buy something like a 1985 Bianchi at a garage sale (for the same price) and that would last me much longer, or instead save up and get a legitimate new $700+ version.

Let me tell you something, friends. I like my life simple and functional, and while I understand that you have to pay for value, I’ve found that in most aspects of my life, I can be happy with the cheap option, at least at first. I like learning about what works for me by starting with the cheap option, embracing it, and fully exploring the ways in which it is awesome and of course the ways in which it sucks.

If the cheap option leads to a serious interest in the activity it relates to, I then invest in a more expensive option. In most aspects of my life, I have yet to move past the first stage of enjoying the hell out of the cheap option. For judo and jiu jitsu, all my gi’s are still some of the cheapest out there (Fuji). Same goes for mp3 players, computers, furniture, food, cellphones, coffee, and women (only kidding on this one).

Well, my bike finally “broke down”, because the repair guy messed up an inner tube swap ($5) that now requires a $40 axle replacement. I said screw it and bought a new bike for $70. This time: a mountain bike. I’m as happy as a little kid with it. It’s not going to be as fast as a brand new Bianchi, but it’s pretty damn comfortable, and gets me from A to B in style.

Life is good.

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