My Role

Someone, a family member, actually, once patronizingly asked me, “What will you do with all this knowledge, change the world?” While I do not claim to have a huge store of knowledge—Socrates speaks for me: “All I know is that I know nothing”—I have been casually studying my entire adult life. I do have a few original thoughts, but the vast majority of others have been borrowed from more qualified minds. At times, intellectual breakthroughs have come as a great deluge, profound revelations, radical redirections, but far more common have been facts from a variety of sources that have done nothing but confirm my perspective.

So, where do I stand in the information chain? I view myself as the man in the street, handing out pamphlets made by others whose goal is to alter the tide of public opinion. I am a small-time “second-hand dealer in ideas,” as the great Austrian economist, Friedrich A. Von Hayek, put it. I relay information to those who would otherwise not have it.

Through the years, I have lost some friends who did not agree with my views. They chose to cease communication with me, not the converse. I understand that I am liable to lose some more. And while I do value all of my friendships, a reverse in this country’s direction, quite frankly, matters more to me. If I lose ten friends but help to enlighten only one, I count that as a success. I only aim to start a dialogue among curious minds. Most people sense something seriously wrong with the United States, but they simply lack the necessary historical perspective and theory to fully grasp the problem. Greed, Muslims, Republicans, Democrats, bin Laden, “Anti-Americanism”—these are all either symptoms or scapegoats for the real problem.

I have no lofty agenda to provide a comprehensive philosophy with which to solve our present problems. Others have already done that. But I would like to have a discussion on particular issues. While my expectations are modest, I do believe I can offer a fresh perspective for many who are unacquainted with alternative views and who have been trained to see things only through the liberal/conservative, Republican/Democrat paradigm.

As for me, I am still—and always will be—on the road to discovery. I hope many of you offer me points that challenge my conclusions. I welcome all feedback and look forward to a lively and energetic dialogue.

Thank you

I would like to thank everyone who recently took part in the spirited exchanges on my Facebook page. I specifically put out provocative views—views I nonetheless believe in—to incite some feedback. I knew that most of it would be negative. I welcome that. In fact, I prefer the nay-ers to the Amen-ers.

In any case, the back-and-forth gave me the impetus—kick in the butt, really—to write more, something I was always meant for. I hope all of you were equally intrigued by the conversations.

I prefer writing on my own—and long dormant!—blog as it allows for lengthier discussions. I will provide links from my Facebook wall to my blog.

Thanks again.