Saturday, October 15, 2016

I’m Voting for McMullin

[Originally posted to Ricochet Member Feed Oct. 5, 2016]

I’ve just come home from an Evan McMullin for President rally in Provo, Utah. (News report from local newspaper.) I’m convinced that Evan is the real deal. Remember when people accused Mitt Romney of speaking conservatism as a second language? That’s not McMullin. He speaks like a native. He cares about poverty. He cares about national security without hating the nations that surround us. He cares about religious freedom.

I feared the rally would be all about why we shouldn’t support other candidates, but it wasn’t. Evan presented a positive message of long term hope. His sights extend beyond the election next month. He wants to reinvigorate the conversations about principles rather than piling on the hate-wagon.

There is nothing slick or bombastic about Evan. He isn’t a showman or a cheerleader. He comes across as likeable, humble, and competent. I feel like got a glimpse into his heart and that he would strive to make the best decisions he can rather than making mostly decisions that benefit his self-interest and his electoral prospects.

I’ve seen enough of his media appearances to understand that he isn’t delusional about his chances for winning. Yet he understands that people who don’t run have lost already and I’m proud of him for being in the arena.

I’m voting for Evan McMullin for President of the United States.

Thursday, July 07, 2016

Incentives: Hydroelectric in Haiti

General David Petraeus tells a story of doing some reconstruction in Haiti. They were trying to get a hydroelectric power plant back online and they kept hitting delays. Everyone he spoke to said there were technical glitches, so the generators at the dam were still running on diesel fuel at great expense.

Petraeus went to the dam himself and spoke to the man who'd been maintaining the generators for 20 years. "Why haven't we flipped the switch to start water running through the generators?"

"If I do that, they will stop sending diesel fuel."

"Right, that's what we want. We want to stop spending so much money on diesel fuel and save it for the winter when there is less water to generate electricity."

"But if they stop sending diesel, I won't have any fuel for my truck."

Conversations with Bill Kristol: David Petraeus II