Northington Notes--Questions or Answers
Jerry W. Northington, DVM
November 30, 2013
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Human nature being what it is psychologists tell us we would rather have answers which may or may not be factual than to have open questions. An interesting phenomenon which leaves many of us in trouble in ways we may not anticipate. When government officials, for instance, speak we can expect always to hear statements represented as facts. We do not often hear those officials at any level express continued questions or even concerns which cannot be addressed. The speakers are playing to our psychology instead of leading us in ways which may benefit the future in better ways.

Much of our modern educational system is aimed at teaching students to regurgitate the statements presented as facts and to move away from actual questioning and investigation. We humans are taught from early ages to listen and absorb rather than to question and to seek for ourselves. In the end we have a society dependent on media sources of information which may not always offer the truth let alone the whole truth.

Questions are the source of ultimate knowledge. In science the answering of one question by sorting out the findings little by little often opens the doors to even more questions over time. Today even these avenues are beginning to be more limited as the push for commercial success is overwhelming the basic science search for knowledge. The government in all its wisdom continues to cut programs which support scientists who seek without purposeful commercial success as an end goal.

Questioning all we see and hear is difficult work. My childhood was ruled by the saying, "Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see." The point is one may be misled by appearances or by comforting words. It is important always to check the facts. We all prefer to hear answers that fit our world view, but we need to examine outside our comfort zone if we are to progress as a society. We cannot rest on our laurels and allow others to lead us down the garden path of answers without questions.

Question, question, question. Always ask and pursue the answer even if that is not the most comfortable approach. Otherwise expect to find a trail which may not be the one you would chosen otherwise.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.--Voltaire 

Northington Notes--Public or Private
Jerry W. Northington, DVM
November 15, 2013
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The news today is all about privatization of various governmental functions which have for long times been a public function. In the small town America of my childhood such considerations were near nonexistent. There were functions such as police departments, education, fire protection, prisons, and general functions which were all public operations. Other functions such as trash collection were private company run. Today the mix is a varied one which differs from community to community.

In some towns today much of daily life is governed by the government with the addition of utilities on top of the list from years back. Other regions are moving the opposite way toward letting private business take over the operations that were traditionally the purview of government. The move is one that may have economic benefits to the local government allowing their expenses to remain more stable or even to decline in time. The issue becomes one of the overall benefits to our society.

Private operations are intended to be profitable. The operation of most major businesses in the world today concentrates those profits in the hands of a few players at the top of the business ladder. The income inequity in our nation today is the greatest in history and stands to increase if privatization continues to be the rule rather than the exception.

Under the supervision of privatization those with the ability to pay are served while others may be left behind. One need only look to package delivery to see the inequity in this system. Private delivery companies cannot afford to serve many areas of small populations or rural areas where roads may not be well maintained. On the other hand the US Postal Service serves the entire nation for what must be considered a reasonable fee in most cases.

A favorite peeve of mine these days is education and the lack thereof in too many instances. Today not only do we have "No Child Left Behind" and "Race to the Top" ruining what chance we may have for real education in favor of government directed programs but we also have a growing system of private education. Charter Schools are sprouting everywhere as for profit education systems which leave a great deal to be desired. These schools accept only chosen students while taking public funds aimed at educating the entire populous. For the charter system children with disabilities or special needs are often found not eligible. Many of these schools have teachers with less experience than our public systems. The inequalities of the process has been examined and reported in many ways but still our governing bodies continue to push the effort.

Whenever will we, the public majority, see the light here? How far can privatization be pushed to the benefit of the few and the overall detriment of the many? As an entrepreneur and longtime business man I see the value of a capitalist system, but there are functions which need to be reserved for government to serve the greater public good. Continued privatization of public functions to save short term money may lead to complications beyond our ability to cope in the future.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.--Charlie Chaplin     

Northington Notes--Surveillance Society

October 30, 2013
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In childhood days my brothers and I wandered about town with our friends under the watchful eyes of neighbors and parents of our small town. Not much of our activity escaped both observation and reporting. Our parents were watchful from a distance as the community watch kept us safe and at the same time limited our activities to safe and legal for the most part. As rough and tumble country boys we pressed the limits but at no time did we manage to harm another human being along the way.

Today we live in a society in which electronic surveillance of every activity is the rule. The degree of observation endangers our civil and basic human rights as every action is recorded for posterity. All our financial transactions, our travel, and our day by day interactions in society are filmed or otherwise recorded. All uses of electronic devices including phones and computers is monitored with data stored for posterity. At most any time our information may be collected and analyzed without our knowledge or consent.

