Imagine … Better?

Posted on 22 January 2018 by Erik Hare | 3 Comments

One year into the Trump administration, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Yes, it’s true, it’s always good to warm up the crowd by opening with a joke. But seriously folks, is it possible to even look back and imagine a normal presidency at this point?

Everything has forever changed in the United States as a result of Trump, or more to the point everything is going to have to change. This should sound like good news to a nation that never looks back but it means there will be a lot of work ahead undoing the damage when the time comes. As we wait for that opportunity, this might be a good time to imagine how things can or should be different.

Let’s imagine a happy place for a moment with a functioning government and a universe of possibilities …

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Developing Innovation

Posted on 17 January 2018 by Erik Hare | 1 Comment

This post from 2013 is still very relevant.

What does the future hold? The job is often left to Futurists, which is nice work if you can get it. Then again, we still don’t really have flying cars, do we? It’s always hard to predict just what will happen as technologies advance, and by that I mean a lot more than just information technology. There’s still a lot to be done with advanced materials, machining, finance, and other more mundane things.

We have determined in Barataria that as the world’s population grows richer, more uniformly, working age populations are going to stabilize and even decline in the next two decades. That means that future growth will come not from more workers but from new technologies. That puts pressure on the Futurists, for sure, but it puts even more pressure on the delicate art of managing innovation – the process of rendering a bit of magic into practical use. It’s a topic worth exploring.

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Brutal Cold

Posted on 12 January 2018 by Erik Hare | Leave a comment

When in doubt, you can always talk about the weather in polite Minnesota conversation. Days like today, when we are expected to have yet another big winter storm and the potential for Olympic Ice Dancing on the roads, it’s a topic you can count on. It’s not controversial but it provides a nearly endless supply of entertainment much like driving a flaming bus through a wall of televisions, at least in the sense that it’s likely to be lethal.

Many of us learn to be fascinated by the weather in ways that seek awkward and geeky to people in other parts of the nation. That’s a shame because a hard study of weather is a form of meditation that can clear your mind like no other form. Plus, it’s on teevee. Here in the middle of a vast continent we are at the mercy of whatever blows our way. It’s something that everyone can talk about – even if no one does anything about it.

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A Year of Conflict

Posted on 29 December 2017 by Erik Hare | 2 Comments

As 2017 closes out, as cold as it was on the way in, it’s hard to find words to describe just what is going on around us. Divisive, chaotic, and juvenile come to mind quickly. So does bizarre.

But what defined this year more than anything else was conflict. Despite a decade long war in Syria and some other regional battles, the world is actually more at peace than it has been for many centuries. Yet it doesn’t seem like it.

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No One is Indispensable

Posted on 8 December 2017 by Erik Hare | 2 Comments

“Politics is not about power and money games, politics is about the improvement of people’s lives”
– Sen Paul Wellstone (D-MN), paraphrasing Eleanor Roosevelt

Sen Al Franken (D-MN) resigned today from the seat once held by Paul Wellstone. It came after many of his colleagues in the Senate expressed a lack of confidence in him from numerous allegations of inappropriate touching of women.

It is a sad day in Minnesota, but we move on. There are many lessons here, but what’s most important is that in a truly open system based on service to the people of the nation no one is indispensable. We are shaping the Democratic Party to be one which stands for principles first.

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