“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
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William Randolph Hearst
“Let cooler heads prevail. We don’t have any conclusive facts demonstrating a Spanish attack on the USS Maine and surely neither blind vengeance nor aggressive imperialism provides a legitimate foundation for our foreign policy.”
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April fools – Madison, Wilson, Bush
On April 1, 1787, James Madison, father of the Constitution, removed the General Welfare clause from his draft of the U.S. Constitution, telling friends that, “I fear future big-government-loving politicians will undoubtedly abuse the clause’s vague concept to drown the people in federal overreach.”
On April 1, 1918, Woodrow Wilson became the first and only President of the United States to be impeached and removed from office for lying about munitions being aboard the Lusitania in an effort to whip up war fever against Germany and push the nation into World War I.
On April 1, 2002, the U.S. Congress refused to grant President George W. Bush’s request for a declaration of war against Iraq.
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Townhall: 365-days-a-year fools
This weekend’s column from Yours Truly is about happiness. I hope to nudge your utils up a notch, so click on over to Townhall.com. And then come back here for links and references:
- If you’re happy and you know it, let the government know (Washington Post)
- Declaration of Independence (Library of Congress)
- Happiness vs. TV (Common Sense)
And happy “holiday”!
Guy Kawasaki worked for Steve Jobs twice in his career, serving as an “evangelist” for Macintosh computers, among other things. So the lessons he learned from the revolutionary Mr. Jobs are worth thinking about. One of his lessons is skepticism (to put it nicely) about the opinions of “experts.” There are a lot of experts out there, and often they are wrong — or, at any rate, right only for a subset of cases. If you have an exceptional vision, exceptional drive, or simply one exceptional notion, you may want to just ignore the naysayers amongst professional know-it-alls. (This echoes a theme I floated earlier this week.)
Oh, and if you are not familiar with the talks given at TED conferences, check out ted.com.
On March 31, 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
On March 31, 1959, the Dalai Lama fled the Chinese military suppression of the revolt in Tibet, crossing the border into India, where he was granted political asylum. Thirty years later, in 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his nonviolent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet.
On March 31, 1990, an anti-poll tax rally in London led to the city’s worst riots in a century, with 113 people injured, including 45 policemen, and 340 people arrested. The violence erupted after 70,000 people took to the streets in protest of the new government levy.
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Dalai Lama
“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”
It’s heart-breaking to read the daily accounts of the Syrian government shelling neighborhoods and snipers gunning down protesting citizens in the streets. Syria, sadly, is hardly the only place where speaking one’s mind or seeking political change can be met with threats and violence.
Sometimes the brutality comes from the government itself. Sometimes the acts of intimidation and bloodshed come from extra-legal gangs acting in concert with those in power.
Thank goodness we live in a country where one doesn’t have to fear violence for one’s political beliefs and activities.
Or do we?
Like many cities and states in our land, Colorado’s public employee pension system is woefully underfunded, $21 billion behind, putting taxpayers and/or retirees in grave jeopardy. In addition to the financial problem is a serious lack of accountability.
State Treasurer Walker Stapleton sits on the board of the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA). But when he asked for some basic information about benefits, the board refused. Stapleton complains that “it seems their objective is for all board members to operate in the dark and act as a rubberstamp for their executives.” He’s filed a lawsuit seeking the information.
Luckily, Colorado citizens have access to the initiative petition process. Recently, Carol Baum and Karen Stauffer filed initiatives to reform PERA, including requiring greater transparency. Last Friday, they attended the first hearings to finalize their measures.
That’s when the threatening phone calls began. And then on Sunday, Karen Stauffer’s car window was smashed out by a large rock.
Something is rotten in Denver. Tyranny is wielding its most powerful weapons: fear and intimidation. The only antidote is courage.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Howard Zinn
“If the gods had intended for people to vote, they would have given us candidates.”
On March 30, 1775, King George III formally endorsed the New England Restraining Act, requiring New England colonies to trade exclusively with Great Britain and banning colonists from fishing in the North Atlantic.
On March 30, 1870, the 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution. One day later, the first African-American male voted in New Jersey.
On March 30, 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward signed a treaty with Russia purchasing Alaska for $7 million. Despite the price of approximately two cents an acre, the purchase was ridiculed in the press as “Seward’s folly.”