9/28/25 – DiCaprio, born in 1974, is a Gen Xer, and therefore, now technically middle-aged. The odd thing about middle age is that it does not necessarily feel particularly old, in many respects, such as physically or idealistically. Does life have to grind us down? Do we, by default, have to become more jaded, broken or defeated? Perhaps, instead we are reborn with the emotional maturity to fight harder and smarter and the wisdom to know what battles are worth waging.
We hear that a certain person is using the Justice Department to go after James Comey. Of course, it’s an abuse of power and entirely beneath the dignity of the office, but this man has never been worthy of the presidency. He is an indecent man, and we all know this. If our justice system still works, his retribution campaign will go nowhere.
Regardless of how this plays out in the courts, the real question is: Do we allow these kinds of events to change us for the worse? Do we allow our idealism to die because the world seems too sinful and irredeemable? Any devout Christian knows well the answer to this question. It hangs on the cross. If all of this were easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing. It’s hard because that’s what is worthy of our spark of the divine. We are not called to an easy life. We are called to a life worthy of being children of God. Happy Sunday!
9/21/25 – It’s important to know who and what you love. We love the Lord our God, now and forever. Happy Sunday!
9/21/25 – To add to Brooks’s points, it’s easier to make money, gain influence and power stirring up the dark passions. It’s much harder to risk one’s own livelihood to do the right thing. The great women and men in history were willing to be sources of hope and light, and they were also willing to sacrifice, in some cases, their own lives. (It’s also helpful to have a bit of a punk, eff you, edge. You know….) Fellow Americans, do the right thing.
The Era of Dark Passions
9/21/25 – To those people whose First Amendment rights have been violated and to the free press: Fight. Band together and fight. We’re fighting right along with you for a better society and country, just in a different way. We’re also taking risks. They’re just not obvious.
9/21/25 – To all the people who take (great) risks to do the right thing, who refuse to compromise on morality, ethics, laws or their integrity, we salute you. It can feel scary. Going along to get along is so much easier. Societies don’t change for the better by self-interested people but by people who are willing to sacrifice.
9/21/25 – Extended breaks are necessary now, maybe permanently, for various reasons, such as exhaustion….
9/15/25 – People are online way too much. That is all.
9/15/25 – After a delay, here are the two articles mentioned below that provide good arguments about the differences between the United States and Europe.
How—and Why—U.S. Capitalism Is Unlike Any Other
‘America First’ Does Not Mean ‘America Everywhere’
9/11/25 – Jesus didn’t call us to an easy life. He called us to a life worth living. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, carry the cross with grace and live the Gospel.
This Feels Like a Pivotal Moment
9/11/25 – Fellow Americans, we don’t sacrifice as we do because of a union contract or any contract or an employee handbook. The character of the American people must be impeccable, and it must be written into the historical record. We are in a very low place, but our people are generally good. It can be hard to believe this when we’re faced with this much violence and dysfunction, but we have to hang on to truth and hope. If we don’t, we would be betraying the memory of those who sacrifice for us, our firefighters and other first responders, our military members, and others. We would also be betraying ourselves as Americans. Let us be like steel forged into a stronger union by our collective adversity. If we are not a city on a hill, which country will be? We have to be a light for each other and for the world.
9/11/25 – From 8/31/23 – “Men (as a group and to a significant extent) are larger, faster, and stronger than women. This cannot be disputed, and it cannot be understood as some irrelevancy, because it comes with an obvious moral question that each man must answer for himself: Will he use his strength to dominate the weak, or to protect them?… The opposite of toxic masculinity is heroic masculinity…. [I can’t remember the number of times I have cried, more accurately, sobbed when I have thought about this.] Heroic masculinity is the understanding that someone has to climb the endless staircases in the towers. On 9/11, 343 New York City firefighters died at Ground Zero, and there wasn’t one of them who didn’t know, or at least suspect, that he was climbing to his death. They didn’t do it because of a union contract or an employee handbook. They climbed those towers because they knew that it must be written into the American record that heroes were there that day, and that the desperate people inside those buildings had never—not once—been abandoned.” To those who sacrificed their lives for us and their relatives, know that they live in our hearts, minds and souls. We love them with a genuine, grateful love that’s as eternal as their heroic souls.
In Praise of Heroic Masculinity
9/9/25 – Let’s return to this idea of American exceptionalism, workaholics edition. There were a couple good articles in The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, which we’ll have to link to later for the sake of time, that provided somewhat historical perspectives on varieties of capitalism. One could argue that Americans work harder and longer because our capitalistic system is more ruthlessly competitive and workers are more fearful of losing their jobs or have more precarious lives, but this is not necessarily true.
The competition might be part of the reason, but really, there is a significant cultural difference as it relates to attitudes towards work that go well beyond the differences in the capitalist systems, which are real. It is a cultural difference grounded in a Christian work ethic that goes back to the founding of the country. It has changed shape and taken on a more secular form, but it still remains the case that religious people are more likely to maintain a stricter version of this work ethic than liberals, especially those who would like to be more like Europe.
In general, Americans don’t like people to think of them as lazy or bad workers. There is a certain level of pride in work that translates to a better run society. Long vacations might seem nice until you are on the receiving end of the transaction, and you need to wait a month to get your affairs in order because the fonctionnaires were sunning themselves in the South of France. It’s nice until you have to wait three times as long to get things done. Everything is greener on the other side. Go live on the other side, and you’ll realize a fundamental truth about economics and life – there are always tradeoffs. We bet that if America became more like Europe, Americans would not like the realities of the tradeoff.
9/9/25 – Germans are ridiculous. The self-described superior genes (very unattractive people), anti-Semitic, genocidal group of people who ridiculed Southern Europe and tormented eurozone members that were not able to adjust their economies via monetary policy because they were in a euro-straitjacket are, turns out, lazy f—kers. They work less than the same European countries they mocked and extorted while exploiting the inequities of the currency union. Germany has been the worst country in Europe, and it just gets worse and worse.
9/6/25 – Well, at least, people are having substantive debates, not whatever social media outrage crap they usually do. The difference that Brooks summarizes could be considered at the heart of our conflicts as a country. In case people didn’t figure it out from our posts, we’re on the Brooks side of the debate. However, the problem with conservatives is that they tend to be greedy and stingy. These are unappealing personality traits and policies. They hide behind excuses, such as laziness and such of the recipients, which can be true, but really, they likely just don’t want to part with their money. They don’t want to pay higher taxes. They might also not actually want a more equitable society. Maybe their infatuation with the modern version of Brave New World is really about keeping other people down.
In any case, the question is: How do you hold people accountable for the help that you give them? We are also struggling with finding the right response to this as a nation. The answer is definitely not what happened to USAID. It’s also not maintaining the status quo, such as with European infantilization as it relates to defense. The correct answer should promote personal character, such as hard work, morality and a healthy culture.
Why does one put in so many more hours than they are paid for as a salaried employee? Sometimes, it’s fear. Often times, it’s because they just care about the kind of job they do. They want to do it well. (Burnout is real though.) Americans can be workaholics, but the positive side is that we often do take pride in our work. Having a nation full of people who are passionate about their jobs is generally positive. How do we instill this in others who are struggling financially and/or personally? To be clear, not all people who are struggling financially or personally lack pride in their work, but some might. It’s hard to even put one’s finger on the motivation. What drives pride in one’s work? Anyway, we’re too tired to think more about this tonight. It’s been a long week, and it’s hard to solve.
Why I Am Not a Liberal