Perspective

I enjoy the holiday season, not just because of gift-giving and general merriment, but because I return to where I grew up and visit old friends. This year was a little different, though, as a classmate of mine from elementary school all the way through high school recently died. It wasn't until I arrived in town and spoke to some people that I learned the details of what had happened. It left me in disbelief, but with renewed perspective.

My friend had become a homeless drug addict. He would break into vacant houses and do whatever else he needed to survive, wandering the neighborhoods where he and many others of us had grown up. He eventually lost his will to live and overdosed in a store parking lot.

When I consider my occasional fits of nostalgia and sentimentalism when visiting my hometown, I find it nearly impossible to imagine the despair he must have felt every day. To see the same places over and over again where he once was young and full of promise; to think about how his childhood friends had gone on to live prosperous lives; and perhaps to occasionally bump into someone he once knew from those days, are all more than even a healthy person could tolerate.  

Today I took a drive to the area where he spent his last few days and walked around, almost as if to let him know that he wasn't alone out there. What I came away with was to cherish friends and family as much as possible while they're still here, and to remember that everyday problems don't amount to a hill of beans.

On Banning Muslim Immigrants

The Donald is pulling his punches on this one. What America needs is a moratorium on all immigration, not just of Muslims. There is nothing radical about this, as it was the (wise) policy from 1924 through 1965 to shut down all immigration in order to preserve America's cultural core and assimilate the tidal wave of newcomers who had arrived during the prior generation. American ideals such as truth, justice, individual freedom, limited government, and the rule of law are hardly universal; quite the opposite, they are quite rare and the byproduct of a unique culture. While everyone surely loves to gorge on the prosperity generated by that culture, they know little and care less about the culture itself. Chances are it's too late to revive what little remains of that culture, at least on a national scale, but from an intellectual standpoint there is nothing wrong with going into a lockdown.

As to the supposed "racism" of banning only Muslims, three things: 1) Muslims aren't a race; 2) there is ample historical precedent for restricting immigration of specific types of people as being incompatible with America; and 3) since America has a sovereign right to ban all foreigners, it necessarily follows that America has a sovereign right to ban only some of them -- any privilege that may be completely denied may also be partially granted.

A Modest Proposal Regarding Women In The Military

The federal government has announced that all combat roles in the military are now open to women. This is wonderful news and marks only the beginning of righting a historical wrong. To make up for the many years during which women have been denied access to the military generally and these roles specifically, it strikes me that women should take men's place in the Selective Service for drafting. After all, it's extremely unfair that men rather than women register for a draft. The rationale of affirmative action, when applied here, requires nothing less than for men to be replaced as draftees for at least the next 150 years (since the draft first started during the War Between The States and was cruelly limited to men). Who says I'm not forward thinking?