Modern Polymathism

Look to history and you're an extremist

    I was listening to Sean Hannity yesterday, even though I think he's a mindless mouthpiece of "The Oligarchy". He was talking about some recent comments made by Keith Ellison in which he compared Bush to Hitler. Hannity said that this could only be said by a "left-wing extremist [nut job]", and I have to say that I (a right-wing nut job) took issue with this since I believe the comparison was justified.

    Ellison looked to the Reichstag Fire as the spark that led to Hitler's rise to power in pre- war Germany, and said that 9/11 could be viewed as a similar event in many ways. The comparison is quite interesting because it shows a common tactic for gaining power in a country with many checks and balances. It goes like this (and I will use both events).

1.) You either stage or utilize a dramatic public event to show the public they are in danger and immediate action is necessary.

    a.) Reichstag Fire (communist takeover plots)
    b.) 9/11 (terrorist attack plots)

2.) With the people now wanting to be protected from this newly seen threat they are willing to give up some freedom for their safety, but as Ben Franklin said, "Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither". Using the fact that legislatures move slowly, you use your strong mandate to request special emergency powers from congress.

    a.) Reichstag Fire Decree & Enabling Act of 1933
     b.) The Patriot Act & National Security Presidential Directive 51

Comparison:

- Reichstag Fire Decree & the Patriot Act both curtailed many civil libraries

- The Enabling Act of 1933 & NSPD 51 both enable the executive branch to have dictatorial powers

3.)  With your power legitimized legally and still with a strong mandate you begin to utilize public means to show you're solving the problem.

Both of these cases have a million examples, but one for each should give you the idea:

    a.) The Nazis used the Gestapo to eliminate "all tendencies dangerous to the state"

    b.) The Bush Administration's Department of Homeland Security says in their mission statement,"We will lead the unified national effort to secure America. We will prevent and deter terrorist attacks and protect against and respond to threats and hazards to the nation."

4.) The masses must be kept resolute in thinking we're on the right track so a common enemy is needed.

    a.) Jews & Bolsheviks

    b.)  Terrorists

5.) These common enemies then enable active military and paramilitary action in and outside the country for the sake of doing battle with these enemies. The goals for such actions are openly said to noble, while at the same time being practically undefined and limitless.

    Again, many examples:

    a.) Germany

            -The Inter-War terroritorial claiming of many land's entitled to by Germany

             -Subsequent invasion of Poland and establishment of ghettos

              -Concentration camps for the enemies and dissidents

              -The ideal of the "Master Race"

    b.) America under Bush

              -War on Terror

              -Afghanistan and Iraq invasions

              -Democratization efforts in Iraq and perhaps beyond

6.) Inevitably, some of the populous will lose support for these campaigns and will begin to speak out against them. You cannot have this so you use the media (under explicit or implicit control) to marginalize these people.

              a.) Germany's propaganda ministry controlled all media and branded anyone not with them to be unpatriotic.

              b.) The Bush Administration's implicit control lies in the news as well. Both major networks                     (especially Fox) and much of talk radio. Sean Hannity, for instance, calls Keith Ellison a nut job and unpatriotic for his views.

    This brings us full circle. Nazi Germany's fate has already played out. We all know much of how it happened. It's all in the books of history. It's a shame today that similar actions go completely unnoticed by the American people at large. I feel like our path is not a good one, and that freedom's destruction is around the corner.

I don't know, maybe I'm just an extremist.

The Anti-Federalist Cure

  The new "in thing" in politics today is to hate both the Democrats and the Republicans. You'll hear many people talk of various quick-fix solutions to both of the problems such as term-limits, campaign finance reform, the fairness doctrine, et cetera. However, these fixes are just band-aids on a far larger problem: the electorate itself.

  I used to think that if we cut the number of terms of the congressmen than we'd get the "fresh" politicians who were actually interested in making a difference, not just in playing politics. This, and other policies of the kind, are nothing but schemes of proverbial Gerrymandering of the laws to weed out the kind of Machiavellian politicians that have come to populate or highest offices. One must recognize that they didn't just climb into power, no; they were legally elected.

  In Shakespeare's plays there is often the theme of the king's personal actions being proliferated throughout the culture. In Hamlet, the newly installed king is not the only thing "rotten in the state of Denmark", it was many of the people and systems as well. The reverse happens in a democracy where the people are the ultimate rulers. In our system, as we all know, we elect people to represent our beliefs in the houses of control and positions of power thinking they'll act in the best interests of their constituency. Unfortunately, these people have proven to be, as of late, worthless.

  Politicians have always had a bad reputation for honest, and "playing politics" carries with it a bad connotation. However, the roots of this country were planted by men who were much removed from this, and actually staked everything they had, including their lives, to establish this country. Over the years though it has degraded to its current state of what I often refer to as "The Oligarchy". Aristotle predicted this very thing over two millennia  ago, that democracies fall into oligarchy. The reason for this is that too much power falls into the hands of the few. This consolidation in our country's history has been known under the nicer name of federalism.

