In Defense of Basic Logic and Reason

One of the basic ways we humans distinguish ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom is that we generally possess the ability to reason with a higher level order of logic.  While there are plenty of examples of other creatures using logic to obtain sustenance or fulfill other needs, no species can match the human ability to analyze a problem logically and to communicate potential, logically-sound solutions to other members of the species.

One of the main reasons that humans can think and act logically is that we have a well-developed frontal lobe in our brains, where most human logical thought takes place.   We also have a well-developed system that allows us to communicate our thoughts to others, whether or not those thoughts are grounded in logic or in emotion or in a combination of both.   Some might think that system is the internet with its various platforms for social media, but in reality, there are many elements of the human brain that enable us to take our logical (and sometimes illogical) thoughts and communicate them to others in our species.

So, why am I writing on the topic of logic and reason today?  In part, because the emotional side of my brain wants to set off an alarm that we are, as a species, devolving into a species that acts too often emotionally and illogically in response to events that stoke our fears.   Our political parties are organized around a very basic premise:  you have more to fear (and lose) if the other party gets into power than if our party gets into power.  And why do parties do this?  Because, as any power-seeking group will tell you, fear is much easier to sell than logic, and when fear is sold, it is very hard to dislodge with a logical appeal a conviction that someone or some group of people are trying to harm you.  Such a conviction can only be overcome by a stronger appeal to fear. 

And it is not just political parties that realize that emotional appeals are stronger than logical ones.  Look at any advertisement.  Do you want to buy the copper lager that Charlize Theron is selling because it is a logical purchase, or are you responding with a emotional response -- whether that is fear or a desire to be like (or with) Ms. Theron -- if you want to buy that beer after watching that ad.  If you don't buy that that particular ad is trying to sell you by interacting with the emotional side of your brain, how about the anti-smoking ads where the spokeswoman talks to you through her tracheotomy that, presumably, is the result of throat cancer caused by smoking.  There are many logical reasons not to smoke, but none are as compelling to me as the emotional response that I get when I see that ad -- I don't want to be like her, therefore I won't smoke, or I will try to quit smoking now if I am already smoking.  We are creatures that are far more easily persuaded to act through the emotional parts of our brains than with the logical elements of that organ.

So if you buy my basic premise --  we have become a species that no longer values a logical argument alone and we need an appeal to our emotions to cause us to take an action that may or may not be the best action, logically, for us to take -- why have we become more emotional and less logical?  I think the answer lies in our educational system and in our reliance upon the internet to find the answers to our problems.   In terms of our educational system, where do we teach the next generation how to analyze a problem and to find the best solution that addresses all of the issues the problem raises in an organized, logical fashion?  The best source of analytical reasoning always was in math class and those dreaded word problems for starters.  Another source, at least in my grade school, was the modelling by the teacher of looking at a situation through a lens that, while giving attention to the students' emotional needs, nevertheless provided a logical argument or solution to a dispute between students.  "Why, Johnny, do you think Jane wants to play that game with you and your friends?"  There was always an appeal to the student to think, not just an appeal to how Johnny or Jane felt about the situation.  There was always a combined logical and emotional response the teacher elicited, but never a pure appeal to emotion.  I do wonder how often, when we live in a world focused more on how people feel than how they think, educators today take the time to have students think about their actions, not just have them react to how others feel about their actions.

And then there is the mind-numbing use of the internet to answer all of our problems and to address all of our needs.   See what I did there? I appealed to your emotional side to make you fear that your brain is going soft because you spend all of your life interacting with Amazon, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Netflix, and every other time sucking app that is on your phone, your Ipad, your laptop and your smart tv.  But here is my logical argument:  when pursuing your basic needs, you no longer have to think beyond pushing a few virtual buttons or entering a few keystrokes to have those needs addressed.  When is the last time you said before ordering something online: "Hmmn, I wonder how this works?" or perhaps "Do I really need this and can I really afford this?"   In short, in our daily lives, do we really ever think anymore, or do we just act with or react to emotional stimuli, like the rest of the animal kingdom?

