This is the second in a series of posts on Trump’s upcoming presidency; see the previous post, Concerns About Trump Presidency Part 1: Important Intro.

It is interesting that one of my biggest concerns comes in the area of foreign policy. I think Trump is more of a domestic candidate. In other words, I think most those who support him do so for his domestic policy. At the very least, he is known for being protectionistic—that is a desire to lessen competition from imports toward domestic production. This may be my bias, but I suspect most people are oblivious to foreign affairs beyond the belief that other countries have taken our jobs and that foreigners are trying to break into the U.S. Beyond this, most are aware of the war in Continue reading →

First of all, see my comments on my news sources.

Politics in general and the recent presidential election in particular are contentious and emotional. Many posts in regards to politics end up emotionally charged. Talking about it at all may be emotionally triggering, but I want to attempt to share my perspective reasonably and avoid emotionally triggering language as much as possible. As an analogy, if there is a politician Bob and I think Bob harms rabbits, then I will be inclined to think that anyone who supports Bob either wants to harm rabbits or doesn’t care. I have to catch myself in order to avoid making this assumption which is likely inaccurate for most people.

From my point of view, I find it challenging to understand how so many Continue reading →

Religions tend to share certain features: a set of beliefs, rituals, texts, holy days, rites, etc. We usually think of religion as having to do with spirituality and belief in the divine. This is true, but many aspects of religion do not require either of these. Some people hold their religious beliefs and practices casually. Many other hold these quite fervently. People can demonstrate religious like devotion to entities we have not traditionally thought of as religions.

American nationalism is one such entity. We have our holy days, the highest of which is the Forth of July. Our rituals include the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem. Our most sacred symbol is the U.S. flag. I think also about how much the U.S. flag or Continue reading →

(The following is a letter I wrote to all TN Republican House of Representative members.)

I am writing you today due to my concern about the liberty and democracy of our state of Tennessee. There have been a number of measures taken recently which, in my estimation, represent hardly disguised over reach of our state government. I ask you to focus on making Tennessee one of the best states in the nation. There understandably may be differences in opinion between you, as a representative of our state government, and local governing bodies. But I implore you to not try to micromanage local governments and especially not to overrule them. To do so is to violate the sovereign will of the people and represents an attack on our democracy Continue reading →