The Simpson-Bowles commission, which was a bipartisan congressional group, laid out the rationale for cutting taxes and eliminating loopholes quite cogently and in a way that provided a victory for both sides, but the recommendations were rejected by the executive branch of government and by members of Congress from both sides. This is a good example of the “my way or the highway” philosophy that runs rampant in Washington today. Ideology generally does not yield to logic and common sense. Because the Simpson-Bowles plan and other plans like it significantly reduced government spending and thus government growth, those politicians who feel that government is the solution to every problem and want to massively expand the government’s reach into every aspect of our lives could not possibly agree with a reasoned approach to getting our deficit under control and growing the economy. At the same time, those who want to rapidly reduce the federal debt and shrink government might be noble in their goals, but must be patient and gradually accomplish their objectives, because a rapid reduction in the size of government could create significant unemployment and other logistical problems that could be avoided with some compromise.
The Problem of Pride
In the Bible, in the Book of Proverbs we are told that God hates pride and arrogance. These are the very characteristics that surround the ideologues on both sides who feel that their way is the only right way. How many wonderful relationships never developed because each of the two parties was too proud to make the first move? How many wonderful marriages were ruined because pride erased the words “I’m sorry” from a couple’s vocabularies? I vividly remember a case where a couple lost their home to foreclosure because they refused to accept a bid from a buyer that was lower than their asking price. Pride is the quickest compromise killer.
When this kind of silliness is not only present but abounds in our congressional and executive halls, how can we ever expect to make progress? The answer to this problem is simple. It is found in the Bible, again in the Book of Proverbs where chapter 22, verse 4 says, “True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.” Humility doesn’t mean that you can’t have an opinion or advocate a position, but it does mean you are willing to consider the opinions and positions of others in a serious way and then move forward to a meaningful compromise. If the politicians can just drop some of the hubris and once again serve humbly for the good of the people, solutions will rapidly follow. We the people must make ourselves aware of whom the politicians are who totally disregard our welfare and cast their votes in their own interests. Those people need to be thrown out of office on a wholesale basis regardless of their party affiliation.
Action Steps
Try to identify some national politicians who are humble.
Identify your principles that can’t be compromised. Then consider what ideas used to implement those principles could be compromised.
Make the first step toward compromise of an idea that has put you at odds with someone you know.
Examine your own attitude for arrogance. When you identify an area of pride, practice gratitude for what you have been given. Recognize your own fallibility.
BECOMING INFORMED
Only simpletons believe everything they are told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.
PROVERBS 14:15
When I was young, I thought classical music was only the background noise for cartoons, so when my brother Curtis returned from one of his stints in the navy with an album titled The Unfinished Symphony of Franz Schubert, I was quite astonished. This was a strange choice for someone who had grown up in Detroit, also known as Motown. In Detroit “classical” music was produced by the likes of Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight, Martha and the Vandellas, and the Jackson Five.
Nevertheless, I listened to the Unfinished Symphony, and it appealed to me. I was interested in learning more about classical music because they frequently asked questions on my favorite television program, GE College Bowl, about different classical composers and their creations. Inspired by Curtis, I purchased a record album of Rossini overtures that included the theme from the Lone Ranger. I played that record every day until I could name each overture and became immensely fond of this music, which led me to begin listening to classical music stations and making classical music a big part of my life. I’m glad I cultivated the interest, since classical music affected my life in many ways and, most important, created some wonderful friendships, including a lasting relationship with a young Yale student by the name of Candy Rustin, a classical violinist who is now my wife of thirty-eight years.
Many people criticized me and thought that I was weird because of my love of classical music, but if I had listened to them and remained in the ideological box they created for themselves, I would not have expanded my horizons in a way that turned out to be positive for me. Today I frequently find myself reminding young people to expand their horizons of knowledge and not listen to those who tell them to limit their interests to things that are “culturally relevant.” I tell them that if you want to be relevant only in your household, then you only need to know the things that are important in your house, and if you want to be relevant in your neighborhood, you need to know what’s important in your neighborhood. The same thing applies to your city, state, and country. And if you want to be relevant to the entire world, program that computer known as your brain with all kinds of information from everywhere in order to prepare yourself.
Someone might say, “Don’t learn all that stuff because you will overload your brain.” As a neuroscientist I can tell you unequivocally that it is impossible to overload the human brain with information. If you learn one new fact every second, which is virtually impossible, it will take you approximately three million years to approach brain overload. The human brain has billions of neurons and hundreds of billions of interconnections. It can process more than two million bits of information per second and can remember everything you have ever seen or heard.
