Tag Archives: culture

Mentalities: Engineering or Liberal Arts?

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Purdue University President Mitch Daniels (and ex-Governor of Indiana) had a thought on STEM graduates and gluts.  He spoke about this at his keynote address to the National Academy of Engineering a week or so ago.

Engineers, unlike, for instance, lawyers or financial experts, frequently generate through their innovation new work for themselves and others.  Somewhere in any potential “glut” will be new Watts and Edisons and Noyces who give birth to entire new industries that require the services of engineers and non-engineers alike.

But even if we were to somehow outrun the market’s need for engineering talent, we will be a far stronger country if the engineering mentality takes a more prominent place in our national conversations.

The Liberal Arts mentality (those lawyers and financial experts, and history and philosophy majors), on the other hand, worries too much about “what might go wrong” and not enough about “what is the problem, and how do we fix it” that is the STEM’s approach to life.  The Liberal Arts mentality worries too much about “we have to do all of this for the less fortunate” and not enough about “how do we help the less fortunate help themselves, and how do we pay for that” that is the STEM’s approach to life.

There’s nothing wrong with Liberal Arts approach; it provides an important alternative way of looking at the world.  But for a burgeoning, prosperous economy in which everyone, regardless of their individual situations, can participate, we need the engineer’s problem scoping and solving mentality.

Obamacare Subsidies

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The government—i.e., us taxpayers—will pay for a significant portion of health “insurance” premiums under Obamacare, starting yesterday.  Under Obamacare rules, individuals making as much as 400% of the Federal Poverty Guideline—up to $45,000 per year—will get these subsidies.  Individuals making up to 250% of the Guideline—up to $28,725 per year—will get yet more subsidy (yet more of our tax money) to partly cover their deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance costs.  The same applies for families, and 400% of the Federal Poverty Guideline for a typical American family of four works out to $94,200 this year.

Think about that.  Under the prior system costs were high.  Obamacare, instead of going after those costs (right wing kook solutions like competition, like letting the doctors and patients decide what care actually was warranted, etc), props them up with those subsidies.

Sounds like manufactured government dependency, to me.

Democracy and Parties

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Much has been made, especially in the recent press, of the “civil war” going on in the Republican Party, with the proximate subject being the contest over tactics for handling Obamacare while funding the government.

Think about that for a moment, though.

One party demands submission to the party line.  Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, UT) are well known for their ability to enforce party discipline, and they have the able help of their seconds, Congressman Steny Hoyer (D, MD) and Senators Chuck Shumer (D, NY) and Dick Durbin (D, IL).  This party’s decisions are made behind closed doors, and the results are presented to the public with no discussion of alternatives.

The other party openly debates, often with considerable zeal, the party’s position on strategy and tactics, on particular issues, and on the party’s defining principles.  No decision is taken secretly; the debate is right out front for the public to see—and to participate.

Both parties claim democratic principles as their core.

One party actually lives those principles.  There’s no civil war going on.  That’s the messiness of democracy.  That’s democracy in action.

There’s Hope, Again

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Both Colorado State Senators, including the President of the State Senate, facing recall over their gun control legislation lost those recalls Tuesday.  These were solid defeats, too, nothing cliff-hanger-ish about them: State Senator John Morse (D), the Senate President, lost 51%-49%, and his colleague, State Senator Angela Giron (D), lost 56%-44%.

Moreover, these were not California-style recalls, where the firing occurs in one election and a separate election is held later (in which the just-fired incumbent could be a candidate).  These Colorado recalls were elections themselves, and on losing the recall, Morse and Giron were replaced by their opponents—Republicans Bernie Herpin and George Rivera.

The State Senate remains in Democrat hands, and it remains to be seen whether Herpin and Rivera will be any more responsive to their bosses, the citizens of their districts, but this is a clear step in the right direction: those who try to limit our individual liberties—in this case, try to foist onto honest citizens restrictions on 2nd Amendment rights—can expect to be fired forthwith.