Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com What Have We Learned? So this is the first column I have penned after the 2016 US election. Many of us were stunned and troubled by the election of Donald Trump as President. Of course, many others are presumably happy to see Obama go and the Donald arrive.
Uncommon Common Sense – January 2017 Read More »
Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com When We Are Right Finally, finally the interminable election season in the United States has ended. It was worse than usual. Thank goodness it is over, at least for the time being. I am particularly concerned with the lack of comity on both sides. The election may have
Uncommon Common Sense – December 2016 Read More »
Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com The Future of Employment There has been a lot of talk about the number of jobs in the United States and Canada which have been lost to cheaper labor markets overseas. The issue is a complicated one, and although many jobs are lost, new markets can also be
Uncommon Common Sense – November 2016 Read More »
Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com An Argument for Pluralism I have been thinking about the Russian-born British social philosopher Isiah Berlin lately. My friend at Lakeside, Luis Romero, shared one of Berlin’s essays with me a couple of years ago. In it, Berlin discusses the role of pluralism in Western liberal democracies. He
Uncommon Common Sense – October 2016 Read More »
Mango By Bill Frayer Peeling a mango is simple.Doing that one thing, nowIs simple, and it is good. So as I peel a mangoI anticipateIts sweet tartnessAnd feel my salivaPrepare itselfFor the first bite.And I am fullyWith this mangoIn this moment. I am not thinkingAbout my healthOr about problemsWith my familyOr about my next
Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com Global Values? Not So Fast… What is happening in Western Democracies? What, exactly is going on? The UK voted for Brexit. A major political party in the US has nominated Donald Trump for president. David Duke and white supremacists are back in the news. Right-wing nationalist parties in
Uncommon Common Sense – September 2016 Read More »
Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com DO Go Gentle… My father was a gentle man. He wasn’t meek. He had strong opinions, but he was gentle in the way he expressed them. When I was in college, I remember coming home full of myself, sure that I understood the world better than most people,
Uncommon Common Sense – August 2016 Read More »
Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com Certainty and Doubt Bertrand Russell once observed, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves and wiser people are full of doubts.” When I first wrote about Donald Trump several months ago, I was fairly certain he would have disappeared
Uncommon Common Sense – July 2016 Read More »
Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com What Happened to Secular Values? I am a baseball fan. Since September 11, it seems as though at every major league baseball game, during the seventh inning stretch, “God Bless America” is played instead of the traditional “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” At first, I got it.
Uncommon Common Sense – June 2016 Read More »
Uncommon Common Sense By Bill Frayerbillfrayer@gmail.com Drifting Towards Authoritarianism? Many people in the United States and, indeed, throughout the world, have become alarmed at the persistent popularity of Donald Trump. Political pundits immediately dismissed him as a serious candidate as soon as he announced his intentions to run for president, and they have been
Uncommon Common Sense – May 2016 Read More »
