In having an enlightening dinner conversation regarding my political beliefs and the beliefs of my counterpart, an American who self-identifies as a conservative (I identify as a centrist liberal), I realized that the nature of the government and the nature of the economy are very similarly finely tuned.  Specifically, both the economy and the government share controlling variables of people, money, and resources.  In other words, both the government and the economy control the movement of people, money, and resources – not just the economy, as Adam Smith wrote.

My argument is that while the economy provides wealth creation, government provides a context in which wealth creation can occur.  Thereby, a healthy government is important for the purpose of having a healthy economy.  I am arguing for the importance of a healthy government; not a small government, or a big government, but rather a healthy government.

As I said before, the economy moves people, money, and resources for the specific purpose of wealth creation.

Conversely, the government organizes, and indeed moves, people, money, and resources for the purpose of the following:

It is my belief that an economy, together with a government, creates a society.

So therefore, a society is an organization of individuals who share affinity within a baseline of common purpose around desired and accepted degrees of order (and freedom), degrees of discourse (including the ability to disagree or dissent), the ability to manufacture private goods, and the ability to manufacture a greater public good (e.g. the greater good), and better public goods (as I will outline).

Therefore, this essay speaks to the nature of public goods and private goods, and the degree to which a society is organized around the delivery of these goods.

It is my opinion that a society can be defined by the degree of balance between the purpose of that society as existing for the pursuit of public or private goods.

Briefly, it behooves me to list some public and private goods, for the purposes of ensuring understanding for all those who are reading this essay.

Public goods include clean and potable water, clean air, and particularly infrastructure, including roads and phone lines.  Another public good is the right to free speech and assembly, within the context of American society.  If you’re wondering about the internet, and where it fits into the equation, I cover that below.

Private goods include a home, a car, airline tickets (e.g. some private goods last longer than others), a cellphone, clothing, or an iPad.

In other words, public goods are goods to which a group of individuals who participate in society claim partial ownership, and where an individual‘s ownership of that public good does not inhibit another individual from owning that public good (e.g. just because I have clean water running through my faucet doesn‘t stop you from having clean water).  Private goods are goods to which individuals claim sole ownership (unless they’re participating in a new shared-ownership operation like ZipCar).

I reserve space for goods that transcend both public and private goods, like the internet.  I can have the internet on my computer, and me having the internet doesn’t stop you from having internet, but I do have to pay for it.

It is my opinion that the degree to which a business exists as a creator of a public versus a private good is the defining factor in the degree to which a government interjects into the workings of that business.  Therefore, the government interjected in the automotive bailout of General Motors; General Motors contributed to the public good (through the creation of jobs) in such a way that the government had a stake, as a definer and organizer of the public good, to take action to ensure that public good’s continued delivery.

That above point speaks two central truths that I believe cut to the core of my argument.  They are that:

It is my opinion that a healthy economy is a public good.  For that reason, the automotive bailout was a necessary government action that protected jobs, which the American people (by virtue of their government’s actions) agreed is a legitimate public good that is worthy of government’s participation in the movement and organization of people, money, and resources in such a way as to create jobs.

Secondarily, and most importantly for the purposes of this argument, it is my belief that a healthy government exists as a private good.  By providing a stable context in which a healthy economy can function, with social order instituted, a government provides a necessary function for every single individual participant in that society.

Here’s a quick memo that will help you at most achieve enlightenment and at least become a better human being.  Think I’m joking?  I have a question for you, that will make you think, and it might shake you up.  Are you?