All of this information is retained indefinitely. I could take an eighty-five-year-old man and place depth electrodes into a certain part of his brain followed by appropriate electrical stimulation and he would be able to recite back verbatim a book he had read sixty years ago. Most of us can’t retrieve the information our brain stores that easily, but surely we can improve.
Many people comment on what percentage of the brain we actually use, but no one knows the actual number. We do, however, know of many accounts of individuals who have done unbelievable things when it was a matter of survival. That alone tells us that we generally operate significantly below capacity and that we can always learn more.
Education as the Foundation of Our Government
The founders of our nation understood that such a society could not long exist without a well-informed and well-educated populace who used the amazing brains God gave them. Even people with only a grade school education in America in the 1800s were extremely well educated. That education in turn allowed them to make informed decisions in the voting booth, protecting them against tyranny.
There are many sinister forces that are vying for power in our American society. Most of these are associated with politically ambitious individuals who are far more concerned about power and prestige than they are about the people’s welfare. Uninformed citizens tend to be trusting of some of these forces without doing due diligence in terms of studying their previous performance or their associations with dubious characters. An uninformed voter, for instance, might ignore the fact that their favorite candidate had a long history of associating with radical elements, because the candidate proclaims his good intentions and promises them justice. A well-informed voter who favored the same candidate might engage in further investigation on his own, discover that the candidate represented an organization found to be engaged in illegal practices, and change his vote as a result of the discovery.
Congress today has less than a 10 percent approval rating, yet its members are reelected
90 percent of the time across the nation. This means they have been successful in fooling the voters, but it does not mean that this should or will continue. Until the laws of this country are changed, we the people still have the ability to select our representatives. This is not only a right, but a responsibility, and we can only exercise that right responsibly when we are well informed.
Know the Record, Not Just the Party
To be informed voters, Americans need to learn to look beyond party affiliation. A significant number of voters enter the voting booth looking for a name they recognize or a party affiliation and they cast their vote based on these superficial factors. Honest politicians should be uncomfortable cultivating these types of voters. Dishonest politicians actively try to encourage such voters to support them by offering promises of jobs, free or low-cost health care, easy access to citizenship for aliens, free equipment such as telephones, and government aid to purchase food and other necessities. These bribes are extraordinarily appealing to people who feel disempowered, yet entitled. The politicians know that all of these promises will not be fulfilled or will only be fulfilled temporarily before money runs out, but they don’t really care as long as they are voted into power. The poor voters in many cases are too stressed to even notice the poor performance of their representatives and eagerly listen while those same representatives shower them with even more empty promises.
Unfortunately, many Americans don’t even know who their representatives are, nor are they aware of their voting record or general philosophy about life in our nation. Because the world is so interconnected, a well-informed individual cannot be an isolationist. They clearly must be aware of what is happening in the rest of the world and should be able to articulate opinions on major subjects of interest at any time. This way, they will be able to tell whether their opinions are in sync with those of their state and congressional representatives.
All of this is to say that we as Americans should vigorously pursue knowledge of history, current events, science and technology, finance, geography, philosophy, and religion—actually, anything and everything. Cultivating wide-ranging curiosity and careful study will provide the background we need to correctly analyze the words uttered by politicians and people in the media.
Don’t Replace Your Brain with a Computer
I’ve heard it argued that a broad base of knowledge is not nearly as important as it used to be, because most people have smartphones and can instantly access the Internet. While it may be a waste of time to memorize certain types of information since we all have virtual encyclopedias in our pockets, there is no substitute for an ingrained broad base of knowledge. That built-in knowledge allows a person to immediately assess the veracity of something they are hearing for the first time rather than just swallowing it hook, line, and sinker. While we may be able to look up answers to many questions, the study of psychology has demonstrated that what we already know influences the way we process new information. For instance, if we know there is a rabid dog loose in our neighborhood, we will regard any stray dog with a great deal of caution and suspicion, whereas if we are notified that a valuable prize-winning dog is lost in our neighborhood with a big reward out for its return, we are likely to regard that stray dog differently. Having a good knowledge base rather than relying on the ability to look everything up on Google definitely affects our instant analysis of new information on an everyday basis.