In a seminar not so long ago attorneys were discussing the current surveillance state in terms of their clients. One defense attorney related the story of being confronted with cell phone records in court without advance notice from the prosecution. At the time such records could be obtained by law enforcement agencies without a warrant. Phone companies keep data stored for indeterminate periods of time during which time the data may be analyzed.

Over the course of many years government and big corporations have often been reined in by insider information leaked to the press by 'whistleblowers.' Today our government uses data surveillance to prevent employee contact with journalists by threatening legal action against the employee. To that end government operates with a degree of secrecy that is a danger to true democracy. And corporations foul our environment or act in other ways which are detrimental to society without fear of punishment.

Some measure of surveillance is necessary in the pursuit of crime but is the overall level of today's observation and recording a necessity? Many would argue the government has gone far beyond the pale and overstepped many bounds. Even the court process (the FISA Court) set up to supervise the National Security Agency admits the power to limit illegal activities is far too limited. The Agency works on its own without regard to legal limits in too many cases.

Legal limits are no real solution as we see in the news on a regular basis. The solutions may come from community action. What and how those actions are to be taken is yet to be seen. This story continues to evolve and unfold on a near daily basis as the battle between surveillance advocates and those who seek an open and free democracy. The end is nowhere in sight. The pondering is to be continued...

Peace.

Northington Notes--On Democracy Once Again

The dictionary defines democracy as "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." Once upon a time we Americans lived under just such a system. Or at least we could hold to the belief that our country was a democracy at least. In social studies classes in middle school we kids were taught the principles of a democratic government and assured we would spend our lives represented in accordance with the wishes of the electorate.

Today we see just how easy the system fails as our government is paralyzed in the midst of a shutdown brought about by failure of our elected officials to follow the wishes of a majority of the electorate. The current fight over the budget covers up the real issue in which a small number of Congressional members oppose the healthcare law. While Americans overall favor the new healthcare system some continue to hold the nation hostage to their personal vendetta. Meanwhile democracy fails to be the rule of the day.

True democratic rule is a difficult system to sustain as there must be means by which middle ground may be found. Today's polarized system of politics makes agreement difficult on many counts. We humans live with innate psychological functions which make understanding opposite opinions difficult. To that end people various political persuasions may find great trouble in reaching agreement with those holding opposite opinions. We hold to our course and may not wish to bend toward middle ground.

But the middle is where democracy lies. We are a large and diverse nation. If we are to find room for all opinions we must each give a bit of consideration to the remainder of the spectrum. ALL must bend a bit, not hold to ideological stances which allow no room for compromise. Such inflexibility is the root of the trouble in Washington today. Meanwhile the nation suffers the consequences both at home and around the globe as trust in our government is eroded.

What will the future hold? Who can tell for certain? The current state of affairs is not one which will maintain our nation another 200 years. Democracy is at risk these days. It behooves us each and every one to put all our efforts into changing the system. Every act counts. We must not fail or our one day our nation will find itself in the throes of change which may or may not be best for our citizenry.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

 

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.--Aristotle  

Northington Notes--Exceptional
Jerry W. Northington, DVM
September 30, 2013

#################################    The dictionary tells us the definition of exceptional has to do with the characteristics of being unusually excellent or superior. In recent days President Obama used the word to describe the United States. One could argue his usage was correct in any one of many ways when describing our nation. We live under what may be the best example of freedom in our world today even though the government continues to limit our personal freedoms in increasing ways. For the most part we are a prosperous nation even though far too many suffer the daily pangs of hunger. The latest use of the term, exceptional, to describe our country went on to explain the term applied because we as a nation 'were willing to fight unpopular wars.' Under that use of the word we must look to another definition, forming an unusual or rare instance, for our working defnition. The overall tone of the speech and the media coverage is disturbing since at the time polls showed Americans to be opposed to another war on foreign soil. During a time in Vietnam it was my turn to see the effects of war on the people, the land, and on the troops on both sides of the conflict. The sight was not a pretty one but the experience did serve to shape much of my life since those days. In Washington today we have very few elected officials with any measure of military experience let alone firsthand duty in a combat zone. Perhaps if more had such an experience their viewpoint might be different today. The current state of the nation is one of mixed values. We as a nation continue to pour large amounts of our annual budget into military affairs. We possess enough firepower to turn the globe to a cinder at the flip of a switch. No other nation around the world has near the military capability of the United States yet we continue to maintain more than 700 military bases around the globe (more as a sign of our strength than for any real need for action). At the same time we have people struggling on a daily basis to find food to feed themselves and their families. Increasing numbers of people are reduced to welfare and food stamps as the gap between the haves and the have-nots grows at a rapid rate. Today the difference in economic status between the upper echelons and the lower class is greater than at any time in our history. And still our Congress and our President want to increase spending on the military and to fight the 'unpopular war.' Our children are reported to be less and less prepared to enter college with the high school diploma of today. Our legislators continue to push for 'Race to the Top,' 'No Child Left Behind,' and 'Common Core' at the expense of real education. All these programs manage to enrich the corporations supplying our so-called educational system but fail to respond to the science surrounding the ways children learn. This picture is wrong on so many counts one could spend days accounting the wrongnesses. Yet the scene continues to unravel and to increase in severity day by day. Where this will end is not yet open to our vision today. The future is not predictable but if the current course continues we can begin to see the end is not going to be in the best interest of any nation let alone an exceptional one. We as a nation are beginning to form an exceptional issue based on faults and not on solid ground. We should one and all fear the situation and work in all the ways we have at hand to insure the future direction of our nation is truly exceptional in all the goodness of the word. Peace. *************************************** Quote of the Week: It's a deft trick to turn American exceptionalism into an exceptional political tactic.--Ron Fournier  ***************************************