I’m not kidding.  The majority of people live their lives as the amalgamations of all of their social identities.  People have a multitude of social roles – national, state, religious, ethnic, school, and peer groups.  All of these social groups serve to define you.  I’ll speak for myself.  Looking at who I am from the perspective of my peer groups, I am:

• American
• Jewish
• White
• A Michigan graduate
• An Evans Scholar
• From Michigan
• A Southfield High marching band member

Each of these communities gives me a social identity, with social roles that are customary to these groups.  As an American, I vote and believe in the free market.  As a Jew, I light Chanukah candles.  As a white man, I don’t go through social stigma in malls and stores that my black friends have experienced.  As a Michigan graduate, I communicate with the shared confidence of all other Michigan alumni.  As an Evans Scholar, I both believe in the importance of supporting the education of caddies and Saturday tailgate keg stands.  As a former resident of Michigan, I believed (still do) in the power of American manufacturing and in the auto industry.  As a member of the Southfield High School marching band, I learned ethics of discipline and precision and expression with the full force of my being.

Each of those groups give me aspects of my identity.  And in fact, before I made the realization about which I’m writing to you, these groups made up my identity.  Auren Kaplan was an amalgamation of these communities.  Did I actually exist?  Or was I simply living out the social roles that these various social groups had projected onto me?

The question is more than fodder for pondering.  It goes to the essence of your very identity.  Because the nature of communication is of a call, and a response.  I speak, and then you listen and answer.  I say something funny, and then you laugh.  I write, and then you read.  I play music, and then you clap.  I throw a baseball, and you catch it.  Life is nothing more than call and response.  Ever wonder “what is this” – and then look around at the world?  That’s the answer. The world is “call and response” in all of its myriad forms.

Before, everyone had been asking the question “what is this?” subconsciously in their minds.  Now I am here to tell you that there is a new call – I am making it.  And that call is – “I AM”.

This is deep people.  I exist.  As I sit and write to you now, I am.  Not because I have a peer group that “called” to me a social identity and to which I responded with the identity that would keep me in comfort in the group.  No.  I am because I am a human being.  I am because a simply choose to be.  Take a moment (the present moment works just fine) – and say outloud “I am.”  You can even think it to yourself if it makes you feel better, or if you’re in a crowded room (though I just said it in the computer lab, and I’m surrounded by people.  No big deal).

Do you want to truly live life as an individual, living your purpose, giving your gift to the world?  I do.  It starts, for me, with an affirmative.  My life starts with an affirmative.  I am.  And so can you.

It goes further, in fact.  I am Auren Kaplan.  And so you know, I have the creative capacities of perception, discernment, anticipation, expectation, ascertainment, intuition, creation, imagination, and more.  I can even create love.  Life in “I am” is pretty much worth living, to me.

So, are you?  What do you think about what I just wrote?  (that would be my call, in anticipation of your response)

The polar ice caps are melting.

From The Guardian:

The United Nations warned today that a continued failure to tackle climate change was putting at risk decades of progress in improving the lives of the world’s poorest people.

In its annual flagship report on the state of the world, the UN said unsustainable patterns of consumption and production posed the biggest challenge to the anti-poverty drive.

“For human development to become truly sustainable, the close link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions needs to be severed,” the UN said in its annual human development report (HDR).

Read the Full Article Here

Auren’s Response:

This article startled me because I had previously seen the climate change issue as separate from the global poverty issue.  To me, climate change has always been about protecting the environment one, and two an essential element to national security.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that alternative energy investment, which contributes to solving the issue of climate change, could very well be the number one issue affecting the United States’ national security.  That being said — this article clearly explains that climate change is in fact intimately related to the solving of the poverty issue around the world.  If humanity does not act in a concerted way on climate change, then other anti-poverty efforts could find themselves lacking sufficient weight to accomplish their aims.

The issue lies in the nature of how temperatures affect grain yields in poor countries.  In nations where poor citizens live on $1 or $2 per day (consider that statistic the next time you splurge for a $300 article of clothing – that’s six months to a year’s worth of work for hundreds of millions of people), the price of grain, of wheat, and of corn can in a very real way determine a family’s ability to survive, to purchase food so as not to starve, to purchase clothing, and soap, and other products required for living as a human being.  When climate change leads to decreased crop yields, prices go high – as the Guardian reports, they can often double.

