2026-05-12

#history, #politics

United Nations Charter (full text) \| United Nations
it was only 80 years ago that we did not believe in self-determination. now everyone takes it for granted. the west thought many countries were not yet fit for self rule. even chadhuri, the indian scholar, believed india was not fit for self rule. there's an axis of colonialism / tutelary powers and self-determination that shows up both on the individual and world stages. i wonder if the pendulum will every swing back, or this is one area of lasting and permanent moral progress.

watching the california governor debates after reading the anti-federalist argument that the middle class, not the natural aristocracy, should rule, because they are of the people they represent. even if not everyone is middle class socio-economically (eg steyer), they are all normies. and this makes sense. far ood individuals are not good representatives. they do not live the lives of the people they represent. they do not perceive as others perceive. they are good at systems design, they are good as advisors and think tankers.

gov takes:
xavier berecca seems like an absolute npc. i'm glad everyone's roasting him. perfect fit for Biden's HHS secretary. steve hilton is the most alive and human, but arrogant and lacks nuance, like most trump-aligned conservatives. steyer is the local 3rd gen WASP. he also seems genuine but i'm not sure how effective he'll be. i don't trust Mohan for some reason though the things he says seem fine. i think we should keep him in sj. bianco seems genuine too but he's very much in his law-and-order ideology. he could be a good corrective to the way things have been going but i'm concerned he'd be too harsh or calloused. he'd be good in enforcement but not as governor, i think. i'd vote for hilton over him, since hilton would just deploy him where he needs to be. idk what to make of antonio. he seems like mohan, where he belongs with the community / people he's in. he seems to understand local issues but not larger dynamics. i like katie porter more than most. she seems more thoughtful about policy and seems to know how things work. but she seems quite stressed. on one hand that's good because she cares. on the other hand that interferes with clear thought and decision making.

i like the finnish president, alexander stubb: POWERFUL SPEECH: Finland President Speaks Out on Ukraine, Gaza, & Urgent Need for UN Reform \| AQ1B - YouTube

seems like a fair and straightforward guy. northern europe needs more attention. but raises the question of what values we will have in common.

denmark mink culling absurdity
it looks like denmark, the best vibes country on earth, is shifting right over the immigration issue. i would like to resample copenhagen in five years to see if it had an energetic impact.

#progress
ok, i have the ultimate argument against doomers. who think things never get better. ok. here me out.

motors.

motors have absolutely gotten better. they've gotten smaller, lighter, more efficient, quieter.

much technology is like this.

yes we can argue if cars are good or bad overall. if computers are good or bad overall (though it seems most people who have lived before and after think good (are they too fallen to notice the harms??)) but we cannot argue that cars themselves have not improved in ALL dimensions.

athletes, i think, are similar. in some domains, you can just get better in every dimension with no trade-offs.

i'm quite confident we've made moral progress too. compare the roman colloseum to the ufc. both are barbaric but the former is much, much, more so. that is lasting moral progress.

also, the acceptance of rape. rape was just a part of life in antiquity. people cite sexual violence to say the world is so fallen. and it's true, it is. but back in the day, it wasn't even seen as that bad. we've definitely made moral progress.

#poetics
Creative Intuition in Art and Poetry - Jacques Maritain (helped draft UDHR)
Education at the Crossroads - Maritain

#education
homeschooling history books:
Connecting with History (RC History)
Story of the World (Bauer)
Mater Amabilis™ – A Charlotte Mason Style Curriculum for Catholics - open curriculum that draws on Charlotte Mason