The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I somewhat admire pure idealists. They fight for what's right, are filled with a burning passion to do just that, and never settle for less than what is their ideal vision on an issue. Having said that, I am also somewhat frustrated with pure idealists. While their drive and passion to fight for what's right is admirable, they often times seem to impede progress due to a lack of willingness to compromise. At my core, I'm an idealist. When I was in college, I could probably have been labeled a pure idealist. However, as I started living the post-college life and better understanding how government works (or doesn't work), I came to realize that, while idealism may be admirable in a certain context, without at least a touch of realism added to the mix, we're often times left with obstructionism. When it comes to the end goal, pure idealists have the right idea and it's wise to initially fight for that end goal. However, if and when that end goal appears out of...

Missouri Republican State Senator and man voted least crazy person to have threatened to kill a political rival's aide - Brian Nieves - reportedly wrote the following yesterday: "Barry... I honestly wonder, and I'm being sincere about this, if liberalism is indeed a mental disorder. A person commits a heinous crime, the kind we hear about in the news, and they are not allowed to be executed but an innocent baby who is wrapped in the comfort of his/her mother's womb - Having been created by God - can be literally ripped apart, viciously murdered, and this 'Man of God' supports it?!?!?!?! WOW!!" Wow, indeed. First off, the 48-year old State Senator may want to take a sex ed class in the near future. I know when he was extremely young, his parents may have told him that babies were created by God, but what near 50-year old doesn't seem to realize yet is that he wasn't created by God. He was created by his father penetrating his mother with his din...

Author of "Free Trade Doesn't Work," Ian Fletcher just released an article by the title of "Why Is the American Left So Ineffective With Economics" and can be read here -  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-fletcher/why-is-the-american-left-_b_1142615.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false While throughout the course of the article, Fletcher makes some interesting points which may cause one to do further research on said point, the majority of the article is generalization without any actual numbers. Fletcher starts with this - " Anyone who's still in a state of denial about the thesis implied by the title of this article can stop reading right here. I'll just assume it's obvious enough that we can take it as a given." Those are the first two sentences in the article. "I'll just assume it's obvious enough that we can take it as a given." For someone whom believes to specialize in economics, I find that statement t...