To Love Someone, You Have to Respect Them Too

…ciple of romantic love is this one: you can’t expect your spouse to change simply because you want him to change. And he can’t expect the same of you. Accept each other as you are now — or don’t become involved. Be sure to “friend” Dr. Hurd on Facebook. Search under “Michael Hurd” (Rehoboth Beach DE). Get up-to-the-minute postings, recommended articles and links, and engage in back-and-forth discussion with Dr. Hurd on topics of interest. Also fol… Continue reading

The Vice Presidential Debate That Might Have Been

…if a fetus is a life with individual rights, why should a fetus be killed simply because it was conceived in rape or incest? This isn’t the fetus’ fault, correct? The fetus did not choose to be conceived this way. So why is it not murder when a fetus is conceived in rape or incest, while it is murder in all other cases?” “Rep. Ryan, you stated that it’s perfectly reasonable to send letters to the White House on behalf of constituents asking for o… Continue reading

Education As We Know It: C-Minus at Best

…government monopoly, the way health care is becoming (thanks to the recent completion of socialized medicine). Few can afford private schools, and as a result there’s very little innovation in education as there would be in a competitive, free market for education. Imagine if the government paid for most people’s computers or cell phones. Yes, private competition for better computers would exist, but most would default to the government brand. Bec… Continue reading

“Affordable Care Act” Forgot About Doctors

…ant to be paid the same, or otherwise rewarded the same, regardless of the complexity of the task that you’re doing? I doubt it. Then why is that OK for your doctors? It’s certainly not OK for lawyers or others in politically connected professions. We keep raising the salaries of our elected leaders so they can do nothing but raise the national debt into oblivion, perhaps sacrificing the whole future of the country (including the value of our curr… Continue reading

Chief Justice Roberts: The First Nonjudgmental Chief Justice

…o legal grounds for doing this. We don’t care if Congress voted for it. It completely violates the Constitution.” This might be activism, but it’s good activism — and necessary at that. There’s no guarantee that any given majority opinion of the Supreme Court will be right. Prior to the abolition of slavery, the Supreme Court upheld slavery. It took a civil war and a constitutional amendment to get rid of slavery. Similarly, the Supreme Court has… Continue reading

Under Pressure: The Frantic Need to Keep Kids Busy (DE Wave)

…he children conflict (and to some degree they usually do), then one parent simply has to slow down and give the children the time they need, at least in the first five to ten years of their lives. Of course, financial climates fluctuate, and clients ask me how parents can cut back without having the child miss out on beloved hobbies, sports, etc. Part of encouraging a good intellectual and psychological atmosphere means a “quality over quantity” m… Continue reading

How to Be an Optimist AND a Realist

…onal conflicts which prevent enthusiastic enjoyment of life. One essential quality in such people, I have learned, is optimistic-realism. It is the presence of this quality in the few happy people I find—and its absence in the many unhappy people I encounter—which has convinced me of its importance. Optimistic-realism results in an unspoken sense that ‘important life goals can be achieved—including by me.’ There is also a sense of being ‘the cente… Continue reading

Are you an outlaw? Resort living takes a special kind of person

…y in the comparative isolation of the ‘off season.’ I took her remark as a compliment. Judging from the people I have met here, it takes a special kind of person to live happily, year ’round, in the relative seclusion of a resort. We ‘outlaws’ appear to have several traits in common, all of which seem to mesh well with the special requirements for being a resident. To me, the most obvious are, (1) self-sufficiency, and, (2) the ability to be happy… Continue reading

End Corporate Welfare? Yes, But …

…fraud or things that obviously should be against the law; most regulations simply reflect the personal opinions of a regulator, or a particular political pressure group, on how a particular product or service should be delivered. Outside of fraud, these matters should be left entirely to the marketplace. All the “marketplace” means are people selling the products or services, and the people buying them. If polled and asked, “Should government regu… Continue reading

Is Too Much Happiness a Good Thing? (Part 1 of 2)

…to their happiness. OR, (version ‘B’), happy people tend to be relatively complacent, lazy. (This is the familiar ‘Fall of Rome syndrome.’) So maybe too much happiness is a bad thing? Dr. Hurd: I believe the ancient Greeks distinguished between short-range pleasure and long-range happiness. It’s not that short-range pleasure is always bad, but if long-range happiness is ignored in the pursuit of short-range pleasure, your life becomes a mess, mat… Continue reading

Lessons Still Not Learned from Wisconsin

…ake the observation that all the benefits and salaries that go to public employees come from the workers and business people in the private sector. These private sector people are the true bosses of the workers. This is a key moral point that undermines all of the arguments of the public unions, arguments based on entitlement and “rights.” I never heard anyone in the Republican Party admit this, nor take this as an opportunity to advocate privatiz… Continue reading