Action Figure Daniel

Category: Notes

  • “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer

    • “All thrive together”
    • Human eye have a cone designed to pick up yellow and purple
    • “Yahweh” is how you refer to living things, ironic that that is also the name of the Hebrew god
    • Thinking about nature as a ‘Who’ better respects it
    • Grammar is how we track relationships
    • Successful ponds ensure eutrophic, a self-reinforcing nutrients cycle
    • The muck compiles until it becomes a meadow
    • Algae generally cycles every two weeks
    • Prepare adventures in place of grieving
    • Gifts and responsibility are one and the same
    • “Perhaps the earth has domesticated us?”
    • Beans house bacterium that injects nitrogen from the air into the dirt
    • Monocultural gardens attract more pests that polyculture
    • Harvesting trees is important to open forests
    • “Never take the first plant you find” because it may be the last one
    • Grasses carry their growing points must below the surface
    • Grass grows faster after it is mowed down
    • Cat tail leaves expand and contract with water, allowing breezes in the summer and waterproofing in the winter
    • Ceremonies focus attention
    • Language is where expressed ideas live
    • Lichen are an amalgam of fungi and algae
      • The two only bond under stress
    • Lichen is very sensitive to the air conditions
    • Tabaco seeds germinate when they “smell” smoke
    • We need to bring wisdom to science
    • Newts are juvenile salamanders
    • “You have to contribute”
    • We can hunt down the Wendigo in the summer, the time of plenty, instead of times of scarcity
    • Our entire economy is based on the notion of scarcity

  • “How Democracies Die” by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

    • Tolerance of other parties is critical to balance
    • Forbearance is needed for government to work
    • Leverage existing institutions to ensure a democratic image
    • Join forces with those you disagree with
    • “Means testing” (“Do you make enough money to not need this service?”) stigmatizes social benefits where universal programs (“Anyone can use this, regardless of their means”) do not
    • Democracies struggle to be both free and multiracial
      • (Humans like to be in tribes, and tribes loss cohesion when they get too big)

  • “Let Them Eat Tweets” by Jacob S. Hacker

    • Conservatives have long been associated with the affluent
    • Sometimes conservatives offer social packages to defend against liberal and socialist incursions

  • “Decision Points” by George W Bush

    • People want to govern themselves
      • (And are often unfit to do so)
    • Promoting the “Freedom Doctrine” promotes our national security and interests
    • TARP was necessary to save the system
      • (Socializing a company to save it contradicts Free Market notions. I am fine with this if we recognize such when we are fighting for Free Markets. It is hypocritical to demand a purely Free Market while things are good, but then be willing to socially rescue when things go bad. It would be better to recognize that things will go bad and build in safety checks and insurance ahead of time.)

  • “America by Heart” by Sarah Palin

    • We were given the ability to make choices by God
    • Government should not do anything to remove our ability to make choices, except when those choices impede on another
      • (I struggle with this on two fronts:
        • Many of us are not smart, skilled, or have enough time to correctly decide important things with lasting effect. I know what I want for lunch today. Do I want a ROTH or Traditional IRA? I am not sure. What level of education and school will best suit my career? I did not even know what my career would be while I was in school, and I am still not sure if more education would help me excel.
        • Some portion of the population (I argue a substantial portion of citizens) would make poor decisions. My understanding of Christian mandates says that we need to care of the poor and needy with no exceptions given for those for “did it to themselves”.
      • So, how then do we reconcile small government with a need to provide for those unable to provide for themselves (whether through their own choices or not)? Certainly, various religious organizations are positioned to assist. Is the subtext then that all citizens should be religiously affiliated? And those who do not line up with any given religious organization in their area will not get any support? Does the Christian mandate forbid government from fulfilling these obligations? To this last one, I do not believe so. While some religious organizations are well positioned to help the poor at scale, most are not. This would lead to a waste of resources and unequal application of benefits. Additionally, religions are more likely to make value judgements when administering benefits than a government.
      • What about those who are not able to find a suitable religious organization and who make poor choices? Do we just abandon them? Would it not be more fully embrace of the Christian mandate to craft society in a way that limits some choices (by issuing higher taxes and mandating participation in health and retirement programs) but provides safety nets for the inevitable poor decisions?
      • Finally, there are claims of wondrous bounties that come when one’s social safety is not tied to employment. For example, people who stick low pay and bad schools for their children but reasonable healthcare benefits could more freely move around if the healthcare was universally available.)