I have given considerable thought to your request, and have decided to respond in the following way. (Thanks, LL!) I will simply state many of the things that I believe, and you and anyone else who browses and/or posts here (Hi, Poet!) are free to agree or disagree with each, and decide for yourselves to what extent these beliefs are nurtured or valued in our public schools or other institutions, and to what extent they are not. My beliefs are what they are; some have changed over the years, and some may change in the future. In any event, I feel no need to justify any of them with anyone here, having done so in my own mind and to my own satisfaction. Finally, my apologies for subjecting many of you to a long post in which you may well be totally disinterested.
I believe.....
that complying with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocols would subject the U.S. to significant economic losses
that the disappearance of a few hundred or a few thousand of the millions of species of life in the world would hardly be noticed, nor would it diminish the world in any significant way
that the evidence for future global warming wreaking havoc on our planet unless we do something soon is highly questionable at best and pure fear-mongering at worst
that economic consequences should be considered when passing new legislation on environmental or product-safety issues, among others
that individualism and personal responsibility are more important in ones education and growth than self-esteem
that the advantages of our market-driven, entrepreneurial, capitalistic system are much greater than its disadvantages
that our tax code is so incredibly complex and distorted that the only way to fix it is to throw it completely out and start from scratch, probably with some form of flat tax with the first X thousand of income exempt
that reducing the tax burden on upper-income taxpayers is not only fair but necessary, given that they pay most of the taxes in the first place
that elimination of taxes on capital gains would unleash a huge wave of economic growth which in turn would result in higher tax revenues over any 3+ year period,+ not lower
that choice is good...in education and in investing social security assets among others
that corporations have many different constituencies, including shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, and their communities, that the most successful ones find ways to successfully balance the often-conflicting needs of these various groups, but that the primary obligation of a corporation is to its shareholders
that executives who have padded their own pockets while falsifying their accounting should have their wealth confiscated and serve time
that the greed that has infected our society and our culture has been encouraged by option-based compensation structures, trial lawyers, investment banking firms, analysts, accountants, absurdly complicated tax laws, and well-meaning politicians
that there are gender differences between the sexes in far more than physical ways that it is appropriate to recognize
that it is not necessarily homophobic to believe that homosexuality should not have moral, legal, social, or cultural equivalence with heterosexuality
that schools should increase their emphasis on education in science, math, english, and economics, and reduce their emphasis on sex education, self-esteem, cultural heritage, and social issues
that no one has a right to not be offended
that schools should emphasize learning English as quickly as possible for non-English-speaking students and sharply limit continuing education in their native language
that the two most significant problems faced by public school teachers are the lack of motivation of the students, and the lack of parental involvement and insistence on scholastic performance
that black leaders (and the politicians who agree with them) who emphasize racism, limited opportunities, and discrimination rather than what their followers need to do to succeed are doing their race a disservice
that eliminating identification of race and/or ethnic heritage from all government forms is a good idea
in the death penalty, where aggravating circumstances are present and mitigating circumstances are absent
that a beating heart in a fetus is an indication of a human life
that the U.S. should act in the best interests of our country, even if other nations of the world do not agree with us
that Rush Limbaugh is not right anywhere near 98% of the time, but that he is right a lot more often than he is wrong
in the law of unintended consequences
in term limits
that the vast majority of elected representatives of the people put their own reelection interests ahead of the interests of their constituencies, and that few such representatives have significant core beliefs that they are willing to stand up for even if unpopular
that not all, but the majority, of individuals who make their livelihood in entertainment, public education, the legal system, trade unions, environmental areas, and the media, would disagree with the majority of my beliefs |
