Emanuel Kant. No, seriously. Resist the urge to shut your brain off and walk with me a minute.

Two of Kant's contributions to moral philosophy are the "Theory of Perception" and the "Categorical Imperative." In short, perception is based on either direct experience of reality (analytic) or an inferred experience (synthetic) of reality. "All dogs are quadrapeds" vs. "All dogs are happy" are examples. The former is measurable and verifiable,...

It's time to have a seismic shift in our thinking about the roll drugs play in sports. To set the argument, let's use the example of a non-sports person getting medical attention. From there, we can extend the analysis to explore where we might alter our standards.

Dispensing with the gory details, the key difference between the athlete and the non-athlete with a similar injury is the drug treatment. If the non-athlete uses steroids or HGH or EPO, she will heal faster, have less scar...

In political theory, a positive right is a right that is accorded to you by society. In contrast, a negative right is a right that society can take away from you. Negative rights are freedom of speech, freedom of religious belief, freedom to act in self-preservation. Examples of positive rights are things like education, health care, vacations, police and fire protection. Positive rights are things that society allows you to add to yourself.

Negative rights are things you pay...

Our country is losing its way. We vote ourselves benefits and perks and earmarks while simultaneously foisting the bill on someone else, justifying it by using the theory that the intellectually and philosophically superior society is better off with those provisions. Its insidiousness has led to a culture of moral hazard.

Moral Hazard is the term used to describe behaviors an individual or group takes knowing that the consequences of those behaviors will be "paid" for by...

No, this is not a commentary on Erica Jong or 50 Shades of Grey. Brace yourselves: this is a commentary on the fiscal cliff. Such a surprise, right?

Anyway...I'll get to the point. Jump.

Take a running start and spread eagle into the "unknown." Our fiscal finances need to be drastically restructured (compared to now) and the only way to do it is to rip the bandaid off. So let's do it. Here's why:

#1 We have $16 Trillion in current...