So, if I have persuaded you that (a) we are sliding down a slope where we are thinking more with the limbic portions of our brains than with our logical frontal lobes and (b) logically, that is not a good thing, then I ask you:  What do you think we should do about it?  Here are two suggestions:  First, at least in high school, introduce a course in basis logic that is mandatory for graduation.  Teach students the principle of correlation vs causation and the principle of Occam's razor.  (It is OK if you don't know what Occam's razor is.  And it is OK to google it or just go to this link:  https://fs.blog/2019/10/occams-razor/  I don't judge you for using Google to seek out knowledge about logical reasoning!).  If more of us applied logical principles to our everyday lives, then maybe the political parties would find less power in making the emotional arguments, and the conspiracy theorists would have fewer successes in convincing us that we are all going to die at the hands of Joe Biden or Donald Trump or <insert your favorite Bond villain here>.  There may be some very logical reasons while each of those named may cause us harm, but you will have to convince me with logic and reason why that is so and why I should find it in my logically-enlightened self-interest to care.

Secondly, spend as much time every day thinking as you do reacting or at least half as much time.  If you pray, ask in one of your prayers for the ability to think through your issues with the intellect our Creator has given our species to distinguish us from bonobo apes and fleas and other creatures of this Earth.  If you meditate, think about how you can transcend above emotional responses to the stresses you endure and implement a little more logic and reason into your every day life.  If you don't pray or don't meditate, then whatever you do, even if it is posting your emotional reactions to today's events on social media or binge watching Netflix to process your day to day life or playing a little online poker with Ivan from Russia, Maria from Bolivia and Jans from Norway to escape your reality of wherever you are in the world, give your brain a little me time and spend a little time exercising your logic skills directly.  Like those muscles from your youth, if you don't use them you lose them, and it is painful to try to recover them.  

So, here is your homework if you are willing to get outside your comfort zone and think about, well, thinking logically: sometime this week, learn more about Occam's razor and find one political argument or beer commercial or statement by your significant other that violates this principle of logic, and in your own mind, correct or discard the argument and smile to yourself that you have used your frontal lobe to preserve our species by keeping logic and reason from becoming extinct, one human at a time. 

Why I would vote for Mike DeWine -- it is personal, not political!

I happen to know both Richard Cordray and Mike Dewine.  Until November 2016, I would say that I had more interaction with Richard than Mike over time, but once simply act of kindness from Mike to my family changed permanently, and in a positive way what I think about Mike Dewine, the man and the father -- not necessarily the politician.

 My friendship with Mike is relatively new, and I feel a little strange calling him a friend, but he is certainly more than an acquaintance, because of one very telling personal interaction he had with me in the weeks after the election night in 2016. Although I had been acquainted with Mike and had been a visitor at his house with other supporters on the 4th of July, 1991, it wasn't until just after Thanksgiving, 2016, that I truly appreciated Mike DeWine, the man and the father of a child who departed this Earth before her time.

To set the stage, I was part of the team of lawyers and Republican activists in Columbus on election day in 2016 who were policing the election to make sure that election laws were not being violated by the other side during the Presidential general election.  While I was at the table taking calls, in walks Attorney General Mike DeWine and I, wearing my Texas Lone Star shirt that I wore to the National Republican Convention as a Delegate from Texas (and, of course, my Stetson), went over and reintroduced myself to Mike.  I think he actually remembered me from the 1990s when I did a little work as part of his issues team on his Senate campaign, Clearly, this Texan would not be of any use to Mike, but he didn't treat me that way, and after a few minutes of an exchange of pleasantries, I made sure that I didn't burn up the time he had to speak to those who could actually be of use to him politically in Ohio.  I went back to my phone, and didn't really think anything more of it, until that evening, when I ran into Mike and his wife, Fran, at the election watch party in downtown Columbus.  I learned about their son Patrick's success in his Ohio Supreme Court race that evening, and I had a chance to talk to Mike about my daughter, Emily, who was in hospice care as a result of the ravages of Juvenile Batten Disease and a severe bout of double pneumonia with an ultra-high (107.3 degree high) fever.  Mike sensed my worry and concern about Emily, and told me to contact him if he could ever do anything for me.  I gave him my card, and he put it in his pocket.  Being cynical about politicians (after all, I have been one here in Texas), I was fairly certain I would never hear from him.  I have never been more wrong about someone, and I should have known better, as the Mike DeWine I sorta knew never gave me any reason to doubt his sincerity or interest in me as a fellow human being.

