Be careful what you wish for.......

      Those in today's intellectual left are concerned about the planet and about international migrants, but not so much about their compatriots in the working class. . . .

      More broadly, a sense of betrayal among those being left behind by progress is leading to defections from mainstream parties of both right and left.  Among the working classes and the young, there is a steady growth of far-left opposition to the established liberal order, as well as strong support for the far right.  This increasing movement away from the center and toward the fringes is not an ideal formula for a stable democratic society.

      As Tocqueville put it, we may be "sleeping on a volcano."

-Joel Kotkin, The Coming of Neo Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class

Do you not see...................

 I am told that there is no danger because there are no riots; I am told that, because there is no visible disorder on the surface of society, there is no revolution at hand.

Gentlemen, permit me to say that I believe you are mistaken. True, there is no actual disorder; but it has entered deeply into men's minds.  See what is preparing itself amongst the working classes, who, I grant, are at present quiet. No doubt they are not disturbed by political passions, properly so called, to the same extent that they have been; but can you not see that their passions, instead of political, have become social? Do you not see that they are gradually forming opinions and ideas that are destined not only to upset this or that law, ministry, or even form of government, but society itself, until it totters upon the foundations on which it rests today? Do you not listen to what they say to themselves each day? Do you not hear them repeating unceasingly that all that is above them is incapable and unworthy of governing them; that the distribution of goods prevalent until now throughout the world is unjust; that property rests on a foundation that is not an equitable one? And do you not realize that when such opinions take root, when they spread in an almost universal manner, when they sink deeply into the masses, they are bound to bring with them sooner or later, I know not when or how, a most formidable revolution?

This, gentlemen, is my profound conviction: I believe that we are at this moment sleeping on a volcano. I am profoundly convinced of it.

-Alexis de Tocqueville, as he begins this 1848 speech

On re-considering........................

 We all are learning, modifying, or destroying ideas all the time. Rapid destruction of your ideas when the time is right is one of the most valuable qualities you can acquire. You must force yourself to consider arguments on the other side.

-Charlie Munger, as cut-and-pasted from here

Fifty years ago...................

Tom Waits.........The Heart of Saturday Night album

 

On progress.................

      Making progress isn't always about moving forward.  Sometimes it's about bouncing back.  Progress is not only reflected in the peaks you reach—it's also visible in the valleys you cross.  Resilience is a form of growth.

-Adam Grant, Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

discovery............................

 Every person you meet knows an amazing lot about something you know virtually nothing about.  It won't be obvious, and your job is to discover what it is.

-Kevin Kelly

On the art of living.............

      According to Epictetus, the primary concern of philosophy should be the art of living:  Just as wood is the medium of the carpenter and bronze is the medium of the sculptor, your life is the medium on which you practice the art of living.  Furthermore, much as a master carpenter teaches an apprentice by showing him techniques that can be used to build things out of wood, Epictetus taught his students the art of life by showing them techniques that could be used to make something of their life.  The techniques in question were quite practical and completely applicable to students' everyday lives.  He taught them, among other things, how to respond to insults, how to deal with incompetent servants, how to deal with an angry brother, how to deal with the loss of a loved one, and how to deal with exile.  If they could master these techniques, Epictetus promised, they would experience a life that was filled with purpose and dignity, and more important, they would attain tranquility.  Furthermore, they would retain their dignity and tranquility regardless of the hardships life might subsequently inflict on them.

-William B. Irvine, A Guide to the Good Life (the ancient art of stoic joy)

An idealist..........................

Power worried him: no one ever believed he possessed too much of the stuff.  His sympathies were with the man in the street, to whom he believed government answered.  A friend distilled his politics to two maxims: "Rulers should have little, the people much." And privilege should make way for genius and industry. Railing against "the odious hereditary distinction of families." 

-Stacy Schiff,  The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

Morgan Housel................................

 ...............................talks money:

Unspent money buys something intangible but valuable: freedom, independence, autonomy, and control over your time. Every dollar of savings buys a claim check on the future.

-more thoughts here

Marco Island.................

.4 mile from the start of the beach to the water.  Lots of sand

We managed some time away from Ohio.  Blue skies abounded.  

Windy, but comfortable compared to Ohio

We hung out on the fourth floor.  Pretty special.

 

Just more proof we were not in Ohio.

choose...................

 Such is the madness of men, he said, that they choose to be miserable when they have it in their power to be content.  The problem is that "bad men obey their lusts as servants obey their masters," and because they cannot control their desires, they can never find contentment.

-William B. Irvine, channeling Diogenes

17 thoughts...........................

 .............................about money:

16. People who act like they have it all figured out are usually full of shit. No one has it all figured out when it comes to money. Most of us are making it up as we go.

Fifty years ago.........................

Doobie Brothers/What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits

On the virtue of being boring................

 We are a nation of rules and the rules are boring. Embrace that. In times of difficulty, go with the boring option. When faced with a frightening crisis, tamp it down with ultra-boring moves. No matter what, stick with the rules.

I can’t avoid talking about Donald Trump but I’m going to make it brief. I know you don’t like him; neither do I. But let’s assume he’s only a politician. He’s not Hitler, Godzilla or the Beast of the Apocalypse—just a guy with a loud mouth and a desperate need for attention. Most Americans think of him that way.

This is not about him. It’s about you.

When you demonize those who disagree with you, you invite treatment in kind. When you refuse to engage in political argument and resort to performative moralizing, you make it clear to any neutral observer that for you there’s only one side, one opinion, one conformist crowd that can ever govern legitimately. The rest are disgusting subhumans who should never be tolerated near the levers of power. When you trample on the rules that say “all are created equal” like that, you are destroying the fabric that holds the country together. And believe me when I say this: You will reap the whirlwind.

-Martin Gurri, from this essay

...........the way.

 You will complete your mission in life when you figure out what your mission in life is.  Your purpose is to discover your purpose.  This in not a paradox.  This is the way.

-Kevin Kelly

On indecisiveness...........................

      What Washington's critics did not see then, and sometimes not even now, was that being indecisive was decidedly preferable to being decisively wrong.

-Thomas E. Ricks, First Principles

Hmmm..................

      Deeply idealistic—a moral people, Adams held, would elect moral leaders—he believed virtue the soul of democracy.  To have a villainous ruler imposed on you was a misfortune.  To elect him yourself was a disgrace.

-Stacy Schiff, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

A dream with teeth..................

 Things that are perfect
are dead things.

Empty things.

A silence beyond change or challenge.
An endpoint.
A blank page.

You are a wonderfully messy thing.

An impossible thing made of salt
and rainwater.
Meat and electricity.

A dream with teeth.

You're too good for perfection.

-Jerod K. Anderson, Flawless

a boost........................

 When our circumstances threaten to overpower us, instead of only looking inward, we can turn outward to mentors, teachers, coaches, role models, or peers.  The scaffolding they provide looks and feels different depending on the type of challenge we're facing, but it has the same effect: giving us a foothold or a boost.

-Adam Grant, Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

agnostic........................

 Our distractibility seems to indicate that we are agnostic on the question of what is worth paying attention to—that is, what to value.

-Matthew B. Crawford