The American Blog

Many confuse having good character with being a good citizen. They aren’t the same. It would be similar to saying that having good character is the same as being a good parent or being a good manager.

Good citizenship relates to the nature of one’s actions such as doing things that remind us of our heritage or involve us in the democratic process.

Good character relates to the quality of one’s actions such as acting in a manner that is honorable, courageous, compassionate, and/or ethical.

Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, said “It’s not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.”

Candidates put up signs hoping you’ll remember their name and vote for them because of name recognition.  Candidates do this because they know many of us won’t take time away from our “pursuit of happiness” to learn about the candidates and make informed choices.

If you don’t know a candidate’s background, motivation for running, and position on important issues, don’t vote for them!  To do so is to waste your opportunity to influence the direction of the country.

So don’t vote for the sign.  And don’t vote for a candidate because some group or individual endorses them.  LEARN about the candidates.  It’s easy with the Internet, it’s satisfying, and it is very good for the country!

How ironic that the US government would consider using the military to prevent oil from reaching our shores after the recent oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico, but won’t consider using the military to keep illegals from entering the country.

To those in the media who are critical of Tiger’s unwillingness to discuss his private life.

Tiger is an American citizen. He plays golf.  He didn’t ask for endorsements, they came to him. He didn’t ask for other citizens to put him on a pedestal.

That you think he owes the PGA golfers an apology is humorous. If anything, the players owe Tiger a Thank You! He’s made the PGA tour in the past 15 years. If a PGA player doesn’t want to talk about Tiger, they only have to say “no comment”. To suggest that Tiger is a burden to the players is laughable. Read the rest of this entry »

I was flying from Palm Springs to San Francisco. I sat down in seat 9B. As I watched passengers embark, I noticed a young guy wearing a baseball cap backwards. There was something unusual about his movement. He sat in 8C. I noticed that a large part of his neck was red and that there was what seemed to be a large scare going under his cap. I thought he must have been in a fire. Ouch……

During the flight, I noticed he had his head down. I peeked between the seats. There was a book on his lap and his eyes were open but he wasn’t reading. Something was going on. Read the rest of this entry »

A segment of Americans support abortion and are against the death penalty.

How could one justify such a position?  A position where one is against executing individuals who have done exceedingly evil things and have been convicted in the U.S. legal system and yet supports the killing of very young, innocent individuals (fetuses) when the mother wants this.  One can’t have seen an ultrasound of a fetus in the second or third trimester of development and, with a straight face, claim that the fetus isn’t a very young living being.

Supporting the death penalty and abortion OR being against the death penalty and abortion are at least consistent positions.

Abraham Lincoln  in his famous   Gettysburg Address talked about a democracy as a government  “of, by and for” the people.  This assumed that the “people”, meaning American  citizens, were involved.

Unfortunately, most Americans aren’t involved in our democracy.  Too many of us  believe that the responsibilities of a citizen  are to  vote, serve on a jury when summoned, and occasionally  volunteer. Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve heard about government bureaucracies. You probably also know that many city, state, and federal government agencies are outsourcing many services to the private sector to save cost.

And you’ve no doubt encountered a government bureaucracy from time to time – whether it be the Department of Motor Vehicles, the court system, the IRS, etc. So most of us understand that most public-sector agencies are slow to provide service, provide mediocre service, are difficult to get hold of, and so on. But just in case you don’t or you need a reminder of how inefficient government is, here is an example. Read the rest of this entry »

Sound backwards? The founding fathers would think so. They knew that America’s priorities had to be “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and in that order as stated in the Constitution. They understood that if the country weren’t safe or were at war (“life), then we couldn’t be truly free (“liberty”). And they understood that if we weren’t free, then we couldn’t “pursue our happiness”.

Unfortunately, we have our priorities backwards and it shows. Too many of us care more about our pursuits of happiness than about ensuring the country is strong and thus free.

We spend more time getting on Do Not Call lists than we do communicating with our elected officials. We teach our children how to prove that two triangles are congruent, but don’t teach them how to be good citizens. Read the rest of this entry »