When I returned home from Columbus to Texas, Emily was not in very good shape, and I didn't go into my office to pick up the mail until after Thanksgiving.  When  I did, I was surprised to see a card from Cedarville, Ohio, which could only have been from Mike DeWine.  Again, I am embarrassed now to say that my first thought as I was opening the card was that I was certain that is was a solicitation and that Mike hadn't wasted any time soliciting a donation from me.  How far from the truth that was!  Inside the envelope was a handwritten card from Mike, reiterating his interest in me and my family, and providing me with his cell phone number.   I didn't know until he announced for Governor that he had lost a child, a daughter, in a car accident many years' ago, and how profoundly that affected Mike, Fran and the entire DeWine family.  It was when I read the report of his announcement that it finally clicked with me:  Mike DeWine, the man, not the politician, had extended a helping hand to a another father who was going to have to bury a child before her time.  He will never know how that one simple act of kindness, with no prospect of a return gesture other than a simple thanks -- which I most assuredly did -- sustained me through Emily's deterioration through this day, and will continue to sustain me when I say my final goodbye to her.   

So, it is not for political reasons that I support Mike DeWine.  It is for friendship and for the brotherly love he extended to me when I was in need of support from an unexpected source.  Win or lose -- and I do hope he wins --- Mike DeWine will go down in my family history as the man who cared about his fellow man when he didn't have to, and at the time when we needed it most.  Wouldn't it be nice if all of our public servants were this human!  Mike will make a fine governor if the voters in Ohio give him the chance.

Good Luck Attorney General Mike DeWine.  God Bless You and God Bless the Voters of Ohio.

Some thoughts about Mike DeWine and Richard Cordray, and why I support Mike over Richard for Governor

I hope to get back to Ohio to live someday soon and vote again in the State's elections.   I haven't lived in Ohio since 1995, when I worked in Cleveland for the international mega-law firm of Jones Day.   Until this election cycle, I could not figure out why I missed the state of my birth so much.  Yes, my parents are still kicking in their late 80s in the Columbus area, and my sister and her kids are there too, but as much as I do miss my family, that is not the biggest reason I miss Ohio.   The truth is, I miss Ohio politics, with all of its warts and rhetorical warfare.  Sure we have politics in Texas, but it is a whole different game than politics in Ohio.   The wars here are fought mainly in the GOP primaries where candidates seek to out do their opponents as to who is the most conservative and in the Democratic primaries where the primary winner, if he or she even has an opponent, has been hand picked by the state and national party apparatus because of their in-your-face liberal credentials.  Not so in Ohio.

Indeed, I think Ohio, at least in the Governor's race, is holding an election between individuals who are, for the most part, backed by their respective parties, not partisan hacks.  Neither Mike DeWine nor Richard Cordray were hand-picked, and while they court the support of their respective party's leaders and luminaries, they are true old-school politicians that are public servants, faithfully pushing whatever is left over of their respective party's middle ground to gain your vote on election day, no matter your party.  They both have been in Ohio politics long enough to know that Ohioans still tend to vote for the man (or woman) and not the party on election day.  At least it seems that way to me.

I having been watching this battle in Ohio from my perch in Texas and with the perspective of having known Richard from as far back as when we attended rival high schools, and Mike from when he was running for the U.S. Senate and I was working at the Ohio Supreme Court as a law clerk for the now late Justice Craig Wright.    In high school, I was part of a quiz bowl team that competed on a local television program called "In the Know."  Richard's high school, Grove City High School, and my high school, Upper Arlington High School, would play mock rounds of In the Know during the summer as a "scrimmage" for the season ahead.  I was an alternate on the team, but actually got on the program when one of the team members became too sick with mono to play that evening.   Who was the team we played?   Grove City High School, anchored by no other than future Jeopardy champion, Richard Cordray.  And Richard single-handedly decimated our team.  It has been 42 years' ago since that fateful match.  I don't remember (and don't want to remember) the score, but it was a good old-fashioned whuppin upon us.  I do remember that I only got one question that evening, and it required me to identify who Kal-El's son was.  For those of you who don't know this incredibly important piece of trivia, the answer is Superman.  So, I was able to display my incredible brilliance by identifying a comic book character.  Whoopee.  I consoled myself with the fact that I beat Richard to the buzzer on at that one question.

