The Axiom Of Responsibility
Individuals Demonstrate Valid Behavior
By Taking Responsibility
For Themselves And Their Children

I have been thinking of pretty much one thing for the last 24 hours - the health care bill has passed. It is against my better judgment, but I am going to go on a mini rant:

I do not understand what is going on with our Congress. They do not seem to get it. They act as if they are responsible to no one.

How is the U.S. supposed to afford such a health care plan? We do not have this money to spend. We run our federal government at severe deficits. We spend money as if we could just print more and more. The thing that gets me is that the politicians that are in power now will not have to deal with the actual consequences of passing such a bill. They will not have to figure out what to do when we cannot afford this health care bill.

I also do not understand why President Obama is signed the bill into law so quickly. He signed it yesterday - just 48 hours after the bill was passed. President Obama promised during his campaign that he would allow five days for every bill that he signed. This is not what he promised. How are we to make complaints to the President on an approximately 2,500 page bill in 48 hours? - I am not sure how one would get through the bill in five days!

Also, it is unclear as to the actual effects of such a bill. Are there studies being done as to the effects that this bill will have on the economy, pharmaceuticals, doctors, or doctors' patients? I have not seen any of these studies being published or touted as a good reason to support the bill.

I know that there are problems with health care. I want them fixed. But this is not the responsible way for us to go about it. We can make changes with the current system - but signing a 2,500 page bill that we do not know how we are going to pay for and do not know the effects of?! This isn't responsible governance - this is idiocy.

Rodger McMillan
Magna Sententia Weblog Contributor
Host of The Magna Sententia Podcast

The Axiom Of Respect
Individuals Demonstrate Valid Behavior
By Treating Themselves And Others Respectfully
And Respecting Only Those Who Earn It

This past weekend, my wife and I were reflecting on a friend of hers from college. The friend had at first appeared to have many things in common with my wife, many amiable qualities; however, as time passed, my wife began to understand that this woman was far from the friend she had believed her to be and was in fact what Magna Sententia would refer to as an unpleasable person. These people are manipulative, selfish, and self-interested. My wife realized that due to their involvement, her life had become unmanageable as she continually tried to please her friend.

This story made me reflect on the Magna Sententia principle of including the right people in your life, which also flows naturally into the use of the Sherise Method. According to the Sherise Method, we must Recognize when a relationship has become toxic or a person is not contributing to our lives (a process that can sometimes take years, especially if the individual is supposed to be a trusted friend or relation). Next, we must chose whether or not to attempt to Rectify the relationship through communication or to Release the person from our lives.

The more my wife and I spoke, the more convinced I became that this was a topic worth sharing with our readers because of its universal nature. We all have, or have had, relationships that "brought us down." If we choose to spend time cultivating these relationships, which will never improve our lives, we forever miss out on those activities and individuals who will truly enrich us.

Rodger McMillan
Magna Sententia Weblog Contributor
Host of The Magna Sententia Podcast

The Axiom Of Respect
Individuals Demonstrate Valid Behavior
By Treating Themselves And Others Respectfully
And Respecting Only Those Who Earn It

A common discussion in our podcasts surrounds the trustworthiness of politicians - especially federal politicians. Quite often, Ellie and I take the side of most federal politicians being untrustworthy while Anna sticks to the view that most of them have the best intentions, but they are incapable or it is impossible for them to follow through on their lofty ambitions. Since this is such a disagreement, I decided to review what "Being Trustworthy" is from Magna Sententia.

To be trustworthy, one must be marked by dependability and loyalty. Dependability is doing what you say you will do when and how you say you will do it while loyalty is the quality of faithfulness and steadfast allegiance.

By this definition of trustworthiness, a politician should follow their campaign promises and try to implement them how and when they say they will implement them. Too often, I find that people make excuses for politicians, saying that they need to lie to the public during their campaigns in order to get elected. While this may be true, a politician who does this does not fit the definition of trustworthy.

A politician also needs to be loyal to be trustworthy. On the surface, this may seem a little harder to define, as it can be unclear exactly where a politician's allegiance should lie: Is a politician's allegiance to their constituents, the greater good, themselves, or even the lobbyists who financed the campaign that put them into power? This is probably the most interesting thing about trustworthiness: A person cannot be trustworthy if he or she has mixed loyalties. Politicians can't be dependable in both the eyes of their constituents and their financiers if these two groups have different objectives. When politicians make campaign promises, they need to make sure they are promising everyone the same things and then do what they said they would do.