  Under federalism the federal government is allotted more power than the states and municipalities. This allows for centralized control to use economies of scale to accomplish a goal. In theory, and many times in practice, this works just fine. The problem, classically, is moderation. If we ere too much on the side of federalism we create oligarchy, however, the opposite is also true that with a complete state's rights policy we couldn't have formed the union that truly makes our country the superpower it is both economically and politically.

  I propose a renewal of anti-federalist policies designed to give much power to the states and gut most of the executive branch's departments. Obviously, such entities as the FBI and a national military must be maintained, but the necessity for large bureaucracies like the departments of education, environmental protection, drug enforcement, etc. could be scaled down significantly and the enforcement power given to the states.

  The reason this works is because of what I'll call "access". If you tried to call G.W. Bush or any U.S. Senator, you will never be able to even talk to these people. You will get a receptionist or a form letter thanking you for your support, or if you're lucky a form response to you inquiry. Now, think about the mayor or state representatives' offices. These people are very easy to access. When I was 18 years old I had talked and debated with politicians and gained easy access to their offices in Pittsburgh.

  With this large disparity in access between the federal and local governments you can see where you can apply the most influence. Also, look at it this way. Nationally, you gathered a million people behind your cause you'd only have a third of a percent of the populous on your side - hardly any influence. compare this to, even in a moderately large city like Pittsburgh, a group of 20 concerned citizens can gain access to the major's office, and a couple hundred firefighters decided an election. That is the power of the electorate.

  Accountability of the politicians via the electorate is the sole  means by which to maintain a citizen enriching government. Without the people on top the politicians will rot. This is the case today. The centralized power is too easily controlled by the Oligarchy that is wiping away what were known as the rights of man only a few decades ago. Until a decentralization can be achieved we never will have accountable government, and hence our democracy's state will be in shambles.

Christianity & Polymathism

   I always find it interesting that it always seems that the more intelligence people have the more likely they are to be atheist. People who are intelligent are often out to prove themselves. They always are trying to prove something right or wrong. Unlike the John Q public, who believe what they are told with little resistance, the learned must see for themselves why something stands as fact or not. At least, this is what they believe of themselves. God then, something that will never be explicitly & finitely provable, is hard for them to grasp because He is not a testable entity.

   On the other end of the spectrum are the leap-of-faith Christians, often associated with the evangelicals, who hold that the Bible is perfect and self evident and that they need to have nothing but the Word to justify them. To me, this is dangerous as well because it promotes a willful ignorance amongst the membership. I used to be in such a church which would always turn to the Bible to answer any question without any further research, but without knowing the deeper meanings behind the text how can one really know how to interpret them? Yes, there are study Bibles which offer good cross referencing and explanations, but you'll never see them refer to any philosophers or even the apocrypha.

   To further complicate matters, these same churches often have distracting performances during worship, which seem to be more glorifying the singer than the Lord. You have a person in front of everyone singing a song for the enjoyment of everyone, not just God. Well, he says he's a jealous God and that he does not want you worshiping any one other than him. So why would they allow people to perform like this?

   My answer is going to seem very cynical, but hear me out. The reason behind having elaborate worship, that can be more likened to a concert than true worship, is to enable the congregration to relate their worldly lives to their spiritual ones. This is outrageous as God said to hate the world and love him. Yes, we aren't meant to suffer all the time on earth, but putting worship on the same level as any band or performer, with human emotions to human things instead of focusing on God, is lowering God far below where he deserves.

   This same group often will attack Catholics for just going through the emotion with no passion for God, and to me there does seem to be a large weakness in the Catholic church in that it's more about following rules of the church than the rules of God. However, both Evangelicals and Catholics have become too earthly (I mean this in a bad way) and are trying to appeal with marketing rather than the true message.

   There is another group, though, which I'm trying to mirror my walk after. They don't have an actual denomination, although the ones I know are all Protestant. They are what I'd like to call: Polymathic Christians. Those who striving towards a better knowledge of the religion and a coherent world view that stems from this. I am currently in the process of beginning my journey is this as well. A good site I've found for getting starting is  The Skeptical Christian which  is run by someone I would refer to as a Polymath, who also is a Christian. These two world overlay forming a intellectual defense of Christianity.
Quite Interesting. This shows the many intellectuals that Christians aren't only consisting of the Bible-Thumping variety, and that some of us actually are pursuing the truth.

The Stubborn Bolt

  I'm really exhausted right now. It's 11:13 PM (which is pretty late for me), but I had an itching to blog. I finally gave in and began the first step of rebuilding the engine in my '84 300zx Turbo, removing the engine. It seems intimidating, and it definitely is, but it hasn't as bad as you might believe. I've been working on it a good chunk of today and yesterday (about 12+ hours I would say). Today though I got really far, but I had to stop after I couldn't remove one stubborn bolt. Cars are often setup so that system come apart linearly. The idea being that if you need to, in this case, remove the exhaust system then you must work from the outside in. Often times every goes very smoothly (and it was), but you get to a point where one stubborn bolt kills the project until you can go down there again fresh and tackle the problem with new energy or techniques.

