Quadfecta - The Challenge of Our Time.
Arthur Brooks, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Allman Brothers.
Virginia FREE Fridays at 3pm today - click here - topics: General Assembly Retirement Tracker Update below, Governor Glenn Youngkin’s CNN Town Hall, and POTUS 2024 - Joe Biden’s budget and Donald Trump’s polling rebound.
QUADFECTA - better than the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
Last week, I wrote about this alarming trifecta:
Motive Attribution Asymmetry - the level of contempt both American political parties have for the other = that of the Israelis and Palestinians. Awesome.
Generative Artificial Intelligence - “ a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce various types of content, including text, imagery, audio and synthetic data.” Article here. China’s Baidu launches it’s ChatGPT version next week. Super fun.
Plato suggesting democracy is the most dangerous form of government, because its lack of grounding in an objective moral order makes it vulnerable to the passions of the mob—resulting, inevitably, in tyranny. *Drink* (It’s okay, we’re a republic…#ThankGod4theSenate)
That column stirred a considerable amount of feedback which is always welcome. (hit reply and type) But wait! There’s a fourth. A quadfecta if you will - the Censorship Industrial Complex.
Matt Taibbi - one of the few remaining intellectually honest journo/thought leaders - gave Congressional testimony this week about The Twitter Files. Here’s how he concluded:
The First Amendment, and an American population accustomed to the right to speak, is the best defense left against the Censorship-Industrial Complex. If the latter can knock over our first and most important constitutional guarantee, these groups will have no serious opponent left anywhere.
If there’s anything the Twitter Files show, it’s that we’re in danger of losing this most precious right, without which all other democratic rights are impossible.
Okay, Crapgame.
I will be more “righteous and hopeful” - because I usually am anyway.
*Warning* - Being “righteous and hopeful” requires much harder work than one would think.
Arthur Brooks recalling St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae from 1265 on what will “enduringly bring authentic happiness.”
I have these Four v. Four on a Post It Note on my desk.
The Four people chase which lead in the wrong direction:
Money
Power
Pleasure
Honor or Fame
The Four that truly bring enduring happiness:
Faith
Family
Friendship
Work that does two things - earn your success and serve others.
758 years ago and St. Thomas Aquinas cracked the code. But did we follow it?
Those Four we will need to confront the Quadfecta.
But I might add a fifth - intellectual honesty.
Easter toasts will go out to Taibbi, Jon Stewart, and Bill Maher for keeping it real.
Here’s Jon Stewart a year ago on Stephen Colbert:
Thanks also to Bill Maher for keeping it real every week:
Your On Hold Videos of the Day courtesy of the Allman Brothers - Duane and Greg
General Assembly Retirement Tracker:
Retirement Tracker - years of service
Senator Dick Saslaw - 48
Senator Janet Howell - 32
Senator Tommy Norment - 32
Senator John Edwards - 28
Senator Lynwood Lewis - 20
Senator Jennifer McClellan - 18
Senator Jill Vogel - 16
Senator John Bell - 8
Delegate Ken Plum - 44
Delegate Kathy Byron - 26
Delegate Rob Bell - 22
Delegate James Edmunds - 14
Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn - 14
Delegate Margaret Ransone - 14
Delegate Roxann Robinson - 13
Delegate Glenn Davis - 10
Delegate Kathleen Murphy - 9
Delegate Mike Mullin - 8
Delegate Jeff Bourne - 7
Delegate Dawn Adams - 6
Delegate Kelly Convirs-Fowler - 6
Delegate Wendy Gooditis - 6
Delegate John Avoli - 4
Delegate Tim Anderson - 2
Still to come - 9 more legislators via involuntary retirement and 78 years of service.
Total 33 legislators and 485 years of service.
Minimum.