Secrets? Merit? I keep one secret, and it's related to the Merit issue: I didn't do the work.
I was given gifts at birth and in upbringing, but I chose to take the easy, lazy road. I have done well, but I could have been much better. Every good thing I have today is gift. I did not earn it.
Conservative? You betcha! Goldwater in '64 for starters, and every GOP candidate after, until 2016.
I voted for Romney 4 times: '12, '16, '20 and '24, but I broke with the party in 2008, when the local Republicans turned against Bush over immigration. I am not for open borders, but I support a welcoming attitude for persons seeking a better life for themselves and their families. That's how my ancestors got here, another of the gifts I have received.
Here's another secret: I believe many of my fellow conservatives, and they are also fellow Christians, do not regard immigrants - especially those who don't look and talk like them - as equals in the 1776 Declaration sense. If my life matters, Black Lives Matter, too.
Vegetarian??? Jay, cast out that thought. Having just finished a delicious Texas Steak, the idea of sitting down to a life of eating Kale and Quinoa is unbearable!! Thanks for the travel updates.
Well, pretty much all of my views are secret now. For much of my life, my conservative/libertarian views were secret from the world I mostly occupied: classical music. Now my Reaganite views are also secret from the other world I occasionally occupy: the modern Republican party. The only views I openly express are related to cat videos.
Maybe this isn’t quite what you are looking for, but in 2022 we had a constitutional amendment on the ballot here in Missouri to legalize marijuana. My position on the issue came down to one thing: I can’t stand the smell of pot, and if making it legal meant I would have to smell it more, then my vote was no. I didn’t really give any consideration to the larger political or economic questions involved—all I can think about is that smell. Unfortunately, the amendment passed in spite of my “no” vote.
I was a vegan for 10 years in my 20-30s, It was in the hippy times on a spiritual commune, but when I returned to normal life and had a daughter, her grandma quickly found out that she loved hot dogs and would always slip her some, and I can't throw out food, so ended up eating quite a few and backslid from there.
I still try to stick with chicken and fish for animal protein, regardless of the ethics, it is really alarming the differences in carbon production between the very high beef and lamb, vs chicken, fish and pork, which is my excuse for the occasional pork chop
Great thoughts, Jay! And enjoy the delights of Salzburg! I was just there for a day a week ago last Thursday - on July 31. A side excursion on a river cruise. We left the boat in Linz and bused in on a ‘Sound of Music’ excursion. Funny thing how the Austrians, those poor innocent victims of WWII, hate that movie! Yet they seem to have no problem reelin’ in the euros’s showing it all off! Lovely town - we admired the signs advertising the festival you are now at. Witnessed a funeral parade leaving the Salzburg Cathedral on its way to the cemetery (St. Peters?) complete with a band - it’s members liveried in traditional lederhosen. We heard it was for a 96 year old priest/administrator of the diocese - many miter-ed bishops followed the casket. I could quickly see why you love this place. Pop down a few Mozart Balls with your afternoon coffee!
Secret Views - i oppose Capital Punishment except for highly dangerous convicted murderers, violent reoffenders who pose a threat to corrections personnel. I believe all humans should be treated with dignity - even those listed above. Every illegal immigrant is worthy of dignified treatment, if only because they are created in the image and likeness … you know. Turn away the border crossers and deport those here illegally while expanding legal immigration. We need new immigrant workers and their families who are properly integrated and follow the law. That thought would get me bounced out of the MAGA block party for sure.
I oppose the popular election of US Senators - let’s get back to election by state legislatures - California probably wouldn’t see much improvement but I could see better quality senators coming from many Red and Blue states.
I believe that humanity’s natural inclination is selfishness, greed and violence - our natural animal instincts are generally evil but faith and culture acculturate us to control our worst impulses. Of course, it can break down - we toured Dachau also - the industrialized enslavement and elimination of all ‘undesirables’ - (Interesting - Dachau was originally a prison and labor camp and not an ‘extermination’ camp like Auschwitz) we say ‘Never Again’ as we witness it happening all around us - only a thin veneer of ‘civilization’ keeps us from going all ‘Lord of the Flies’ on each other. And yet … and yet … Good will always prevail, good ultimately overcomes all evil - though sometimes only after great suffering. And that … is my last secret view: I am an incurable optimist. (Most good historians I know are as well!) Blessings to you, friend … until we meet ….
I have tried to explain to my close friends that, if Donald Trump had been President of the U.S. in the late 19th century/20th century, none of our great-grandparents or grandparents, from Eastern and Southern Europe, would have been let in. It seems to fall on deaf ears.
Capital punishment. Not that what the convicts did isn't usually beyond heinous, but if you read their backgrounds, many of them never stood a chance in life. Don't usually go there when it comes up, but nobody did ever teach them right from wrong.
Secrets? Merit? I keep one secret, and it's related to the Merit issue: I didn't do the work.
I was given gifts at birth and in upbringing, but I chose to take the easy, lazy road. I have done well, but I could have been much better. Every good thing I have today is gift. I did not earn it.
