02 Feb Unified Control | Penguin | Iceland

Three Things – February 2, 2021

First Thing: Unified Control

Over the past several months I’ve listened to a number of people fret and/or complain about the perils of a single party (in this case, the Democrats) controlling the presidency, the House, and the Senate. “They’re going to take over the country and change everything!” “They’re going to pass whatever laws they want and no one can stop them!”

This is just not the case, and I offer a few tidbits for your edification:

1. There are many merits to a ‘Unified Government’ as opposed to a ‘Divided Government’. Civics 101 has a fantastic 6-minute podcast on this subject that I highly recommend you listen to. (iTunes link | Spotify link)
2. The United States has experienced Unified Governments more often than Divided Governments. Since Lincoln, 44 of the past 80 congressional classes have been unified. In fact, Barack Obama’s first two years in office were fully Democrat-controlled and Donald Trump’s first two years in office were fully Republican-controlled.

Second Thing: Penguin Classics

Last week I wrote about the study of ‘liberal arts’ and its ability to expand and ‘liberate’ the mind (formal college degree not required.) An interesting thought to consider: up until the mid-20th Century, classical works of philosophy and literature were largely unavailable to the average, non-academic person. Penguin Classics–the standard for affordable classics–didn’t publish its first book until 1946 (The Odyssey). It took decades for publishers like Penguin and Oxford University Press to print most of the ‘standard’ works of philosophy, religion, and literature in part due to the economics of publication but also because many of the texts’ translations were outdated and not readable by most people.

Before Penguin, a three-volume novel might have cost the equivalent of over $750! And while all books of that time were not so costly, it was usually only contemporary or ‘popular’ books that could be afforded by the average joe. Now just about everyone can build their very own home library with the same volumes that have built and destroyed kings and kingdoms, inspired the minds of the greatest inventors, and even now steer the course of history.

My current favorite ‘library builders’:

1. Discourses and Selected Writings, Epictetus | $15
2. Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu | $6
3. Meno, Plato | $7
4. The Republic & The Laws, Cicero | $11
5. The Prince, Machiavelli | $8

Look at how affordable these are! (And most are available for free in some digital formats.) I challenge you to pick up one of these important works and to commit to reading it. It will only make your life better.

Third Thing: Icelandic Water

Despite proudly drinking tap water for a number of years (and even bragging about it?) I’ve recently made the switch to ‘non-tap’ water. Do I think tap-water is bad for me? Not necessarily…in fact I feel blessed to live in a century where *most* people around me have easy access to *safe* drinking water.

Originally I made the switch to non-tap water as a health experiment. Honestly, I wasn’t convinced I would even notice the difference. Boy, was I wrong. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I might have become somewhat of a ‘water snob’ now. (Have you seen the Water Sommelier on Zac Efron’s Down to Earth!?)

My favorite water so far is Icelandic Glacial water from….well, Iceland. The water has a higher pH than others (8.4 pH) and tastes perfect. Here’s the link so you can see what it looks like, but for the love of the planet and all things good please don’t buy water on Amazon. It usually goes for the same price as a bottle of Fiji water.