Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Spinning Our Wheels
I have been expressing my frustration in comments about the way the federal government seems to be doing little or nothing useful in the way of increasing our homeland security. At the same time, our president is demanding more leeway to ignore the protections guaranteed by the Constitution. I found a very good statement of…
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A Reasonable Proposition
I think Tim Lynch has outlined a good idea for moving forward from the FLDS Texas Nightmare.
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Outstanding News
The news today that UDOT puts Lehi freeway on hold is incredible. Teri Newell of UDOT said the state agency, hearing concerns from Lehi, had agreed to cut in half the width of the road, going from 680 feet wide to something closer to 350 feet wide. That plan will preserve a corridor wide enough…
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Federalist No. 8
I found Federalist No. 8 to be simply prophetic about the dangers a country faces when subjected to the intersection of human nature and the constant perception of external threat. Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will, after a time, give way to…
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A Novel Approach
As the clock starts in our efforts to reform out Utah health care system I was encouraged by this Op-Ed in the Salt Lake Tribune. Making health insurance affordable – forcing carriers to offer so-called “affordable plans” – will not result in affordable health care. . . . our priority must be to restore the…
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Repeat After Me
If there was one thing that I would like to accomplish related to the health care issue it would be to highlight the fact that having health insurance does not equal having decent, or even basic, health care. The Deseret News perpetuates the falsehood of equating the two: The task force will begin the design…
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Federalist No. 7
My first reaction to Federalist No. 7 was that it was applicable to the nation at the time it was written, but had little insights to offer us at present. Later it occurred to me that the issues being addressed would be applicable at any time we might consider the possibility of dissolving the nation…
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Myth Perpetuation
Just as our Task Force is getting started, NPR has a story on John McCain’s perspective on the issue. They outline his preferred approach – which seems generally right, and then they perpetuate one of the myths that might sink any meaningful reform. “The problem is not that most Americans lack adequate health insurance —…
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The Dread Disease Called Ease
With the news that WordPress.com is banned in Brazil because of some inappropriate blogging by someone, Lorelle makes this observation: I think bloggers around the world have become apathetic. Lazy. Uninspired. Dumbed down. Honestly. When the term echo chamber was coined, it was a good label for all the regurgitation of content spread all over…
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Messed Up and Out of Touch
Okay, so the “messed up” and “out of touch” refer to two different things, but I think they both point to the kind of systemic problems that exist in our political system. In response to a post about the Bush tax cuts an anonymous comment reveals this: I made about $47,000 and I paid $1700…
Got any book recommendations?