On The Personal Side...

My mission hasn’t changed: to promote the cause of liberty because freedom combined with virtue fuels human flourishing.

This is a personal note to my readers. I want you to know how much I appreciate and value each of you.

Lately, I’ve been publishing fewer Zetetic Questions, and I’d like to explain why.

To Clot or Not to Clot

A month ago, I knew little about blood clots. Now I know much. I have one lodged where the large portal vein meets my liver. Fortunately, in my case, the liver has served as a backstop so the clot can’t go further. The real pain has resulted from blood backing up into my intestines, which is what landed me in the ER not long ago.

Credit where it’s due: the emergency team at University of Colorado Hospital was efficient and accurate in triage and diagnosis. Once admitted, my meetings with various teams of physicians and their resident students turned into informative mini-seminars during which all my questions and concerns were addressed thoroughly.

One resident even grabbed a whiteboard and sketched diagrams to help me understand how they were evaluating the clot and what to do about it. If you know my penchant for teaching with the aid of a chalkboard, you’ll understand why that brought a smile to my face.

The UCH nurses were simply and truly wonderful. It is impossible to say enough good things about them. They turned a scary, unpleasant situation into an experience of care and attention that I will never forget.

My wife was there. My children were with me. I was surrounded with love and concern, and while my gut was throbbing in pain, my heart was full.

I’m home now. The clot remains but seems to be dissolving slowly. Each day, the pain eases, and I feel more like myself.

That, in a nutshell, is why you’ve seen fewer Zetetic Questions in your email inbox or Substack notifications. I apologize for the slowdown and thank you for your patience.

Pride

On to broader current events: June has been branded Pride Month by various U.S. Presidents and others for the past 25 years. On the surface, it’s an odd celebration—honoring certain people simply for their sexual orientation.

Being sexually attracted to men, women, or both requires no wisdom, no courage, no justice, no moderation; it’s no more a virtue than preferring strawberry ice cream to chocolate.

As is true with all appetites, what really matters are the choices a person makes regarding whether and how and in what circumstances and to what degree to act. Liking strawberry ice cream is no virtue—we don’t hold parades honoring strawberry lovers; gorging on ice cream day after day, however, is a vice.

So why do we hold parades for select, politically-preferred turn-ons? How did Pride Month come to celebrate people for what arouses them sexually?

A close and trusted friend of mine coined a maxim worth repeating: When something makes no sense, government is involved. That maxim holds true, usually, because the incentives within the halls and bureaus of government power are so uniquely perverse.

Pride Month is a perfect example. If not for politicians chasing power, control, and money, there would be no Pride Month now. If you’re curious about Pride’s origins, check out the short piece I wrote last year.

Thank You

Thank you, dear readers and subscribers. I’m doing my best to heal and get back on track.

This is me, this afternoon, in my office. Can anyone guess to what my t-shirt refers?

My mission hasn’t changed: to promote the cause of liberty because freedom combined with virtue fuels human flourishing. I want people to live freely—to live well—precisely because I care about others. I want to see people healthy, happy, and prosperous, not sick, miserable, and poor.

The annals of history are filled with stories of the latter. I want to inspire more stories of the former.

—Tom