Monday, October 25, 2021

I prefer folks who have actually served their country rather than themselves.

Personal opinion, not representing any organization with which I am affiliated:

In one corner, there is a former President who continues to tell lies about free and fair elections. A former president who referred to sexual escapades as his own personal Vietnam, while avoiding the draft due to a questionable health deferral. Maybe those bone spurs were acting up as he hobbled down the ramp after the West Point graduation.

In the other corner, we have folks like former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former SECDEFs Mattis and Gates, and Senator McCain.

They have each spoken very clearly about the danger the former President poses to our Republic. Each of them, due to their long years of service, have made decisions, comments and issued directives that can be criticized. But nothing they have said or done has come close to the dishonor and damage to our country the former president has inflicted upon this great country.

Unfortunately, we have a minority, but still a significant portion of the population, who'd rather listen to the angry, self-aggrandizing lies of a man with a track record that speaks for itself relative to 

-his attitudes about honesty in business dealings, or government dealings

-treating allies poorly and autocratic dictators with reverence, 

-treating women as unworthy of respect, 

-wanting credit for a vaccine while simultaneously downplaying the tragedy of hundreds of thousands dead from a contagious disease, and 

-a chillingly effective attack on the free press.

If the warning words of great men like Powell, Mattis, Gates and McCain continue to be ignored, the damage from 6 Jan 2021 will look like child's play as the actions of the misguided in thrall to this terrible man escalate.

Thursday, June 17, 2021

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt

 Commentary and thoughts

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion           by Jonathan Haidt

I have been trying to make sense of how anyone with any morals could support the former President after 1) the horrific response to COVID 19, followed by 2) the shredding of democratic values of faith in a free and fair election which didn’t even culminate after the insurrectionist attack on Congress on Jan 6, and 3) the non-stop self-serving lies, bullying, misogyny, racism and other personal character flaws this man has exhibited all his life.

I came across this title and went right after it. A shout out to our local Mooresville, NC library for having this book in old school paper, as well as audio or electronic versions. I went old school this time.

Haidt tackles this from a non-believer’s standpoint, and a generally leaning left standpoint, but acknowledges that from a moral development standpoint, he sees the attractiveness of a conservative approach (in the liberals vs conservatives framework).

In short, he has built out a Moral Foundations Theory to get at some shared underlying moral framework that can describe the facets of moral foundations across humans/societies in much the same way that Costa and McCrae developed a 5 factor model for personality at the individual person level, but this text also shares a lot of history and sociology to explain how he got there, versus an almost exclusively empirical factor modeling approach.

The model that Haidt and fellow researchers landed on had the following six dimensions:

1.      Care/harm

2.      Liberty/oppression

3.      Fairness/cheating

4.      Loyalty/betrayal

5.      Authority/subversion

6.      Sanctity/degradation

He argues that Democrats have a hard time resonating with the general public because liberals over-index on just a few of these dimensions at the expense of others, whereas Republicans tend to message to all 6 of these dimensions. Libertarians currently identify most with Republicans, but share some common interests with Democrats.

He describes the liberal moral matrix as heavily indexing on Care/harm, almost to the exclusion of all other dimensions, but also some weight to Liberty/oppression and Fairness/cheating. Highlights the most sacred value for liberals as care for victims of oppression. Minimal focus on the other 3 dimensions.

He acknowledges he identifies with liberals generally, and keys into 2 points that he feels liberals get right that he shares:

1.     1.  Governments can and should restrain corporate superorganisms.

2.      2.  Some problems really can be solved by regulation.

He describes the libertarian moral matrix having the most sacred value of individual liberty, as most heavily indexed on Liberty/oppression dimension (but more on the liberty side than the reducing oppression focus of liberals). To a lesser degree, libertarians also focused on fairness cheating, and weaker ties to the other 4 dimensions.

He identifies a counterpoint from the libertarian perspective against the 2 liberal points:

1.     1.  Markets are miraculous.

Just as there are some problems that government and regulation can address, there are others that markets seem to do a better job. He highlights healthcare in this space, which interestingly is also used by liberals as a rallying cry for oppression as those who can afford seem to get better care, and those who can’t afford have to choose whether to pursue health at the risk of financial ruin.

