I've just re-read Eisenhower's parting words as President. Wow. America could use a leader like that again. I highly recommend reading the whole speech.
You can find it here.
Some excerpts:
and,Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.
But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.
Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.and,
and finally,Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.
Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative.
To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration:
We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.
2 comments:
I'm not afraid of global warming, either, although I personally try to conserve and recycle whenever possible. My biggest problem with global warming theorists is the exaggerated effort to bend data to fit their theory. A ball thrown in the air will drop to earth due to gravity. Gravity certainly has many complications beyond this basic theory, but ceteris paribus, it works on earth in every situation we are likely to encounter. If I throw a ball in the air and it keeps going, I will reconsider the theory of gravity.
Global warming theorists who insist that man's carbon dioxide production has caused the earth to warm leading to catastrophic hurricanes and even more terrible consequences simply dismiss any data indicating this may not be true or, worse yet, somehow claim that is further proof. For example, in a conversation with an intelligent person, I was told that she thought snow in Malibu was further proof of global warming. The fact that last year was a relatively mild hurricane season despite the fact that we are within a projected ten year cycle of high tropical storm activity (not based on global warming but on the cycles that have been observed over recorded history) is somehow totally ignored. If global warming caused Katrina, why can't we claim that it caused a mild hurricane season too?
As far as your theory that capitalism is a borg that eats our young and disregards any value other than money, I am similarly skeptical.
That some people choose to worship money and seem to miss the enjoyment of life ignores the fact that perhaps that pursuit of wealth is every bit as fun to them as painting a masterpiece or making it to the last level of a challenging video game. In my experience, I have met very few people who have that kind of dedication to making money. They all want to have enough to enjoy beauty in all its forms, which in turn is demand that in a free marketplace leads to the creation of beauty.
As to the devastation of all things wonderful at the hands of the borg, I've lived long enough to know what things were like fifty years ago, and whereas urban life may become increasingly ugly, the vast majority of the world is beautiful and getting more beautiful.
When I drive through the UK or France, I am amazed to see how many beautiful fields and waterfalls and villages there are in these countries that have existed for hundreds of years. In the United States, getting out of the megalopolises leads to vast open areas too.
I think whether we live in heaven or hell is somewhat up to our own existential perceptions.
Hi Wes,
Thank you for your careful, intelligent response.
I am sure that the way we are polluting and abusing our environment is wrong and dangerous. However, I see global warming as a bit of a red herring.
With regards to the 'borg' idea, let me try to clarify what I mean. I do not mean individuals going after money. I mean corporations. That is, legal entities, devoid of humanity, obliged to increase profits. I can reason with a person. I cannot reason with a corporation. Because I cannot reason with them, and because good people can do bad things under the corporate umbrella, I believe corporations are dangerous, and quite different from flesh and blood humans.
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