So, we all hated Richard after that evening, but we also admired his sheer intellect (as least for trivia).  I think we all knew Richard would be going somewhere in the future.  Anything was possible in my mind -- astronaut, nobel prize winning scientist, well-respected economist -- and I confess, I was a little disappointed when I read an article shortly after the In the Know season ended where Richard was quoted as saying he was going to run for President of the United States some day.  I haven't found a copy of the article from the late 70s in the Columbus Dispatch, but I remember clearly being amazed at his ambition and chutzpah.   The most my ego could muster was to predict in my high school yearbook that I would become a computer lawyer, which I ended up doing, without really knowing what a computer lawyer would be at the time I became one. But then again, unlike Richard, I could only answer a single comic book character question, so I really wasn't entitled to haven't such lofty ambitions as those of Richard Cordray.  Don't get me wrong -- I know I can be egotistical too, I just have perhaps less of a justification to do so.  I know Richard Cordray, and I am no Richard Cordray!  And I am OK with that.

Richard and I ran into each other many years later when we both ended up working at Jones Day, Cleveland, at the same time.  When we did, I got the sense that Richard really didn't feel any common bond to me -- I was not of the elite class of lawyers who clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court, a class that includes not only Richard and Justice Cavanaugh, but Ted Cruz and Laura Ingraham, and a slew of judges, including Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Breyer, Kagan and Gorsuch.  I don't want to call Richard arrogant -- I think he is more aloof than arrogant -- and he may well have changed over the past 20 plus years since my stint at Jones Day, but I will say that he never left me with an impression that he was in any way concerned with anything that was not on his well-chartered path of political success.  I was not of any use to him, therefore I didn't exist in any meaningful way in his world   Ted Cruz is also a little bit this way, but Ted always greets me as if he remembers me from the campaign stump here in Texas in days gone by.  I have to believe that when you are as brilliant and driven as Richard and Ted, maybe you suffer a little deficit in emotional intelligence, a little less empathy for your fellow human being, because you simply don't have the time to do that and be successful.  At time, I wish I were that disciplined, but on balance, I am OK with a less disciplined approach to life if it includes times for others that need it.

Politically, Richard has been on the same side in the past on some issues I care about -- term limits and line item Presidential veto power, and there is one where I agree with him over Mike DeWine.  And there are a few issues where the two of them agree.   So, my main reason for not supporting Richard over Mike is not mainly political.  It is that Mike is not always about Mike, but Richard seems to be always about, well, Richard.  I never get a sense that Richard is as committed to the issues he champions as much as he seeks to portray his commitment to the voters.   If were voting, Richard would not get my vote because of the nagging feeling that he wants to be Governor so that he will someday be President of the United States.   I would want a Governor who is all in for my state, and does not have such long standing (forty-plus years) ambition to be President.  Richard is a decent guy, just a little too distant and ambitious for my taste.

So, let me now contrast my friend Mike DeWine.  My friendship with Mike is relatively new, and I feel a little strange calling him a friend, but he is certainly more than an acquaintance, because of one very telling personal interaction he had with me in the weeks after the election night in 2016. Although I had been acquainted with Mike and had been a visitor at his house with other supporters on the 4th of July, 1991, it wasn't until just after Thanksgiving, 2016, that I truly appreciated Mike DeWine, the man and the father of a child who departed this Earth before her time.

To set the stage, I was part of the team of lawyers and Republican activists in Columbus on election day in 2016 who were policing the election to make sure that election laws were not being violated by the other side during the Presidential general election.  While I was at the table taking calls, in walks Attorney General Mike DeWine and I, wearing my Texas Lone Star shirt that I wore to the National Republican Convention as a Delegate from Texas (and, of course, my Stetson), went over and reintroduced myself to Mike.  I think he actually remembered me from the 1990s when I did a little work as part of his issues team on his Senate campaign, Clearly, this Texan would not be of any use to Mike, but he didn't treat me that way, and after a few minutes of an exchange of pleasantries, I made sure that I didn't burn up the time he had to speak to those who could actually be of use to him politically in Ohio.  I went back to my phone, and didn't really think anything more of it, until that evening, when I ran into Mike and his wife, Fran, at the election watch party in downtown Columbus.  I learned about their son Patrick's success in his Ohio Supreme Court race that evening, and I had a chance to talk to Mike about my daughter, Emily, who was in hospice care as a result of the ravages of Juvenile Batten Disease and a severe bout of double pneumonia with an ultra-high (107.3 degree high) fever.  Mike sensed my worry and concern about Emily, and told me to contact him if he could ever do anything for me.  I gave him my card, and he put it in his pocket.  Being cynical about politicians (after all, I have been one here in Texas), I was fairly certain I would never hear from him.  I have never been more wrong about someone, and I should have known better, as the Mike DeWine I sorta knew never gave me any reason to doubt his sincerity or interest in me as a fellow human being.

