Over 300 Followers! Thank you!

I've broken the 300 followers mark! Thank you all so much for your continued interest, contributions and support to my blog!

We're gonna take back the White House! We're gonna chop that mothaf*ckin' desk in half!! BYAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!


I have the decided honor to be sincerely yours in service,
Publius

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this Thanksgiving, I can't help but wonder if that fateful Turkey couple would have ever got on board Noah's Ark if they knew what awaited their species in the future....

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers, even if you're not from the States, as I'm sure we all have something to be thankful for!

I have honor to be yours truly,
Booblius... ahem,  I mean Publius

"Should a financially struggling individual get the job over a more-qualified person?"

Returning to your ethical questions...

Scott asks...

 "I have a friend (call him Joe) that is in charge of HR at a company around here. Another guy in our group is really struggling financially (Mike), and Joe thinks he should hire Mike rather than someone more qualified. Thoughts?"

Poor Fredo... He was looked over too.

Hi Scott,
Thanks for reading and asking your question. Now, are you talking about not hiring someone more qualified from within the company or outside the company?

If the person purportedly more qualified is from outside the company, then I think it makes his decision a lot easier to promote Mike, who knows how the company works from the inside more than an outsider, and has been a loyal employee for some time. It is normal to reward loyalty and membership with the trust of promotion to an opening position.

If the person who is supposedly more qualified is also an employee of this company, like Mike, then it makes the question a little more difficult. Now, to be clear, it is always a nice, positive thing to do to help someone who is struggling financially. So, in that case already, Joe is doing a good thing. Now, does Mike deserve it? Maybe not over this other, more qualified gentleman. But, what makes him more qualified? Is the difference in experience/skills that considerable? These can be important questions.

All in all, it is Joe's job in HR to appoint people to positions as he sees fits (or, so it seems based on what you have said). So, if Mike will not be up to par in this position, Joe may take heat for it. In either case, it is his call, and somehow he earned the trust of your company to make that call. So, in that sense, I respect Joe's choice, especially since it seems to be for benevolent reasons.

If there is more important information that I am not considering, please let me know and I will further address the situation. Thanks again for reading, and readers, you may leave more questions if you have them!

I have the honor to be your humble servant,
Publius

"Should I care about those that don't care?"

I will now answer one or two of your questions per blog post, when I'm not discussing topics of my personal choice. You may add your responses to my comments, or other ethical questions you may want me to address in the future to in the commenting section. Without further ado...

 

Bersercules asked: "Should I care about those that don't care"

 

It would appear to me that you should only care about what you want to care about. If you want to care about people who "don't care", then by all means, do so. If you do not, then it is your life, and you do not need to care about them if you do not want to. Would caring for others in almost any situation be a positive, compassionate thing to do to? Yes, of course. But, I personally think you should always do what you want, as long as what you want is not harmful to others. With that said, if you have people which you are committed to caring for, such as your children, then you should certainly continue caring for them. Remember that your "dependents" depend on you. 

 

What Would LOLJesus Do?

 

 

I hope this answers you question. If you were talking about something else in particular, Bersercules, please tell me what that was so that I may more accurately answer your question. And that goes for all others who would like questions answered. Please be specific with what you want me to address. Thanks for reading!

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

Publius

200 Followers.... Thank you!

Well, it seems like only yesterday that I was celebrating 150 followers, and here we are at 200! Very happy about that, thank you for continuing to follow this blog with all of your great feedback!

I also want to thank all of you for providing feedback about your 9/11 memories. Unfortunately, a lot of you were too young at the time to really get a sense of the gravity of the situation, but I still got a decent grasp of how my international readers and their respective communities responded to the attacks. It's always interesting to see how people from a different nation view your nation, and I like to widen my perspective. Thanks again.

Honored to be affectionately and respectfully your humble servant,
  Publius

Milestone: 150 Followers

Well, just made it to 150 followers. This post is published to commemorate that. Thank you everyone, and here's to more followers and ever-more-incisive meditations from Yours Truly in the future.

I am affectionately and respectfully your humble servant,
Publius

And with my inaugural post... a due memorial to the great Gen. Alexander Hamilton

Damas y Caballeros, welcome to The Incisive Meditations of Publius. The title, as you might have guessed, is a tribute to Alexander Hamilton, arguably the most important founding father of these United States of America, and possibly the greatest mind this nation has ever produced. The nom de plume, "Publius", was shared by James Madison, John Jay, and most prominently, Alexander Hamilton in the authoring of the famous and ever-influential Federalist Papers. Of these 85 historic essays, Gen. Hamilton is credited with penning 51 of them. With this in mind, it is my distinct honor to take upon this pen name for myself. However, instead of trying to convince a fledgling nation to accept a new form of  government, I will be about the business of persuading the masses to think a little more like me, for what it's worth. And I think it's worth something.  

But, enough about me, for now. As mentioned, this being the inaugural post of this blog, I would like to speak very briefly about the great services rendered and legacy left behind by Gen. Alexander Hamilton, if for no other purpose than because his praises are not sung enough. Hamilton was born a very poor child in the British West Indies, his father deserting him and his mother passing away before the age of 13 (for our purposes, his true age debated). From these humble beginnings, he went on to become the most influential man in the President Washington's Administration, and arguably the most powerful. The quintessential American story, in stark contrast to many of his political rivals, who were of the privileged, aristocratic, land-owning (and slave-owning) class.

Hamilton's special combination of natural brilliance, thorough education, manic energy, inflexible certainty in his ideas, and his obsessive drive to see them become reality led to one of the most impressive and important periods in our nation's development. It is because of this remarkable performance in leadership and industry that Gen. Hamilton is considered by many historians as "The Father of the Federal  Government", and rightfully so. Unfortunately, he is often  maligned by the more benighted among us, but what they fail to realize is that without Hamilton's work, we would probably been returned to the status of British subjects following the War of 1812. Of course, we would have eventually severed ties again, but it would have been a massive inconvenience!  

 "Hamilton is really a colossus...Without numbers, he is a host within himself." 

- Thomas Jefferson

In any case, it is clear that Hamilton's vision of the United States was the one that later materialized, rather than Jefferson's hopes that we would become one continental union of slave-owning farmers. Stupid Jefferson. You figure with him owning over 300 people, he would have leisure time to do a little homework! Speaking on the subject, I do find Hamilton's clever jab at Jefferson and Madison (supposed champions of individual liberty) rather amusing: "As to the negroes, you must be tender upon the subject … Who talk most about liberty and equality? Is it not those who hold the Bill of Rights in one hand and a whip for affrighted slaves in the other?" 

Ouch. There is much more to Mr. Hamilton's story, accomplishments, and legacy than I can ever do proper justice in a single blog. Indeed, why say more when someone has already done it better? With that in mind, I will provide links that will direct you to a two-part editorial, giving you a much better account of why Alexander Hamilton should be your favorite Founding Father. This blog is dedicated to your memory, Gen. Hamilton. The United States is forever in your debt (no pun intended).

"The Case for  Alexander Hamilton" parts I and II, written ever-so-eloquently by Andreas Kluth, contributor to The Economist. Enjoy, and learn something!:

The Case for Alexander Hamilton, Pt. I

The Case for Alexander Hamilton, Pt. II