Another Data Point

I picked up a quarter yesterday and noticed the legends on it:
“In God we Trust”
“E Pluribus Unum”

I don’t think most Americans think of these as contradictory, but apparently Tom Frist does.

When he defends the “nuclear option” as a counter to the enemies of people of faith, he’s talking about a relatively small group of “people of faith” who agree with him. Where does that leave me?

I sing in a Roman Catholic parish choir and am surrounded by people who I’m pretty sure don’t share my political views. Do I think they are enemies of people of faith? No more than I think they are.

The government is being run now by people who believe they have such a sure grasp of truth that they can dispense with the rules of government put in place by people who didn’t have their certainty. The Founders prudently created a system in which competing views had a chance for a respectful hearing, and ordinarily some accomodation by way of compromise. The idea, of course, is that no mere mortal
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President Bush said yesterday that there s no Social SecurityTrust Fund — it’s just IOUs.

So, suppose I set up a trust fund for my daughter, and put the money into government bonds. According to George Bush, this is a very, very bad idea, since the money wouldn’t exist somehow.

Maybe corporate bonds are safer? Like, say, Enron bonds?

I wonder how much of Junior’s wealth from daddy was in bonds…

Funny how the word “trust” can mean so many things.