Lewis and Clark
There a lots of ways to divvy up personalities, from the Myers-Briggs type indicators to my long-time favorite: are you Beatles or are you Stones. But I'm working on a new one, William Clark v. Meriwether Lewis.
Clark was organized, methodical, commanding, and his journal entries from the 1804 expedition are daily, factual, and interesting but not compelling. He was had a fine career, apart from the expedition, and is buried here with great distinction at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Lewis was visionary, artistic, a companion of Jefferson, and wrote in his expedition journal only in occasional bursts, accompanied with illustrations, but with long periods of silence. He died young, alone, on a trip back to the East on the Natchez Trace, probably by his own hand.
So in the world of public diarists - what we call, somewhat tediously, bloggers - how do we split up?
I suppose I'm Lewis, but I should be Clark.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
The Wheel Turns
A little over a year ago I left my old firm. A long, tough story, but it was my choice and I landed well.
Today comes the news, and it is not unrelated to my departure, that my old firm is closing its doors.
I'm going to stay on top of this, name no names, but try to identify some lessons learned. There are real human tragedies that take place at a time like this, and the least we survivors can do is learn. For some, there are no lessons left.
The first thing, and it's not as much a lesson as an indictment of all of us, is that the weakest in the firm are hit the hardest and least capable of absorbing the blow. We big thinkers can talk about capitalism and creative destruction, but what happens to the secretaries and receptionists - fine, dignified people - is just plain damage.
A little over a year ago I left my old firm. A long, tough story, but it was my choice and I landed well.
Today comes the news, and it is not unrelated to my departure, that my old firm is closing its doors.
I'm going to stay on top of this, name no names, but try to identify some lessons learned. There are real human tragedies that take place at a time like this, and the least we survivors can do is learn. For some, there are no lessons left.
The first thing, and it's not as much a lesson as an indictment of all of us, is that the weakest in the firm are hit the hardest and least capable of absorbing the blow. We big thinkers can talk about capitalism and creative destruction, but what happens to the secretaries and receptionists - fine, dignified people - is just plain damage.
Monday, April 09, 2012
Better Answers
One of the memes emerging in the Presidential campaign is high gas prices. The Democrats now say you can't blame the President, which is more or less true, and has always been more or less true, although it has only been true for many Democrats since January 20, 2009.
Mitt Romney, who will probably be the Republican nominee notwithstanding his furious efforts to dumb-talk his way out of it, responds to this issue by saying: well, this President ran for office saying we needed higher gas prices.
It may (or may not) be a clever answer politically, but it really is a great example of the shallowness of American politics. Romney is smart. He knows perfectly well that higher petroleum prices would be a good idea, to the extent that the commodity is artificially underpriced. There is an argument that it is; it's hard to say that the externalities of resource depletion and foreign policy cost have been captured. And there is an argument that it is not; OPEC has been gleefully engaging in production controls and monopoly pricing for years. And there is an argument that years of subsidizing gas-vehicle-favored infrastructure in America mean that we should impose a tax, in order to permit other energy sources to catch up. Or even - heavens, from this libertarian? - to promote conservation.
These are serious answers, right or wrong, to serious questions and a debate over them might conceivably lead to better policy. But they won't ever come up, because the pols think people are too stupid to follow the argument. Or, in the case of a tax on gas, they think the idea is political suicide. They might be right; the few who have gone down this road got creamed. But if the many had the guts to enter the debate honestly, who knows, some intelligent policy might ensue.
Forgive my sniffy tone. It's just that the good questions and the good answers have been around for years. I worked in this field in the early 1970's and they were around then. They were ignored by politicians who knew much better, and the trail from there to the Gulf War to to 9/11/01 is pretty direct.
We members of the Grown-Up Party can sit around waiting for thoughtful conversations about significant issues, but they probably will only be among us, and never reach a larger stage. There is too much noise. Only a real shouter could get above it, and in the Grown-Up Party we don't have good shouters.
One of the memes emerging in the Presidential campaign is high gas prices. The Democrats now say you can't blame the President, which is more or less true, and has always been more or less true, although it has only been true for many Democrats since January 20, 2009.
Mitt Romney, who will probably be the Republican nominee notwithstanding his furious efforts to dumb-talk his way out of it, responds to this issue by saying: well, this President ran for office saying we needed higher gas prices.
It may (or may not) be a clever answer politically, but it really is a great example of the shallowness of American politics. Romney is smart. He knows perfectly well that higher petroleum prices would be a good idea, to the extent that the commodity is artificially underpriced. There is an argument that it is; it's hard to say that the externalities of resource depletion and foreign policy cost have been captured. And there is an argument that it is not; OPEC has been gleefully engaging in production controls and monopoly pricing for years. And there is an argument that years of subsidizing gas-vehicle-favored infrastructure in America mean that we should impose a tax, in order to permit other energy sources to catch up. Or even - heavens, from this libertarian? - to promote conservation.
These are serious answers, right or wrong, to serious questions and a debate over them might conceivably lead to better policy. But they won't ever come up, because the pols think people are too stupid to follow the argument. Or, in the case of a tax on gas, they think the idea is political suicide. They might be right; the few who have gone down this road got creamed. But if the many had the guts to enter the debate honestly, who knows, some intelligent policy might ensue.
Forgive my sniffy tone. It's just that the good questions and the good answers have been around for years. I worked in this field in the early 1970's and they were around then. They were ignored by politicians who knew much better, and the trail from there to the Gulf War to to 9/11/01 is pretty direct.
We members of the Grown-Up Party can sit around waiting for thoughtful conversations about significant issues, but they probably will only be among us, and never reach a larger stage. There is too much noise. Only a real shouter could get above it, and in the Grown-Up Party we don't have good shouters.
What I Learned in the Last 40 Days
1. An early Spring is a mixed blessing.
2. Life without cocktails at home is pretty much like life with them.
3. There's a great station on Sirius called L'Oasis Francophone.
4. Lent actually ends at sunset on Good Friday. I took advantage of this for purposes of testing No. 2 above.
5. I may be better off moving this stuff to Twitter. I seem to be thinking in aphorisms more than paragraphs.
1. An early Spring is a mixed blessing.
2. Life without cocktails at home is pretty much like life with them.
3. There's a great station on Sirius called L'Oasis Francophone.
4. Lent actually ends at sunset on Good Friday. I took advantage of this for purposes of testing No. 2 above.
5. I may be better off moving this stuff to Twitter. I seem to be thinking in aphorisms more than paragraphs.
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