Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

politics

  • I like sharing funny stuff on Facebook. In a way, that’s what it is for. I also share political stuff when it is meaningful. Last week, I posted a picture that isn’t very good and I was told so. See what I mean? It’s underlying theology is immature and it strikes the receiver as brazenly…

  • When I wrote the other day about a lack of wisdom, I wasn’t prepared for an even more stunning thesis: that ideology would trump both common sense and wisdom. I had taken for granted that common sense was often used to support the governing ideology. In the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to uphold the already…

  • In this great comment on Forbes (of all places), The Dark Secret of Meritocracy: Reality is Rigged, Karl Smith speaks to hidden costs and the world it creates. His argument? Cheaters may almost never win but, given equal opportunity and a large enough competition, the winners are almost always cheaters. What does this make of cheating?…

  • Conflict is our great paradox. We love peace and yet more easily create war. We long to be loved and thrive on defiling others. We can see the problems of conflict in our lives. We know that conflict is not our way. We also know that the roots of conflict arise from our fear of…

  • One of our oldest sayings is “time heals all wounds”. That regardless of what has happened, a scab will form eventually. Of course, we have misguided expectations. We hear the word heal and we assume all will go back to normal. But there is no “normal”. There is progress and there is stasis, but no normal.…

  • I hate to lose. I know you hate to lose. Losing sucks. When our surrogates lose, we feel like we lose. When our surrogates win, we feel like we’ve won. And we make a dangerous decision about these wins and losses: that it is ideologies that win and lose on election day. It couldn’t be…