The Thoughts Of John Paul Jones

Generations of Naval Academy Midshipmen were forced to memorize the thoughts of John Paul Jones on the attributes of a naval officer:

“It is by no means enough that an officer of the navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor. He should be the soul of tact, patience, justice, firmness, and charity. No meritorious act of a subordinate should escape his attention or be left to pass without its reward, even if the reward is only a word of approval. Conversely, he should not be blind to a single fault in any subordinate, though, at the same time, he should be quick and unfailing to distinguish error from malice, thoughtlessness from incompetency, and well-meant shortcoming from heedless or stupid blunder. In one word, every commander should keep constantly before him the great truth, that to be well obeyed, he must be perfectly esteemed.”

"To be well obeyed, he must be perfectly esteemed!"

In fact, the quoted passage reflects the thoughts of Augustus C. Buell, in his 1900 biography of John Paul Jones, who thought it represented what Jones would have said on the subject.

It doesn't matter. The quote represents sound advice on leadership in any walk of life.

The Invisible Hand And Kinky Indifference Maps

Someone long ago decided that economics is "the dismal science."

It therefore may come as a shock to learn that economists (at least the salt water variety) sometimes exhibit a keen sense of humor.

There is, for example, the economics professor/writer known to the world as Adam Smith. No, not the Adam Smith of 1776 who wrote Wealth of Nations. Rather the Adam Smith (pen name) who in 1976 received the "Invisible Hand" award.



Rather than attempt to describe the scene myself, I'll let Adam Smith himself (The late Jerry Goodman) tell the tale here.

And we can all join in a rousing chorus of "Wealth of Nations- Writ for me!"

Why I Am A Democrat

I have heard people ask, in apparent confusion: "Just what does the Democratic Party stand for?"

There should be no confusion. Here is what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said about it in 1932:

"There are two ways of viewing the Government's duty in matters affecting economic and social life. The first sees to it that a favored few are helped and hopes that some of their prosperity will leak through, sift through, to labor, to the farmer, to the small business man. That theory belongs to the party of Toryism, and I had hoped that most of the Tories left this country in 1776
But it is not and never will be the theory of the Democratic Party."

Here is what presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan said about it in 1896:

"There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it."

From Thomas Jefferson to the present day, the central idea of the Democratic Party has been to achieve "the greatest good to the greatest number of our citizens."

Wheels Of Justice

Some say the wheels of justice grind exceeding slow. As a case in point, I filed my complaint against the Town of Oriental August 2, 2012. After a lot of preliminaries, My attorney has just today filed a brief with the North Carolina Court of Appeals. The Town has thirty days to file its brief. So it will be at least mid to late February before the Court begins to process the case.

Patience is a virtue in such circumstances.

Seventy Years Ago: Christmas Greetings From The White House, 1943

On Christmas Eve, 1943, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had only been back in Washington for a week after a grueling transatlantic voyage to conferences with Allies in Cairo and Teheran. That evening, he gave one of his famous "fireside chats" with the American people, reporting on the conferences, the prospects for victory and our vision for the future.

"We here in the United States had better be sure," he emphasized, "that when our soldiers and sailors do come home they will find an America in which they are given full opportunities for education, and rehabilitation, social security, and employment and business enterprise under the free American system -- and that they will find a Government which, by their votes as American citizens, they have had a full share in electing." Fireside Chat 27, December 24, 1943.

That was a vision that would take decades to perfect. It took the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It took the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. It took the Help America Vote Act.

It continues to take the efforts of countless election officials and volunteers to protect and defend the idea of a Government in which every citizen has a full share in electing.

It takes continued dedication and vigilance.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Complete With Chesnuts

Here's a link to a nice little Christmas story.

Bradley Flinn, August 4, 1969- December 20, 2013

Last night Bradley Flinn, owner of S/V the Shire, died at Pitt Memorial Hospital.

Those who knew him knew a very nice man. He was a Navy veteran of the Gulf War, who lived on his pink-hulled boat. He was a libertarian, but not as doctrinaire as some. I enjoyed talking to him. He had a wide range of interests. In an earlier age, he might have been called an autodidact. But that could apply to anyone with an inquiring mind.

We knew he had health problems, but didn't know how serious.

Over the years, he had anchored his boat past the bridge over Smith Creek and rowed into Oriental every day. When he developed a rotator cuff injury, he had to move the boat closer to the dinghy dock. He planned to move back up the creek, but for a long time the water level was too high. By the time the level went down, he was unable to make the move for other reasons.

Brad was a bit eccentric. Completely within the normal range for the Town of Oriental.

Rest in Peace.

Today's News and Observer prints an editorial concerning the income gap between ordinary working Americans and the super wealthy, explaining why the gap is holding back our economy.

It isn't about fairness - it is about what works best:

"To boost economy, reduce the income gap

December 17, 2013 Updated 6 hours ago

  The Associated Press surveyed more than three dozen economists to find out what most shopkeepers could have told it: The richer getting richer doesn’t lead to more buying.

"The rich are enjoying a surge in wealth from robust stock market gains, but it’s only when low- and middle-income people have more to spend that the economy rises, the economists said.
“What you want is a broader spending base,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James, a financial advisory firm. “You want more people spending money.”
What’s wanted – broad gains in income – is not what the great majority of Americans will be getting this Christmas. Pay for low- and middle-income earners is barely rising, and the gap between the rich and the rest shows no sign of slowing its expansion. The result of flat incomes for most is flat consumption overall.
The most recent census figures reveal, the AP reported, “that the average income for the wealthiest 5 percent of U.S. households, adjusted for inflation, has surged 17 percent in the past 20 years. By contrast, average income for the middle 20 percent of households has risen less than 5 percent.”
What may be changing is that growing income inequality is moving from a moral debate about fairness to a practical discussion about its economic effect. That’s a good change. President Obama has moved the discussion that way. With luck, the mid-term election will take it further."

To find out more, read the AP story here:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/17/3467102/ap-survey-us-income-gap-is-holding.html

The truth is that New Deal programs and the so-called safety net have always been about making the economy work better for everyone. Businessmen in our poorest states are the biggest beneficiaries from putting more money in the pockets of workers, whether currently employed or not.