Dangers of Ignorance
Unfortunately, uninformed citizens frequently are the most vociferous in voicing their opinions. They cannot back up those opinions with facts but often are not interested in listening to common sense that opposes their beliefs. I remember a young man, very popular during late middle school and early high school years, who provides a vivid example of this behavior and its consequences. He had a following and clearly was the leader of the pack. He also was quick to voice his opinions about almost everything and was overly impressed with his own physical abilities. One unfortunate summer day, he was bragging about his swimming abilities and when challenged, was determined to demonstrate that his detractors were wrong. On a dare, he attempted to swim to one of the pillars holding up a large bridge and then swim back to shore. Unfortunately, he was caught in the undertow of the river and drowned. His tragic death illustrates what can happen when one pursues goals without appropriate information. One may think that a river looks like a gigantic swimming pool, but a little investigation should lead one to the understanding that there are many forces in a river that are not found in a swimming pool.
While a lack of education can lead to hasty action, it can also lead to lethal inaction. During the last presidential election in America, tens of millions of eligible voters simply did not vote. Many have become frustrated with the whole political scene and do not want to participate, while many others feel that the elections are fixed and/or their vote would not count anyway for a variety of reasons. I cannot emphasize strongly enough to such individuals that your failure to become informed and vote accordingly only exacerbates the situation. If only those completely swayed by the promises of demagogues vote, we will soon be in trouble far deeper than what we have already experienced.
What an Educated Citizen Knows
Becoming an informed citizen not only makes you a wiser voter but can enhance all of life’s experiences, from planning a career to raising a family. Time and space won’t allow me to provide an exhaustive outline of the things informed citizens should know, but here are a few of the basics:
Basic world and American history
Basic world and American geography
Basic household economics (key principles like balancing a checkbook and knowing that you do not buy a house that costs more than two and a half times your annual income could have spared many Americans a lot of trouble before the housing crisis)
Basic understanding of how credit works and how debt accumulates
Names of state and national representatives
Basic nutrition and disease management
Traffic rules for pedestrians and vehicle operators
Basic math including the calculation of percentages
The ability to read at an eighth-grade level
You may be surprised at the elementary nature of some items on this list, but a surprising number of adult Americans are lacking in these areas despite being well versed in the minor characters of popular sitcoms. Obviously there are a host of other things that would be useful to know, but I’ve deliberately chosen this list, since anyone who is honest and informed at the basic levels described above will be a formidable individual who is difficult to manipulate and would be a prized supporter for any honest political candidate.
Education Is the Door to Prosperity
It is especially imperative that we emphasize to members of oppressed communities that education affects your entire life. There are many studies available to show vast lifetime economic differences between those with a high school diploma versus a college degree versus a professional degree. (Education in highly skilled trades also pays off very well economically.) The first twenty to twenty-five years are spent either preparing yourself educationally or not preparing yourself. If you prepare well, you will have sixty years to reap the benefits. If you prepare poorly, you will have sixty years to suffer the consequences. When you look at it that way, a little investment in hard work for a relatively short period of time pays huge dividends, while failure to prepare is equivalent to choosing to be a victim of society. We must get our young people to understand that they are the ones who get to make the choice about the lifestyle they will lead. As long as they remain free of legal entanglements, no one can stop them from pursuing their dreams. My life is a testament to this.
Education also opens many doors of personal fulfillment and joy that have nothing to do with economics. I believe it would be highly instructive and beneficial to many of the young people in our nation to live abroad in a third world nation for several months and then return to the United Sta
tes. Like many immigrants who come here, I believe they would immediately realize how many opportunities they have and how many choices are theirs for the taking.
It’s Never Too Late to Learn
The basic elements necessary to become an informed citizen are readily available in the public school systems, but unfortunately some people do not pay attention in school, and 30 percent of those who enter U.S. high schools do not graduate. Fortunately, all hope is not lost for such individuals, because there are many ways that one can acquire the basic knowledge listed in the bullet points above. Information on those topics can be found for free online, though it’s important to choose reputable sources. Many things posted on the Internet are simply opinions presented as facts and it is important to cross-reference information several times before accepting them.
Television and radio programs can provide much information on current events, but since there is so much bias in the media, it is important to listen to several sources representing both sides of an issue in order to be informed. Listening only to one cable news outlet is probably not wise if you want to learn about all sides of an issue. The same is true of printed media. I recently had dinner with two senior editors of a major national newspaper and I asked them if they were unbiased. They both proclaimed that they were objective and saw no bias in their reporting, despite clearly partisan leanings in their paper. To avoid absorbing a biased point of view, make sure you vary your media sources.
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