  As I often do, I thought about how the rusty bolt I dealt with was similar to that one habit that we all have that is holding us back from becoming more than we are. Everyone, no matter who you are, has at least one, and most have many. For me, I would say procrastination is my stubborn bolt. This is a fairly common one, and I've explored many ways of conquering it - none of which have yet produced lasting results.

  I came across an article in Psychology Today that talked about this phenomenon from the psych perspective.  It was very interesting for me to read their findings as many of then ring true to me. However, I think some of this modern psych. stuff is an illusion though; just as how my horoscope says:

Some people say life is short, but when you make the wrong decisions, it can feel much, much longer. If a choice is on the agenda, sit on it for a day or so. You'll be better equipped to deal with it after today.

  Not that I ever look at horoscopes, but look at this message and tell me that this doesn't apply to everyone. Just like astrology, I think psychology often shoots an arrow and than places the target. Who hasn't had an Intro. to Psych. coarse where you thought you had one of the diseases in the DSM-IV.

  Regardless, I thought the article had some merit. One section particularly interested me, #4 which stated that procrastinators are not born, but instead are made. Their take was that it was often a rebellion against harsh parental rearing.  While I agree how you were raised is a HUGE part of the equation, I disagree with the harsh raising criteria. I was raised in a household that allowed you to experiment within reason and to discover life without explicit commands.

  This, though, produces its own problems. Especially in a world where I was given an allowance (which I still believe is a good thing for children) to life off of, and never worked in high school. This allowed me to pursue my own pursuits up until the present. It was great, I learned so much because I was able to have the leisure time to do so. Oh, how every minute of wasted time seems so disgusting to me today. However, without any pressures to require a strict schedule with due dates and the like I never internalized the ability to maintain my time efficiently.

  This has been hard for me to accept until recently, but as AA says, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Interestingly, the second step is saying that a higher power can help. I never knew this, and found it very interesting when I read through that list. It also brought me back to the aforementioned PT article which said something I know too well:

"Telling someone who     procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with     chronic depression to just cheer up" - Dr. Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D.

  That, for me at least, rings very true. I have a PDA, and I use it cyclically to manage my life, but I keep going from gung-ho one week to not even thinking about it the next. For me the only way to beat this stubborn bolt is to keep putting my effort onto it, and to try different techniques. For the car I'll soak the bolt overnight with Liquid Wrench; for my brain...  ...well I wish they made a can that could fix this problem. Until then, I'll have to keep trying new methods and keep persisting against my procrastination.

*Interestingly, procrastination is a vicious cycle as often the project of getting rid of it will be put off until later.

Content Overload

  I'm currently experiencing content overload, or information overload if you wish. I often get this whenever  I'm engrossed in my studies (other than school) or working on an exciting project. Today, though I have a particularly bad case of overload. I was doing my normal internet thing of checking my e-mail, blogs (is 32 too many?), and finding new websites with Stumble!. I got really into StumbleUpon today as it found many interesting and new sites which a few I had to read completely.

  Also, I found an interesting source for Scholar IP, which is my latest business project. This source is called Tech Dirt, which is a bunch of techies that write about the latest tech stuff along with consulting work as well. Another good find, this time offline, were two of Bill Chesbrough's books Open Innovation and Open Business Models which both outline, from different perspectives, his vision of the future of the intellectual property and knowledge management world. I haven't fully read them but just reading the prefaces give me some intellectual endorphins.

  These endorphins are both a help and a hindrance though. On the one hand you feel very stimulated (as these are the same chemicals which opium, morphine and heroin act as), but you also feel it even more difficult to concentrate. I was like this yesterday night after coming back from the library and a reading room. I had finished the second question of Arendt's "On Revolution" which was called "The Social Question", a very stimulating read, albeit rough for those who don't know Latin, Greek, or French (such as me). I found myself on Wikipedia half the time trying to figure out what she was referring to. This made the knowledge all the more rewarding though as I had to pry the ideas from the book with a WikiCrowbar.

  Wikipedia, to me at least, is the spice that seasons my studies. I rarely read without that page open on a nearby laptop. Everything from the aforementioned book to the Bible needs to have it specific content cross referenced to provide aid to the reader. Just this morning when I "Stumbled Upon" a great website called  Maps of War,and more specifically The Imperial History of Middle East, which has a brilliant geographical Flash video of how the Middle East has been invaded constantly from ancient times to the present. I found myself looking up many of the empires (what was the Sassanid Empire? )It shows what many people, including those who consider themselves well informed, don't know about the Middle East and the ancient historic empires to begin with.

  I'm starting to get some overload again. The mental high hasn't subsided yet, so I need a cool-down. Just like after a run, when you do stretches and calisthenics; I have to do something somewhat mindless to get me down. In this case, I think I'll get some fruit at the market while having a nice drive in my car.