Conservative? You betcha! Goldwater in '64 for starters, and every GOP candidate after, until 2016.
I voted for Romney 4 times: '12, '16, '20 and '24, but I broke with the party in 2008, when the local Republicans turned against Bush over immigration. I am not for open borders, but I support a welcoming attitude for persons seeking a better life for themselves and their families. That's how my ancestors got here, another of the gifts I have received.
Here's another secret: I believe many of my fellow conservatives, and they are also fellow Christians, do not regard immigrants - especially those who don't look and talk like them - as equals in the 1776 Declaration sense. If my life matters, Black Lives Matter, too.
Vegetarian??? Jay, cast out that thought. Having just finished a delicious Texas Steak, the idea of sitting down to a life of eating Kale and Quinoa is unbearable!! Thanks for the travel updates.
"Also—I don’t mean to shock you—I like to show off."
I suspect this is the "secret view" of many high-performing people. Including myself.
Well, pretty much all of my views are secret now. For much of my life, my conservative/libertarian views were secret from the world I mostly occupied: classical music. Now my Reaganite views are also secret from the other world I occasionally occupy: the modern Republican party. The only views I openly express are related to cat videos.
!
Maybe this isn’t quite what you are looking for, but in 2022 we had a constitutional amendment on the ballot here in Missouri to legalize marijuana. My position on the issue came down to one thing: I can’t stand the smell of pot, and if making it legal meant I would have to smell it more, then my vote was no. I didn’t really give any consideration to the larger political or economic questions involved—all I can think about is that smell. Unfortunately, the amendment passed in spite of my “no” vote.
I was a vegan for 10 years in my 20-30s, It was in the hippy times on a spiritual commune, but when I returned to normal life and had a daughter, her grandma quickly found out that she loved hot dogs and would always slip her some, and I can't throw out food, so ended up eating quite a few and backslid from there.
I still try to stick with chicken and fish for animal protein, regardless of the ethics, it is really alarming the differences in carbon production between the very high beef and lamb, vs chicken, fish and pork, which is my excuse for the occasional pork chop
Great thoughts, Jay! And enjoy the delights of Salzburg! I was just there for a day a week ago last Thursday - on July 31. A side excursion on a river cruise. We left the boat in Linz and bused in on a ‘Sound of Music’ excursion. Funny thing how the Austrians, those poor innocent victims of WWII, hate that movie! Yet they seem to have no problem reelin’ in the euros’s showing it all off! Lovely town - we admired the signs advertising the festival you are now at. Witnessed a funeral parade leaving the Salzburg Cathedral on its way to the cemetery (St. Peters?) complete with a band - it’s members liveried in traditional lederhosen. We heard it was for a 96 year old priest/administrator of the diocese - many miter-ed bishops followed the casket. I could quickly see why you love this place. Pop down a few Mozart Balls with your afternoon coffee!
Secret Views - i oppose Capital Punishment except for highly dangerous convicted murderers, violent reoffenders who pose a threat to corrections personnel. I believe all humans should be treated with dignity - even those listed above. Every illegal immigrant is worthy of dignified treatment, if only because they are created in the image and likeness … you know. Turn away the border crossers and deport those here illegally while expanding legal immigration. We need new immigrant workers and their families who are properly integrated and follow the law. That thought would get me bounced out of the MAGA block party for sure.
I oppose the popular election of US Senators - let’s get back to election by state legislatures - California probably wouldn’t see much improvement but I could see better quality senators coming from many Red and Blue states.
I believe that humanity’s natural inclination is selfishness, greed and violence - our natural animal instincts are generally evil but faith and culture acculturate us to control our worst impulses. Of course, it can break down - we toured Dachau also - the industrialized enslavement and elimination of all ‘undesirables’ - (Interesting - Dachau was originally a prison and labor camp and not an ‘extermination’ camp like Auschwitz) we say ‘Never Again’ as we witness it happening all around us - only a thin veneer of ‘civilization’ keeps us from going all ‘Lord of the Flies’ on each other. And yet … and yet … Good will always prevail, good ultimately overcomes all evil - though sometimes only after great suffering. And that … is my last secret view: I am an incurable optimist. (Most good historians I know are as well!) Blessings to you, friend … until we meet ….
Scott
I have tried to explain to my close friends that, if Donald Trump had been President of the U.S. in the late 19th century/20th century, none of our great-grandparents or grandparents, from Eastern and Southern Europe, would have been let in. It seems to fall on deaf ears.
Capital punishment. Not that what the convicts did isn't usually beyond heinous, but if you read their backgrounds, many of them never stood a chance in life. Don't usually go there when it comes up, but nobody did ever teach them right from wrong.
My secret suspicion, never shared with "believers," is:
Thinking there is an afterlife is mostly a source of tremendous evil - enabling some of the worst human behavior.
Terrorist martyrdom is the obvious example but so is "Kill them all and let God sort them out."