Northington Notes

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Northington Notes--Guns or Butter

In my youth the experience of seeing President Dwight Eisenhower up close and very nearly personal is one that will not be forgotten. Attendance at a Boy Scout Jamboree event in Colorado Springs afforded the opportunity to see the touring President from the side of the tiny road as he passed by. There were not more than 8 feet or so between us staring boys and the President. We were all awed by the experience.

Some time later, in 1961 Eisenhower spoke to the disparity between military spending and social support for the nation's citizens. In his speech the words were as succinct and meaningful as one may ever hear.

  

     "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies,   

     in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who   

     are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.   

     It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of   

     its children."

  

America today spends more money on maintaining military might than all the other nations of the world combined. In the recent budget talks in Congress we all heard a great deal about how all programs should be cut except for the military. Many of us would argue that is not a proper or correct course for the future of our nation.

We as a nation maintains hundreds of military bases to keep the American presence alive and well in nations around the globe. To what end? Are we indeed more safe as a result? Or is the presence serving the governmental philosophy of the day and imposing American ideals on other nations?

The answers are not easy ones at all. Perspectives differ from person to person. As a veteran of the Vietnam era I am today committed to the seeking of a more peaceful future for our nation. To that end I would argue we are better served spending less money on sustained military forces and more on supporting various social programs around the world. Hungry people are not happy people. People who see military swagger in the neighborhood while their children are hungry are not going to be supporters of the nation supplying that force.

Finding a new way will not be easy but is necessary if our nation and our global civilization is to survive far into the future. Given the American political system's absolute dependence on money we are not likely to see real change come from our elected officials.   Change rests in the hands of those of us willing to work for real change. It is up to us to continue to protest, to continue to write to newspapers and elected officials, and to speak person to person at every opportunity. It is by our collective action we may one day see change come to our world.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

 

We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society.--Hillary Clinton 

Northington Notes--Books

In my time of elementary school and in the sixth grade reading became a prime occupier of free time. During the sixth grade the teacher allowed me to move to a desk beside the bookshelves in the classroom. (In those days the classes were self-contained with no school library.) At the end of the year the newspaper printed a short article commending me for reading 52 books during the year. The hometown newspaper in those days was always on the lookout for any material of local interest to share so my minute of fame came and went with the remainder of the newspaper that day.

Remembering those days of discovery in the wide world of reading takes me back to a time of innocence when all printed was taken at face value and believed as though all was truth and fact. During the course of human history the longest of our times kept our history by oral tradition handed down from one person to another. Along the way if a speaker changed the content there were very likely to be people to correct the error and hold the substantive truth and only the truth.

In today's world the printed word is so available that we can no longer be certain if or not what is written is truth. Sometimes an error (or even a bald-faced lie) is repeated often enough people begin to believe. With the printed word we have only ourselves to discover if or not the truth is held within the writing.

How much more simple were the older times of oral tradition. And yet how very much our world is changed and enlarged by the distribution of the printed word. The two-edged sword is never more evident than in the two faces of the printed word.

How ever would we manage a world society without printing and the distribution of thought around the entire globe? And yet what dangers lie in that same distribution as hateful or dangerous text is spread about?

There are no easy answers in our world of communication today. We are each and every one left to our own resources, to our own decisions, to our own manner of processing to decipher the right answers from the wrong ones. And in so many times we may find there is not one but many answers on both ends of the right-wrong spectrum.

And so life goes on day by day as we humans struggle to make sense of the world around us. The complexity grows more rapidly than most of us can manage to comprehend. We do best when we focus on a smaller number of important issues, sorting out as best we can the facts of those issues, and trusting others to do the same sorting of other issues. In the end if we share at least our thoughts we should all end stronger for the various efforts.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.--Mark Twain