In turning to the social conservative moral matrix, he highlights their most sacred value as preserving the institutions and traditions that sustain a moral community. He describes the matrix as tapping into all 6 of the dimensions mentioned earlier.

In other words, the advantage conservatives have over liberals from these domains is that they tap into all 6 dimensions, whereas the liberals tap into only 3 of the dimensions.

His second counterpart to the liberal perspective comes from the conservative viewpoint versus the first counterpoint from the libertarian perspective.

2.     2.  You can’t help the bees by destroying the hive.

If we identify humans as bees- a metaphor Haidt uses to refer to humans “groupiness” or ties to social collaboration, movements like BLM, who have as part of their charter the invalidation of traditional family structures, are going to cause damage while they intend to increase care and reduce harm. In other words, there is a counterproductive element to liberal approaches which tear at the fabric of traditional institutions.

I really enjoyed the read. I still have not come to fully understand, however, how to make sense of the specter of the Trump Republican, who in my mind is not even a social conservative, as there seems to be a willingness to excuse any and all malfeasance by one specific individual. I don’t understand his many false fear-based messages, and am saddened as I see a willingness by some to excuse insurrection and embrace anti-democracy perspectives. They sow mistrust in public institutions. They excuse lying and bullying. The way the former President scrambled messages about the virus that has now killed 600k fellow Americans, dismissed the more clear-eyed science advisors and embraced sham science, the way he both excused and tried to blame China for the virus, leading to a poor embrace of preventive measures and now even to the anti-vax misinformation campaign which leaves a substantial portion of the U.S. population vulnerable to this virus. I just don’t get it. I’ll go through each of the dimensions:

1.      Care/harm- COVID….

2.      Liberty/oppression- believes that it is zero sum- if underprivileged people are lifted up, somehow others are harmed- takes the hive destruction theory above and exaggerates what most groups are trying to achieve- the boogey man on steroids-

3.      Fairness/cheating- uses the message that “the other” is cheating, despite the never ending misinformation about last year’s election, the 60+ court cases finding no fraud or cheating of any scale likely to impact his loss, statements of free and fair elections by his own CISA and DOJ leadership teams, etc. And of course, his past history in business…

4.      Loyalty/betrayal- wow- he’s managed to convince people to march behind flags with his image and name rather than the U.S. flag, and attack the capital. He’s managed to convince his followers to root for Russia over the U.S. if he’s not the leader of the U.S. Loyalty to person and party over country. Congratulations or something.

5.      Authority/subversion- I encourage all to take a look at the role of inspectors general, and then look at how the former President did all in his power to keep these watchdogs not just on a leash, but starved or even sent to the pound. Look at how he used acting cabinet members versus Congressionally approved staff so he could ignore the checks and balances that process involves. He got impeached for abuse of power when he tried to get Ukraine to announce investigations of a political rival, and then got impeached again when he set the conditions for the insurrection on Jan 6. He seemed to be hell-bent on destroying the institutions he was charged to lead and represent. Not a conservative value that I am aware of.

6.      Sanctity/degradation. His Lafayette Square stroll through protestors to hold a Bible he’s completely unfamiliar with in front of a church he’s never actually visited is the perfect symbol. His multiple wives that he discards as he goes to the next one, before closing out the previous relationship, and payoffs to porn stars and porn models suggest some room for improvement and a curious ideal for evangelicals. For him, the only thing holy is his brand/name. His affiliations with child predators like Epstein and Maxwell (“I wish her well”), his responses to questions about morality and his “favorite scripture,” all show someone who’s either abandoned any sense of the sacred or never got there in the first place.

With a publication date of 2012, this text precedes the 4 year Trump presidency, so I don’t know how Haidt would break Trump and his followers down within his framework, but you just got my analysis!

Friday, June 04, 2021

Early morning walks and law enforcement interactions

Needed to write this back when it happened- Nov 16, 2020.

