Quotes from my Forthcoming Book

It is my contention that a Society of Dignity is the next step, and a necessary one. We are not there yet, though hints of it are beginning to appear, giving us a peep at what the future could be, if we will it. While the Society of Contract preaches merit and ability, the Society of Dignity would expand on that to include the worth and dignity of every individual. Not everyone is successful in the Society of Contract—the disabled, minorities, the luckless. A Society of Dignity is a Society of Contract with Purpose; it represents the coming of the Judaic ideal, “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” and of the Christian ideal, “Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven.” The Society of Dignity represents affirmative rights for all, including a minimum standard of living—dignified and humane work to do, healthcare, education, freedom from hunger, freedom from discrimination of any kind—and these human rights are for all, regardless of merit and ability. The Society of Dignity is one that takes seriously the notion that “I am my brother’s keeper,” one that takes seriously the notion that “as you do unto the least of these, you do unto me.”

Quotes from my Forthcoming Book

The 4000-year history of the Jewish people offers great lessons in survival strategies on a tribal and “distinct people” level, many of which can be magnified and applied on a “species survival” level.

Quotes from my Forthcoming Book

      99.9 percent of all species known to have existed on this planet are now extinct—failed experiments in evolution. The idea, whether religious or secular, that the human species is somehow exempt from this calculation is no longer credible. We are the first species on this planet to “do science,” as Carl Sagan pointed out; but, thereby, we are also the first species to engineer a means of mass collective suicide (nuclear, chemical, and biological).

Quotes from the Forthcoming Book

At my age it isn’t necessary to cultivate a feeling of responsibility for posterity. The feeling blooms in my breast quite naturally each time I look into the faces of my grandchildren. What kind of world will they live in? Will they know peace and security? Will they have a real chance at achieving the American Dream? Will their grandchildren even have the chance to exist? This book is for them, and their children’s children, and so on down that great living line. Here I offer thoughts and observations from a lifetime of political study and experience, in hopes that my own humble perspective might help make the world a better place for those who come after me.

The Ben-Gurion Environmental Research Program

Are you interested in an environmental treat this morning? Then check out Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. They’re doing great work.

    Would you believe:

    *    drawing energy from algae;

    *    solar energy storage techniques that could eliminate the need for nuclear, coal or oil-based energy;

    *    desert agriculture that absorbs carbon dioxide gases;

    *    making every drop of water count;

     These are not full blown realities at the moment, but they are not dreams either. They are examples of the cutting-edge environmental innovation developed in at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

     Why? You've heard that necessity is the mother of invention. Well, Israel has an abundance of sun but no oil. It has desert sand in abundance that can be reconfigured into something like a sponge that absorbs carbon dioxide gases. It has sand and mountain dirt lacking water, but has invented ways to make the desert bloom. Israel now exports fruits and vegetables.

     Israel is dedicated to being a "green" nation out of self-interest, but its environmental survival is the world's survival as well.

     "From the desert for the world" is the mission at Ben-Gurion University these days, and I applaud their work.

Check it out: info@aabgu.org  or  www.aabgu.org

The Trouble with Amnest

The many Republicans (and a few Democrats) who wish to deny amnesty to illegal immigrants are facing a dicey moral contradiction. First of all, America is a nation of immigrants; most of us are the children or grand-children of people who came here—legally and illegally—seeking a better life. Is there a fundamental difference between our parents or grand-parents and the “illegal” Mexican that mows our lawns or cleans our offices? There is not.

     The deniers of amnesty cannot answer this dilemma without torturing logic. Their main argument is the sanctity of the law. These illegal immigrants have broken our law simply by coming here, and granting amnesty or a “pathway to citizenship” is to reward law-breakers. This statement is true, but arbitrary, and morally irrelevant. We must remember that Jesus was a law-breaker; so was Gandhi. We must also remember that violating unjust laws is a deeply ingrained American tradition—think Boston Tea Party, Prohibition, the Civil Rights Movement etc.

     The counter-argument to this will no doubt be that there is no moral equivalence between violating laws in the name of a righteous cause like the Civil Rights Movement and crossing a border to find work. This is true on the surface, but lacks perspective. From the perspective of the Mexican laborer, who is simply seeking honest work to provide a decent life for himself and his family, to deny him access to this because he crossed a border is unjust. These immigrants want the very same chance that our immigrant parents and grand-parents had. Are we justified in attempting to deny them this chance? It seems to me we have no moral ground to stand on here.

     Shakespeare made the point nicely on the tongue of Brutus in Julius Caesar:

              “But ‘tis a common proof,

That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,

Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;

But when he once attains the upmost round,

He then unto the ladder turns his back,

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees

By which he did ascend.”

     Have we sons and daughters of base and lowly immigrants the legitimate right to slam the door behind us? To kick away the ladder by which we got here?

     I think not.