The more I think about being trustworthy, the more it is obvious that who you are loyal to will determine whether or not you can be trustworthy. Are you more loyal to your wife or your drinking buddies? Are you more loyal to your siblings or the popular kids in school? Make sure you are giving your loyalty to the right people - the people who deserve it the most.

And you can be sure that I am going to print this out and have it next to my microphone during our next podcast.

Rodger McMillan
Magna Sententia Weblog Contributor
Host of The Magna Sententia Podcast

The Axiom Of Respect
Individuals Demonstrate Valid Behavior
By Treating Themselves And Others Respectfully
And Respecting Only Those Who Earn It

As much as I hate to admit, I am a big fan of Lady Gaga. I am not sure why she captures my attention so much: her crazy outfits, outlandish lyrics, or heavy, beat-driven music. Her music is definitely a bit naughty - and I always felt a little naughty listening to it - so I was really pleased to see her comments in "Lady Gaga's Message To Fans: 'Have Safe Sex.'"

Lady Gaga says:

I see [my fans] every night and they are so beautiful and precious and lovely, but some of them are insecure and very troubled and not confident. [. . .] I meet them and they cry, and they say "Gaga you make me feel like I belong."

And I think to myself about that one girl or those hundreds of thousands of girls who meet that guy at a club who makes them feel like they belong and they don't have that negotiation. We all know that having sex with a condom is a negotiation but it is Russian roulette.

I don't live in an era where you can sleep with whoever you want to sleep with. [. . .] You have to really be careful with yourself and get to know people and get tested before you have sex is very important.

This really sent me spinning: Lately, I have been meeting women who do not treat themselves respectfully. They give themselves so easily and cheaply. They do not value themselves or the meaning of giving themselves to someone else. The same applies to men I have been meeting as well. They do not understand that they are degrading themselves every time they engage in meaningless sex.

Treating yourself respectfully means that you treat yourself nicely. This means that you must do your utmost to rid yourself of caustic thoughts, such as "No one will ever love me," or "I am such a loser," and attempt to replace them with a positive inner monologue, such as "I only want to be with another person who respects me." It may seem like a lot of hard work at first, but treating yourself nicely becomes a habit the more you do it.

Rodger McMillan
Magna Sententia Weblog Contributor
Host of The Magna Sententia Podcast

The Axiom Of Realistic Expectations
Individuals Demonstrate Valid Behavior
By Having Realistic Expectations
For Themselves, Their Lives, And Others

I have a guilty pleasure that I am embarrassed to admit. I love looking at the various pictures and videos on FAIL Blog when I am taking a break at work. (You can visit the site here as long as you do not mind being exposed to crass "late night TV-like" humor.)

For the uninitiated, FAIL Blog documents the failures of mankind: a video of a man running into a glass window, an advertisement for "pumpkin and road kill" flavored ice cream, a hot air balloon knocking over a port-o-potty, a news article about a school that was placed on lockdown after a large burrito was mistaken for a weapon.

With content like this, some might say that FAIL Blog is a complete waste of time, but I think they are missing the point. The very best "fails" are those in which the people involved were trying their very hardest to succeed. FAIL Blog serves as a reminder to us all that sometimes our best efforts are simply not enough.

My life had been absolutely crazy lately. I have done more in the last year than most would have done in four or five. I have accomplished things that few people have done, and in everything, I have done my best. But there are other aspects of my life during this last year or so that I have failed miserably. I tried hard not to fail, but unfortunately, with all I was experiencing, I could not succeed. The sad fact of the matter is that I am just now realizing that some of these failures have occurred.

While it is unfortunate that I have failed in certain aspects of my life, I must remember to have realistic expectations for myself and follow Realistic Expectation Seven: "Only look backward if it helps you move forward." With all that was going on, I did the best I could do. The more I think about my situation, the more I am sure that I handled it the best I could with what I knew. There was no way I could have done better at that time.

I have learned from my failures, and I will apply what I have learned in the future. For now, I have to stop kicking myself for what was far too big for me to handle.

Rodger McMillan
Magna Sententia Weblog Contributor
Host of The Magna Sententia Podcast