16 results for author: Rick Lohr

Do We Want a Government of Laws or Men?

We just celebrated Memorial Day honoring the sacrifice of so many Americans fighting Fascism in WWII. Fascism is a highly personalized authoritarian system. Why should people obey an authoritarian? Their power relies on expressions of loyalty. One approached medieval kings with bows and paeans of praise. They were raised on thrones so that they were literally higher then the supplicants approaching them. Any violation of these protocols suggested that an individual harbored disloyal ideas and had to be dealt with in a severe way. Law is what the authoritarian says it is. They, themselves were above the law and not subject to their prescriptions and ...

Everything is wrong…so elect me

Everything is going wrong. The economy is poor, the military is weak, the government is corrupt, elections are rigged, we’re being invaded, crime is rampant…a litany of doom and disaster has been pushed by those who would like us to react in fear. It doesn’t have to reflect reality. In the U.S., crime is down, the economy is recovering from COVID and the years prior, our international alliances are recovering, but to aspiring autocrats, it doesn’t matter. Why? If we fear enough we may be willing to cast our vote for someone who appears strong and confident to save us. It is the historic tactic of the would-be autocrat. “Only I can save ...

Is The Federal Civil Service the Deep State?

In 1883 the Federal Civil Service was created to fill government jobs with competent people, not on the whims of the most recent political presidential candidate. The old system was called the “spoils system,” where political cronies lined up for lucrative payoffs for helping their candidate win. The spoils system originated from the 1820 Tenure of Office Act, which limited the terms of officials to the four years corresponding to the election of a new president. It was called the spoils system because the supporters of the successful candidate for president would line up to get lucrative positions in the new administration. This led to vast ...

Congress, Not President, Needs to Act on Immigration

Who are the “migrants” coming to our southern border? “Immigrants” is the new scare word of right-wing political extremists. “Vermin,” “rapists,” “pushers,” “invaders.” Can we think of any more dehumanizing names to call this movement of people attempting to cross our borders? Is it a serious issue? Yes, it is. Are the evil stereotypes of the masses of people coming to the border correct? No. First of all, the migrants are people who are making a desperate and dangerous journey. They are leaving everything behind in the hope of finding physical security, or a chance for a better life for themselves and their children. P...

Electronic Screens Have Created a New Version of Plato’s ‘Cave’

The Greek philosopher, Plato, wrote the Allegory of the Cave about the nature of how we perceive reality. In his instructional story, a group of people live their entire lives chained in place and facing a cave wall. Behind them, on a ledge there is a fire casting its light on the cave wall that they can see. People go about their daily activities in front of the fire so that their shadows are cast onto the wall, so the chained people can see them. Plato asks, what will the chained prisoners think of reality? Won’t they think that the shadows are the true nature of reality? Plato’s Allegory of the Cave almost perfectly describes our modern ...

Moderate/Extremist? Left/Right

Words, and their meanings, matter. Words are not vessels that can be filled with whatever meaning one wants. Kung Fu-tzu, who lived 500 years before Christ, said that before a debate begins, the participants should participate in “rectification of terms.” What he meant was that the participants in the debate should agree on the definitions of the key words to be used. After rectification of terms, many points of dispute disappear. In the US today, we need a rectification of terms, especially in politics and media news. Opposing sides use the same words in disputation, but give them very different meanings.   I have been dismayed by the use ...

Funding Public Libraries Crucial to Diverse, Free Society

I am writing this letter in support of, not only maintaining, but increasing, the 2024 budget for the Marathon County Public Library. It seems strange that the budget of such a valued community resource should be threatened. We live in a complicated age where diversity of people and ideas should be celebrated, not condemned. The public library system makes all kinds of books and ideas available to everyone. Public libraries are one of the safe places where people of all backgrounds, economic class, race, gender and ideology can gather and quietly go about their business, enjoyment and research. It is the epitome of community, where people of ...

Ayn Rand, Narcissism and Democracy

Ayn Rand (Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum) was an influential fiction writer. Her best sellers were “The Fountainhead” (1943) and “Atlas Shrugged” (1957). She was a Russian who reacted to the crushing uniformity under communism in Russia. She also saw the same dangers in the right-wing fascism of Hitler’s Nazism in Germany. The protagonists in her novels found freedom through the expression of their individualism. Determined to forge their own way, they not only rejected the conformity of totalitarian regimes, but also, the values of living in a community. If one is to live an “objective” life, one measures events and people by how they ...

Freedom in Autocracy and Democracy

In America, some of us have mistaken autocratic government as freedom. Conservative societies know that true freedom is possible only in well-regulated societies where democratically enacted laws and legal procedures outline acceptable behavior. Without laws that regulate the limits of behavior, societies are at the mercy of the powerful. In extreme dictatorships of the right, or left, autocratic “laws” dictate the lifestyle of their subjects. In autocratic systems, a demagogic leader convinces his followers that they can express their individual freedom by joining his herd of followers. If one crosses the will of the leader, there is no recourse ...

Forcing Religious Beliefs in the Classroom is not Condoned

America is changing and becoming something new. That is the purpose of teaching history. It is important to know what we have been, and, as importantly, what we have not been. With current politicians basing some of their electoral appeal on interpretations of U.S. history, it is more important than ever to teach as accurate and fact-based narrative as possible. That goes for the history of our religious past. as well. Our founding fathers realized that no group is more dangerous to the social fabric of a country than religious extremists who believe they only have the truth. The lesson they learned from European history is that ...