Right and Wrong in Politics

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting editorial piece about right and wrong in politics. In it, the author identifies how easy it easy for any of us to define right and wrong based on passions:

"In October 1787, amid economic crisis and widespread fears about the new nation's ability to defend itself, Alexander Hamilton, in the first installment of what was to become the Federalist Papers, surveyed the formidable obstacles to giving the newly crafted Constitution a fair hearing. Some would oppose it, Hamilton observed, out of fear that ratification would diminish their wealth and power. Others would reject it because they hoped to profit from the political disarray that would ensue. The opposition of still others was rooted in 'the honest errors of minds led astray by preconceived jealousies and fears.'" (Source)

We've all known that an extreme attachment to religion (Note: religion, I define as a dogma) can cause people to believe wrong is right. Have our colleges and universities embraced a type of religion in their passion for a certain brand of politics?

Is it even possible for us, as imperfect people, to dispassionately, and rationnally, choose right within politics?

Or is the solution for us to each acknowledge how incomplete our ability to choose right over wrong is, and embrace, as the WSJ author states, "an appreciation of the limits of one's knowledge"?

And if we do, who makes the decisions?

Today's a Great Day For All Americans

Today is a great day. I just watched the swearing in of President Obama, and it made me feel great. I'll admit it, I didn't vote for the guy. I like small government. But I hope today is a day when 40 million black Americans who might have formally felt marginalized - who might have formally felt like second-hand citizens - feel desired, wanted and NEEDED to make this country great as much as the demographic who founded this country.

I know how that feels to a much lessor extent. I'm a woman. And for most of my life, because of my buying into the beliefs of some others, I felt like women had a lessor role to play in the world. I felt like I didn't have the choices men had to take hold of my dreams and follow them. I felt like the dreams I could grab hold of were a much smaller subset of the dreams men had. It wasn't because of my parents, or even men in my life, since all of them have always told me the sky's the limit. Rather, it was because of some limiting religious culture that I had heard and believed. Praise God I'm free of that now. Primarily because of the men and women in my life who kept pushing me to grow outside the boundaries I thought women had.

I wonder if many black Americans have felt that way too. I wonder if they felt like they were in a box, with only a subset of the dreams that white Americans held. I hope that after today they don't feel that way anymore. I hope that if they were in that box, they've broken free from it. I hope they realize God's gift, and His MANDATE to share all they have with the world. I hope they feel like first class citizens in a country that relegated them to the back of the bus just 50 years ago.

So to women, minorities, and anyone else who feels limited - step forth! We need your light to shine now more than ever.

Success is Not Defined by the Stock Market, Thank You Very Much

You know what, the stock prices may go down, investors may lose trust in the ability to "guess" on the success of the Fortune 500, but I still believe that there are thousands of small business in America who do most of the actual work in this country. What is business anyway, but the buying and selling of products or services? That's still gonna need to happen.

Stock markets crash because there's a group of people who want to make money purely through speculation. The majority of us make money by working hard.

So here's to the hard workers! You're not defined by a bunch of numbers on Wall Street, but by your intelligence, work ethic, and determination. Here's to America's success!