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How About Some Respect

January 5th, 2015 No comments

I wish many things for 2015, but one in particular is “Respect for others.”  The basic concept of respect covers a large spectrum of subjects; I am mentioning only a few in hopes that my comments will stimulate your thinking.  Perhaps together we can come up with a list of things we all need to do to help make respect for others more prevalent in 2015.

 

In my opinion respect for others starts in the home with young children.  Parents need to teach and practice respect for themselves and other members of the family.  I am appalled at how some parents talk to their children and allow their children to speak to them.  I witness some parents and children shouting at one another, and sometimes using foul language.  This is teaching disrespect that goes far beyond the family.  Parents need to teach children early on how to disagree with another person without shouting and yelling and name-calling. Read more…

Ingenious Compromise: Reason for Hope

August 1st, 2014 No comments

Here are some headlines appearing in major newspapers recently:

  • “A Deeply Divided Supreme Court . . .”;
  • “Divided Congress is Deeply Fractionalized . . .”;
  • “The Deep Divide in Congress . . .”;
  • “Obama Warns a Divided Congress . . .”;
  • “The Sharp Political Divide in America . . .”;
  • “The Most Divided Congress Ever . . .” 

These stories all suggest that the United States today is so divided along political lines that the politicians are unable to pass meaningful legislation and that judges (even in the Supreme Court) are unable to make unbiased legal decisions.  But does a sharply divided America necessarily mean that no meaningful legislation can emerge from our political leaders on both sides of the aisle?  I don’t think so!  Read more…

Getting Bids–Yes or No?

July 26th, 2014 2 comments

We frequently hear about the need for governments—local, county, state, and federal—to get competing bids, and too often we learn after the fact that contracts were let without getting bids.  But many people ask, “Does getting competing bids really make any difference?”  I have the evidence for a definitive answer to that question.

 

Before telling you of a personal experience I had this week, let me point out that probably every reader of this blog gets bids for themselves.  For example, when we are in need of an expensive item (such as a new or used car, a new stove or refrigerator, a new washing machine and drier, or a new computer or printer), most of us will shop around, looking at different models and going to at least a couple of stores or dealers before deciding what to buy.  Although we do not usually ask the salesperson for a formal bid, we are, by shopping around, exercising our own process of bid taking. 

 

But sometimes we find it helpful to get formal bids.  That happened to me this week. Read more…