Last week, I was talking with a friend, R., about how there are a lot of folks who don’t ever give up their seats on subways or buses to the elderly, the disabled, the pregnant, the tired, the injured, or the very young. The discussion arose because we had just gotten on the train and he took a seat.  I, on the other hand, hesitated because people were still getting on, and I wasn’t sure if anyone else would need a seat yet. Sensing my dilemma, my friend told me that he used to be the same way. He used to take himself out of the picture and hope that the world would right itself in terms of subway seat distribution. But these days, he got tired of being a bystander, so instead, he would take a seat and be the one to give up his seat if someone needier came along.  He was taking control of seat redistribution rather than leave it up to the free market. Continue reading →

In this time of constant debate about whether we should have big government that concentrates more power into the federal government or small government that concentrates more power into state and local governments, there is no better argument for the need of a strong central government a la Hobbes’ Leviathan than the television show, Voltron.  No other show, except for the Power Rangers – a clear knock off of the concept behind the Voltron robot – does such a great job of showing why a strong government is necessary.  Voltron is, after all, the “Defender of the Universe,” a far greater mandate than simply defender of the 50 states of the United States of America. Continue reading →

Around the holidays, you get a lot of pleasant surprises in the mail.  A Christmas card here, a New Year’s card there.  People send pictures of family and friends, with their babies dressed as reindeer and elves, or their dogs dressed as reindeer and elves.  You might even get some baked goods, like the infamous fruitcake, or possibly a tin of sugar cookies decorated in red and green.  It gives one hope to check the mail everyday for that extra special something that brightens up an otherwise increasingly commercial holiday season. Continue reading →