When I was in high school in Detroit in the mid- to late 1960s, we used to engage in the common practice of “capping,” which involved attempts to publicly humiliate your opponent with mean-spirited verbiage.

I usually tried to avoid what I thought was a silly practice, but I remember one day being unable to resist the temptation to fire back when one of my classmates began talking about my shirt. He said, “That shirt looks like it’s been through World War I, World War II, World War III and World War IV.” I fired back a short but highly effective quip that made him a laughingstock. I simply said, “And your momma wore it.”

Interestingly enough, after my verbal victory, that adolescent group, including the victim, became much more accepting of me, and it felt good to have gained their approval, even though I was sure that my value system was at odds with theirs. I began to socialize with these fellows, and there was a noticeable change for the worse in the way that I treated others. In retrospect, I am particularly ashamed of joining in episodes of heaping hideous verbal abuse on other targeted classmates, who were not guilty of anything other than not fitting in. (more…)

Relationships between the masses of people in the governing bodies can also be healthy or fractured. For decades in America, a guaranteed laugh line was, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.” As things exist now in our country, the situation has deteriorated to the point where this is no longer funny.

Years ago, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden would have almost unanimously been declared a traitor for having revealed government secrets to foreign sources. Now because so many people see the United States government as dishonest and untrustworthy, Mr. Snowden is viewed as a whistleblower worthy of praise for having the courage to expose secretive behavior by the government that involved spying on all Americans. Only by understanding his motives will we be able to appropriately characterize his actions. The larger question is, do we have an honest government that is transparent and trustworthy, or is there a legitimate cause for concern on behalf of the citizens of our nation? It is certainly not too late for our government to come clean about the many scandals that have been characterized as “phony” by the executive branch. Government officials say there is just a misunderstanding of the facts. If this is the case, why not just answer some basic questions and clear things up for the sake of transparency and trust? It should not be all that difficult to answer some simple questions, such as these: (more…)

Many of the Founding Fathers fled to America because of the promise of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. In England and other monarchies, one could be imprisoned or killed for voicing opinions that differed from those of the rulers. If indeed we are willing to easily ignore government persecution of those who voice disagreement with its policies, then we are rapidly moving backward instead of forward in the quest for the freedom that was part of America’s promise.

We hear a lot in Washington these days about “fairness.” But there is nothing fair about targeting people or groups that disagree with the policies of the executive branch of government. There is nothing fair about a tax code filled with loopholes that can be exploited by those who can pay high-priced tax lawyers and accountants to find them. There is certainly nothing fair about a tax code that is so complex that it is virtually impossible to comply with every aspect of the thousands of pages of rules and regulations. Because of the complexity of this code, the government can target virtually anyone and find a mistake in their tax documents, which can be used to extort money or worse. We are talking of nothing less than the precursor of a totalitarian government. (more…)

For a long time, I thought that retirement would mean learning to play golf well, learning to play the organ and learning a variety of new languages. Maybe my second retirement will include those things, but as a physician, I could not walk away and forget about patients who were suffering, and by the same token, I cannot now embark upon a life of leisure and watch my beloved nation and fellow citizens suffer from many self-inflicted wounds.

I revel in the opportunity to discuss many of the important issues of today even though many detractors will continue to try to put me in a box and say that I can only comment on things relevant to the field of neurosurgery. They are fond of saying “the good doctor is a terrific medical practitioner, but he can’t possibly know anything about issues outside of medicine.”

Five doctors signed the Declaration of Independence. Doctors were involved in framing the Constitution and in a host of our early legislative endeavors. It is totally untrue that only lawyers and politicians know how to conduct the affairs of the nation and, in fact, one could legitimately argue that this class of individuals is responsible for much of the turmoil that characterizes our current national psyche.

As a neurosurgeon, I do know a little bit about the brain and its capacity. Our gigantic frontal lobes allow us as human beings to engage in rational thought processing. Other parts of the brain, including the limbic system, control our emotional side. The parts of our brain associated with rational thought processing are significantly more vast than the parts dealing with our emotional side. This, of course, means we are capable of swift and critical analysis of information and, like a computer, can compare that new information with our database and make rational decisions. It is this critical ability that can safeguard us against one of the most malignant and destructive tendencies our nation has ever faced: political correctness. (more…)