When I returned home from Columbus to Texas, Emily was not in very good shape, and I didn't go into my office to pick up the mail until after Thanksgiving.  When  I did, I was surprised to see a card from Cedarville, Ohio, which could only have been from Mike DeWine.  Again, I am embarrassed now to say that my first thought as I was opening the card was that I was certain that is was a solicitation and that Mike hadn't wasted any time soliciting a donation from me.  How far from the truth that was!  Inside the envelope was a handwritten card from Mike, reiterating his interest in me and my family, and providing me with his cell phone number.   I didn't know until he announced for Governor that he had lost a child, a daughter, in a car accident many years' ago, and how profoundly that affected Mike, Fran and the entire DeWine family.  It was when I read the report of his announcement that it finally clicked with me:  Mike DeWine, the man, not the politician, had extended a helping hand to a another father who was going to have to bury a child before her time.  He will never know how that one simple act of kindness, with no prospect of a return gesture other than a simple thanks -- which I most assuredly did -- sustained me through Emily's deterioration through this day, and will continue to sustain me when I say my final goodbye to her.   

So, it is not for political reasons that I support Mike DeWine.  It is for friendship and for the brotherly love he extended to me when I was in need of support from an unexpected source.  Win or lose -- and I do hope he wins --- Mike DeWine will go down in my family history as the man who cared about his fellow man when he didn't have to, and at the time when we needed it most.  Wouldn't it be nice if all of our public servants were this human!  Mike will make a fine governor if the voters in Ohio give him the chance.

Good Luck Attorney General Mike DeWine.  God Bless You and God Bless the Voters of Ohio.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

April 1, 2017

President Donald J. Trump Proclaims April 1, 2017, as Politicians' Day: A National Day of Celebration of Policy-Making to Usher in a Modern Era of Good Feelings and National Unity

POLITICIANS' DAY:  A NATIONAL DAY OF CELEBRATION OF
POLICY MAKING TO USHER IN A MODERN ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS AND NATIONAL UNITY, 2017

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

This year marks the 200th anniversary of President James Monroe's Administration and the Era of Good Feelings.  The Era of Good Feelings marked a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812. The era saw the collapse of the Federalist Party and an end to the bitter partisan disputes between it and the dominant Democratic-Republican Party during the First Party System. 

President James Monroe strove to downplay partisan affiliation in making his nominations, with the ultimate goal of national unity and eliminating parties altogether from national politics. The period is so closely associated with Monroe's presidency (1817–1825) and his administrative goals that his name and the era are virtually synonymous. 

The term Era of Good Feelings was coined by Benjamin Russell, in the Boston Federalist newspaper, Columbian Centinel, on July 12, 1817, following Monroe's visit to Boston, Massachusetts, as part of his good-will tour of America.   The term was often derisively conveyed with irony or skepticism by the fake press of the day, as the history of the era was claimed to be one which the political atmosphere was strained and divisive, especially among factions within the Monroe administration and the then-Republican Party.  Following in President Monroe's footsteps, on July 12 of this year, I, Donald J. Trump, will begin my goodwill tour in Boston, where I intend to meet with the editors of the Boston Globe to begin my quest to end the two party system in the United States in order to bring unity to our country and to Make America Great Again.

On this Politicians' Day, we recognize those politicians who struggle daily with the scourge of partisan politics and the temptation to serve themselves before serving the American people.  All addictions are tough to beat, but the toughest of all is that which politicians fight daily – the addiction to senseless bickering and an unjustified and indeed delusional feeling of superiority.  We need to give the politicians tough love in the form of their own national day of celebration in order to help them through this devastating madness of partisan politics.  The only path to national unity is the elimination of ideological stubbornness and political correctness.  Once our politicians have been rehabilitated – and that day will be a huge part of the rehabilitation -- will we replace our current two party system with a single party of national unity. 

The American people want our politicians to know they are loved, honored and respected for their efforts to usher in a period of national unity and good feelings.  It is only fitting we honor politicians in this year, the two hundredth anniversary of the Era of Good Feelings to encourage them in their difficult struggle to serve the American people and rid the nation of our political parties.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 1, 2017, as Politicians' Day:  A National Day of Celebration of Greek and American Democracy.  I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-first.

DONALD J. TRUMP