Lincoln on Government

Lincoln’s belief that “joint effort” or “combined action” by government was required to help the weakest members of society.  Five years later he would admit that “government is not charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all the wrongs in the world,” but he added: “Government rightfully may, and…ought to, redress all wrongs which are wrongs to the nation itself.”

The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot, so well do, for themselves— in their separate, and individual capacities.

In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves. Government ought not to interfere.

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The desirable things which the individuals of a people cannot do, or cannot well do, for themselves, fall into two classes: those which have relations to wrongs, and those which have not.  Each of these branch off into an infinite variety of subdivisions.

The first—that in relation to wrongs—embraces all crimes, misdemeanors, and non-performance of contracts.  The other embraces all which, in its nature, and without wrong, requires combined action, as public roads and highways, public schools, charities, pauperism, orphanage, estates of the deceased,  and the machinery of government itself. 

From this it appears that if all men were just, there still would be some, though not so much, need of government.

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Government is a combination of the people of a country to effect certain objects by joint effort.  The best framed and best administered governments are necessarily expensive; while by errors in frame and maladministration most of them are more onerous than they need be, and some of them very oppressive.  Why, then, should we have government?  Why not each individual take to himself the whole fruit of his labor, without having any of it taxed away, in services, corn, or money?  Why not take just so much land as he can cultivate with his own hands, without buying it of any one?

The legitimate object of government is “to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they cannot, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves. “  There are many such things—some of them exist independently of the injustice in the world.  Making and maintaining roads, bridges, and the like; providing for the helpless young and afflicted; common schools; and discomposing of deceased men’s property, are instances.

But a far larger class of objects springs from the injustice of men.  If one people will make war upon another, it is necessary with that other to unite and cooperate for defense.  Hence the military department.  If some men will kill, or beat, or constrain others, or despoil them of property, by force, fraud, or noncompliance with contracts, it is a common object with peaceful and just men to prevent it.  Hence the criminal and civil departments.

Source:

To Do for the People What Needs to Be Done, Fragments on Government

[July 1, 1854] in Lincoln on Democracy:  His Own Words, with Essays by America's Foremost Civil War Historians. (New York, NY: A Cornelia & Michael Bessie Book, HarperCollins Publishers, 1990).  Eds. Mario M. Cuomo, & Harold Holzer, pp. 63-65.

Critical Thinking and Information Evaluation - An Old Topic To Be Revisited Several Times

We need to train children how to think independently and critically, because this is a survival skill in the Information Age. Such a training can be introduced early, possibly during kindergarten years through daily practice with the simple question-and-answer method. Do not ask children to follow or accept anything blindly and passively. Instead, encourage them to ask and answer questions about new things and events they encounter every day. Then allow them to test and see the result for themselves. In other words, kindle their curiosity, let them think, explore, get actual experiences, and evaluate the experiences by themselves under some guidance. In that way they can learn effectively.

As children grow up, they need to know how to hone their skills of observation, evaluation and judgment. One of the best ways to teach children critical thinking during their elementary years is to ask them to read, and to keep a journal (diary) to record their feelings and thoughts about what they have just read, and about their daily life at home and in school. Compare and contrast what they read with what they observe and experience in real life.  That is a good starting point to develop keen observation, critical thinking, and also meta-cognition, all of which are essential for scientific inquiry later on.

Children need encouragements and feed backs about what they have accomplished. Therefore, responsible adults (i.e., parents and teachers) should read the children's journal entries with them, and provide some positive feed backs and comments. Children need someone to listen to them and to provide them with guidelines.

In the Information Age, children need guidelines regarding Internet and information use and usage. Without responsible adults' guidance, children might become vulnerable victims of Internet crimes, or unintentionally get confused about values. They may even get the wrong messages about life values. Children, therefore, need to be taught information evaluation as early as first grade, or even earlier. Learning values, life skills, and information use and evaluation is a must through all school years, and even beyond.

Most Webpages found from search engines are self-published with some motives. Even Webpages by well-known national or international institutions, organizations and government agencies may have flaws or errors which the organizations, institutions or agencies might have overlooked. That is why Web users need to cultivate critical thinking and healthy skepticism.

Besides knowing your own topic and searching purpose (What information you look for and why you need it), you may rely on some of the following evaluation criteria to decide whether or not you should use the information you found:

1. Authority: What is the original source of information? Who is the author?  His/Her credentials? Is s/he an authority on the topic?
2. Currency: When was it first published or last updated?
3. Reliability and verifiability: Any bibliography, documentation, or additional links to resources to authenticate the information?  Is the image/the video clip/the sound authentic, or is it manipulated, distorted intentionally?  Photoshop has been doing a marvelous job in manipulating information.
4. Point of view or bias: What point of view does the author represent? Conservative or progressive, or affiliated with some advocacy group?  Read between the lines. 
5. Appropriateness and Coverage: The scope (breadth and depth) of the information item, and whether it meets your search purpose.

Finally, don't hastily share the information to others without checking it first. It is better to compare, contrast, and use many sources on the topic before you decide if the information item you have found meets your information purpose.

Information and technology alone cannot save the world.  Only TRUTH and WISDOM can  better the world.



Resources:

http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/webeval.html
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/evaluation.html
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html
http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating

Few Things Wholly Evil, or Wholly Good

The true rule, in determining to embrace, or reject anything, is not whether it have any evil in it; but whether it have more of evil, than of good.  There are few things wholly evil, or wholly good.  Almost everything, especially of governmental policy, is an inseparable compound of the two; so that our best judgment of the preponderance between them is continually demanded.  On this principle, the president, his friends, and the world generally, act on most subjects.
From a Speech in the US House of Representatives on Internal Improvements (June 20, 1848)

Source:
Lincoln on Democracy:  His Own Words, with Essays by America's Foremost Civil War Historians. (New York, NY: A Cornelia & Michael Bessie Book, HarperCollins Publishers, 1990).  Eds. Mario M. Cuomo, & Harold Holzer, p. 39.