Things seem to always be busy between family, church, work and military. And with COVID, I suspended my trips to my current fitness center of choice, Planet Fitness- can't beat $10/month, but even that stops when COVID rages.
So I started doing early morning walks around the neighborhood before the work from home day started. Sometimes I would ramp it up and add in a ruck sack with a bit of weight in it, the actual amount depending on my ambition and the feel in my shredded knees and arthritic ankles, back aches, etc.

So this early Monday morning, as I walked along with my ruck, headphones in, listening to one audiobook or another, I was coming out of one of the sub-neighborhoods and I see 2 SUVs coming down the road. I move to the side to avoid getting run over, and as one passes, I notice it is local PD. And the other angles in front of me. I check behind me and the other has angled behind me.

OK, I'm the person of interest here in the dark early morning hours. I remove my sweatshirt hood, pull my headphones and keep my hands out wide to keep folks happy.

One female officer and one male officer, I would guess she was in her 30s, him in his 20s, both white, him with a short military style haircut. They tell me they got a call from someone in the neighborhood about a prowler, asked for my name and address, which I provided. The young man then indicated it seemed obvious to him that I was out on a ruck walk. I think the fact that I had a military rucksack on my back and was wearing combat boots may have tipped him off. I also shared with him that I'd been doing these walks for months by this point, so that neighbor had missed out on my potential prowling many times prior to that.

I would have considered it all unremarkable, excepting that this past year has had much in the media about various less successful citizen-police engagements. I have rarely ever felt targeted, and even in this case, they quickly worked to put me at ease, as I did with them. Being an MP myself hasn't been a big factor, I don't identify as law enforcement, but I do know a large number in the Guard and Reserve who are also civilian police. We've had some good discussions over this past year.

Glad this engagement was one in which the peace was protected and preserved for all involved.

Monday, November 02, 2020

Additional reading

Deadly Revenge, by R.E. (Mike) Patterson. A police suspense type book. Interesting enough story, needing some careful proofreading and editing, though. Had the feel of a self-published book. A used paperback pickup for pennies from the USAHEC book store. Good for a bit of reading on a couple of nights. Great diversion from the last two days prior to election on Nov 3 this year. 

Mind Prey, John Sandford. Also a police mystery type book, much better written, listened to as an audio book during my early morning ruck marches. Hoopla lend through the Mooresville Public Library. Language and some scenes not for the faint of heart or those preferring "clean" literature. 

The Geometry of Wealth, Brian Portnoy. I enjoyed this one as I enjoy many books on behavioral finance. It is the intersection for me of my background in psychology, and then more recently the business background. I plan to retire early and am still figuring out what I retire to. There are many stories where military folks I know just don't live very long after they retire, and I hope to not just survive in retirement but also find some form of what Portnoy refers to as "funded contentment".  New paperback copy, I think from Amazon.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

More Books Read- helping me keep track

The pandemic and working from home has freed up commuting time, less time out and about, and not working out at the gym has also been replaced by long walks during which audio books have helped me keep plowing along.

Mind Hacking, Sir John Hargrave. Enjoyed this take on looking at yourself and your mind from the 3rd person perspective- you are not your mind and you can control it. A good complement to the idea that your are not your emotions and you can control them.  A different way to think about the elephant-path-rider from Jonathan Haidt.

The Next Millionaire Next Door, Thomas J. Stanley. Part of his continuing work from The Millionaire Next Door- more on "how they get there." I like it- helping remind me of the differences between spending, income and wealth and how they don't determine each other.

The Millionaire Mind, Thomas J. Stanley,  Also part of the ongoing work. Good stuff. For example, a preference to budget and be frugal- living rich/acting rich don't get you where you need to go, most millionaires live relatively frugally.

Surrounded by Idiots, Thomas Erikson. A breakdown of different personality styles that can be used to understand behavior patterns. I like it generally, but always balk at overgeneralization. 

Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris. At times very funny, at times a bit sad, a bunch of short stories of David's life. Audio book read by the author, with some of the segments clearly presented before live audiences. Enjoyed it.

The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy. The idea that you can make little changes and then they just build over time- not just financial, but behavioral habits, etc.

