A few weeks ago, while going through some books and files, I came across an old notebook of mine. I started collecting quotes in it when I was 14 years old, and it covers almost the entire four years of my high school experience. What struck me most about the book was how much the things I wrote in that book are still reflected in my beliefs, values and norms. I was into Shakespeare then as I am now, and I was interested in the Founding Fathers as I am now. On things that really mattered, I still believe the same things as I did over half my life ago.
Many people change their opinions. With new information, scientists, economists, parents, and a slieu of other categories will change their course to arrive at a place that is more true. The more nefarious and malicious among us change their opinions like they change their clothing- to suit an image, to gain an advantage, and to communicate a message, all of which is really a ruse designed only to gain your support long enough to abuse the authority that comes with it. We have to be able to change our minds in order for there to be debate and discussion and deliberation, and so when someone genuinely changes their mind, you will see it in more than just their rhetoric.
One of the quotes in that book is still one I use, from a speech given in July 1972 by S. Dilworth Young:
Just as surely as he walks, his manner, his attitude, his clothing, his complete self will be concrete evidence of what he is in his soul. He cannot conceal himself.
We are what we do. People can talk all day long about what they endorse, but if you look at the choices they make, how they spend their time, and with whom they choose to associate, you can tell what kind of a person they really are.
What does this have to do with Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit? Quite simply, there are many people out there who are lying to you, who teach for doctrines the commandments of men and deny the power and position of our Creator. Happiness cannot be found in iniquity, and truth cannot be found in lies. Happiness and truth are found as you are true to yourself and your principles. You have to be looking for something in order to find it, and so many people, as I learned as a scientist, go looking for things, not to find what actually is true, but hoping that they are right.
Distrust every politician you meet. Today, Senator Hoyer said that the theory that government tax revenues increase when taxes are cut has been disproved. As a skeptical scientist, I would like to see the data that proves anything. Like I tell my students, "Science never proves anything. It removes all other possibilities until only the truth remains". At the risk of repeating myself again because it's relevant, I have also said this:
Assume every politician is always lying to you about what he believes and what he thinks is good for you. Treat them all as guilty until they prove innocent. Force them to justify themselves at every turn along the way. That way, they will have shown you how they arrived at the decisions they make, and you can weigh whether it is ideology alone or a reasoned and logical argument for improvement. You pay them to do their job. Hold them accountable.
Most politicians have taken both sides of every issue whenever it was expedient to their agenda, and if you look hard enough, you can find quotes that attest to the same. I am different. Look back as far as High School, and in my case on most salient points, being matters of principle, I have maintained the same stand I took then into the present day.
It is easy to hold your position when your position is rooted in principle. It is easy to defend your beliefs when they revolve around things that really matter: faith, family, and freedom. That's why we remember the martyrs and the heroes and the statesmen of yesteryear, because they stood for what they felt was right even when it cost them their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. --Benjamin Franklin
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