I Have A Dream

I Have a Dream*

About One Day

When “Walking While Black Is Not a Crime”**

I Have a Dream

About One Country

Where One Shall Not Be Treated

Differently

Because of One’s Skin Color

I Have a Dream

About One Country

Where Every One Is Judged

Fairly and Equally

Before the Law

I Have a Dream

About One Country

Where "Different" Groups Would Rather

Sit Down for Talks

Than Rely on Violence

To Resolve Conflicts

And for “Self Defense”

I Have A Dream

About One Country 

That Has No Place for Arms

For the Armed and the Unarmed

Are Like Drivers and Pedestrians

Doesn't the Law say

It’s the Driver, NOT the Pedestrian,

That Is Responsible

For the Harm Done?
Once the Harm Was Done

Could It Be Undone?

This Time It Was Trayvon
Next, You Are Gone!  

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* Dr. Martin Luther King's famous statement
** One statement on a protester's sign against the jury's verdict in the Trayvon Martin case

Technology and Revolution

...for all that communication technologies can do to transform revolutions in ways that tip the balance in favor of the people, there are critical elements of change that these tools cannot effect.  Principal among them is the criterion of first-rate leaders, individuals who can keep the opposition intact during tough times, negotiate with a government if it opts for reform, or run for office, win and deliver on what the people want if a dictator flees.  Technology has nothing to do with whether an individual has the attributes to fill the role of a statesman. (pp. 128-129)
...large numbers of ...people, armed with little more than mobile phones, can fuel revolutions that challenge decades of authority and control, hastening a process that has historically taken years.  It 's now clear how technology platforms can play a prominent role in toppling dictators when used resourcefully.  ...it's also clear that it's the people who make or break revolutions, not the tools they use.  Traditional components of civil society will become even more important as online crowds swarm the virtual public square, because while some of the newly involved participants (like activist engineers) will be highly relevant and influential, many more... will be little more than amplifiers and noise generators along for the ride.    (p. 129)
Future revolutions will produce many celebrities, but this aspect of movement-making will retard the leadership development necessary to finish the job.  Technology can help find the people with leadership skills --thinkers, intellectuals and others --but it cannot create them.  Popular uprisings can overthrow dictators, but they are successful afterwards only if opposition forces have a good plan and can execute it. 
Otherwise the result is either a reconstruction of the old regime or a transition from a functioning regime to a failed state.  Building a Facebook page does not constitute a plan; actual operational skills are what will carry a revolution to a successful conclusion. (p. 129)
...............
The downside of an acceleration in the pace of a movement is that organizations and their ideas, strategies and leaders have a far shorter gestation period.  History suggests that opposition movements need time to develop, and that the checks and balances that shape an emergent movement ultimately produce a stronger and more capable one, with leaders who are more in tune with the population they intend to inspire. (p. 130)
...............
Successful leaders with ties to the diaspora will be the ones who adopt a sort of hybrid model, whereby the desires of the virtual and physical constituencies are both addressed and somehow reconciled.  Winning over and making use of both of these groups will be a challenge, but it will be critical  for sustainable leadership in the digital age. (p. 135)


Source:
Schmidt, Eric & Cohen, Jared.  (2013).  The New Digital Age—Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business.  (Alfred A. Knopf, NY), pp.129-135.

The Dalai Lama on Religion and Happiness

RELIGION

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

Everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion.

I feel that the essence of spiritual practice is your attitude toward others. When you have a pure, sincere motivation, then you have right attitude toward others based on kindness, compassion, love and respect. Dharma practice brings the clear realisation of the oneness of all human beings and the importance of others benefiting by your actions.

Religion does not mean just precepts, a temple, monastery, or other external signs, for these are subsidiary factors in taming the mind. When the mind becomes the practices, one is a practitioner of religion.

HAPPINESS
Everyday, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.

True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion and elimination of ignorance, selfishness and greed.

Human happiness and human satisfaction must ultimately come from within oneself. It is wrong to expect some final satisfaction to come from money or from a computer.

China in Africa

China has been remarkably successful in extending its footprint into Africa, trading technical assistance and large infrastructure projects for access to resources and consumer markets, in no small part due to China's noninterference policy and low bids.   (p. 110)

Tanzania, a former socialist country, is one of the largest recipients of Chinese foreign direct assistance.  In 2007, a Chinese telecom was contacted to lay some ten thousand kilometer of fiber-optic cable.  Several years later, a Chinese mining company called Sichuan Hongda announced that it had entered into a $3 billion deal with Tanzania to extract coal and iron ore in the south of the country  Shortly thereafter, the Tanzanian government announced it had entered into a loan agreement with China to build a natural gas-pipeline for $1 billion.  All across the continent, similar symbiotic relationships exist between African governments and big Chinese firms, most of which are state-owned.  (State-owned enterprises make up 80 percent of the value of China's stock market.)  A $150 million loan for Ghana's e-governance venture, implemented by the Chinese firm Huawei, a research hospital in Kenya, and an "African Technological City" in Khartoum all flow from the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), a body established in 2000 to facilitate Sino-African partnerships. (p. 111)

Source:
Schmidt, Eric & Cohen, Jared.  (2013).  The New Digital Age—Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business.  (Alfred A. Knopf, NY), pp. 110-111.