Everyday Millionaires, Chris Hogan. A colleague of Dave Ramsey, a positive viewpoint that wealth-building is something everyone can achieve, with thoughts about how to get there. I appreciated his can-do attitude and advocacy for hard work and persistence in the face of adversity.

Boundaries, Henry Cloud. A combination of psychologist viewpoints and Christian-based behavior therapy and counseling. The part that was probably most personally relevant was about self-boundaries and setting limits for myself. We need to be able to know when and how to say no and feel good about it, just as we need to know when and how to say yes and feel good about that.

The Devil's Financial Dictionary, Jason Zweig. A mostly very funny set of snarky definitions for financial terms that reflect an appreciation that the terms can obscure nefarious behavior, ill will or incompetence in the financial industry.

The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham. A classic in the investing world. And good pointers for me to think about how to be more defensive and take less risk. Suggested to me that I'm taking too much risk, and a good thing to think about at this stage in my life. I've been blessed to have happened to have good earning periods that corresponded with good market conditions, and not been gashed as many have during some rough markets.

A Noob's Guide to Riches, David Allen. A bit light, but nothing offensive in terms of recommendations on how to save, how to earn money in different ways, etc. Takes work, but can be done. 

A History of the United States in Five Crashes, Scott Nations. A great complement to The Intelligent Investor to address my hubris in investing. Goes through precursors to market crashes, the events and the aftermath. I've lived through some of it, but have frankly not experienced the learning that comes with pain and suffering that strikes many in those crashes.

The Power of Vulnerability, Brene Brown. Audio "book"- a collection of seminar presentations that build on each other- like a recording of a multi-day or multi-session workshop. Well done. She has a great sense of humor that comes through, she's a real interesting character. Glad to have come across this one.

The End is Always Near, Dan Carlin. Also listened to. A real world complement to the History of the U.S. in Five Crashes. I don't think that I see that we're more close or more far to an apocalyptic ending, but it is good to know that we've worked through other times that were clearly more challenging than today.  A great response that I learned to think about during the Army War College, as we noted that there's a "present tense" bias in assessing threats, risk, instability, or the VUCA world. 

Nine Lies About Work, Marcus Buckingham. I enjoyed this one like I enjoy most, if not all, of Buckingham's pieces.

What Makes Love Last, Nan Silver & John Gottman. Good reminders of do's and don'ts for my most important relationships.

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, John Gottman. Another book that helps me see how much work I still need to do in my most important relationship.


Wednesday, September 16, 2020

On Night's Shore by Randall Silvis

 Another Ollie's Outlets bargain book.


Really enjoyed it. Providing an escape from today's political nightmare where we have folks who have made it a badge of courage to mock and belittle people trying to stay safe and keep others safe from a virus that has killed close to 200k in the U.S. right now.


I can't help but reflect on how we memorialized 3k dead and many others injured from Sep 11 last Friday, and we can't get behind an all-court press to address something that has taken out what- 200/3... 66xs the number killed, not to mention those suffering but not dying. We have a significant portion of the population following the lead of folks who sometimes say this is a scourge, a plague and wearing a mask is patriotic, and then on the other side minimize, downplay and dismiss the virus. For a few reasons, including debilitating cognitive dissonance, the followers choose to listen to the down-playing and anti-mask portions and ignore the warnings and encouragement to follow best medical and scientific advice.


So here's a good escape from that nonsense, good for an evening or two of quiet entertainment- no commercials and no current affairs!


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2328356.On_Night_s_Shore?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=33ocCpPsF2&rank=1


Saturday, July 25, 2020

Tiger, by William Richter

This was another Ollie's Outlets purchase, and a "light" read compared to some of my other stuff in financial management or military and other non-fiction stuff that I read to learn. Written by a Hollywoood screenwriter, is apparently a sequel to another book I haven't read. If I come across the previous book, I'll read it, but won't necessarily seek it out. I have too many books sitting around either physically or electronically, and I'm being pressured to reduce some of the clutter.  


One sign that I'm getting old: this one has a decent bit of thriller stuff going on- explosions, killing, chase scenes, etc- and I like quiet so much, I prefer reading it than watching it.  

Or maybe not being old, I've always enjoyed the quiet of reading.