The issue of rising staple foods prices and grain prices isn’t new.  Recall the protests in Mexico after the price of corn rose by 400% as farmers in the United States started growing corn for ethanol production rather than for human consumption.  Yes, solving climate change and world hunger is a tricky issue, as one issue’s solution leads to street protests across Mexico as millions clamor for affordable corn.  To eat, of course.  But the point is that when climate change leads to rising food prices, people die.  The food famine in Bangladesh of the 1970s occurred not because there wasn’t enough food – there was – but because prices on the food rose above the ability for people to purchase them.  Millions died because they couldn’t afford to buy the food they needed to eat, and they starved to death.

In sum, climate change and resulting fluctuations in grain and other staple food prices across the world could prove seriously detrimental to human health for millions, and could be disastrous to ending poverty.  I am tired of scientists arguing that climate change doesn’t exist.  When millions of poor people are priced out of the ability to pay for food because crop prices rise due to climate shifts, then there is a problem.  And humanity needs to solve it.

Imagine a world where shares are traded in TOMS Shoes, where your broker recommends a stock empowering women in third-world Rwanda, or where you purchase a bond in Teach For America that earns you a financial return while you support the education of America’s under-privileged youth. Sound impossible? Welcome to the world of social capital markets, where investors seek to earn a positive financial return while simultaneously investing in companies that do good. If the results of the enormously successful Social Capital Markets conference which wrapped up earlier this October in San Francisco are any indication, there may be a pool of $120 billion in capital waiting for the right investment opportunities in businesses that do good, fulfill a social mission and serve those in need — in other words, social enterpri

The social entrepreneurship movement has grown by leaps and bounds over the past year. Early arriver TOMS Shoes has now received mainstream acceptance, having given away over 1,000,000 pairs of shoes to children in need all around the world as a result of their marriage of shoe-buying and shoe-giving — a Buy One, Give One business model that could revolutionize how social needs are met and goods delivered across the world. And as the recent Social Capital Markets, or SOCAP, conference has shown, the mainstream is beginning to identify a large-scale investment opportunity in social businesses.

Now, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is throwing her hat in the ring in moving the social entrepreneurship movement forward. In a recent speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, Secretary Clinton lauded social entrepreneurs, saying that “Social entrepreneurs who marry capitalism and philanthropy are using the power of the free market to drive social and economic progress.”

Secretary Clinton’s endorsement of the social entrepreneurship movement was framed in the speech as working in alignment with the State Department’s strategic goals of fostering innovation. As such, in that same speech Secretary Clinton announced a bold partnership that has stirred the social entrepreneurship community and could serve as critical galvanic support for bringing both the movement at large and specifically social capital markets one step closer to the mainstream. The State Department is partnering with SOCAP to co-host a conference next year on social capital markets, to be called SOCAP@State.

Says Secretary Clinton:

I also urge you to become involved with the social entrepreneurship movement, which is proving every day that there is money to be made through socially responsible investments. Putting financial and social capital to work is one of our goals. And next year we will host a conference for social entrepreneurs and investors in Washington, called SoCap — s-o-c-a-p — @State.

The HUB LA, a Los Angeles-based social enterprise with ties to the social capital markets movement, reported on the announcement earlier this week, and secured this statement from a State Department representative close to the creation of the historic partnership betwen SOCAP and State. Says Lala Faiz, Senior Partnerships Advisor working in the Global Partnership Initiative for the State Department:

We are acutely aware that supporting the growth of social capital markets can advance our nation’s interests and values around the world. Thus, we are bringing SOCAP to State in Fall 2011 to highlight the work of leading investors, social entrepreneurs, public sector agencies and policy-makers. We aim to secure commitments that will further innovation and the expansion of social capital markets.

The implications for the social entrepreneurship movement are quite heady. As social capital markets develop and begin to deploy investment opportunities for the investor class to drive capital to social business, capital flows in the United States will be able to support companies that both do good and deliver a positive bottom line. The arrival of a robust social capital market to the financial system could very well prove positively world-changing for the ways capital and investment are sourced in this country over the coming decades. A tremendous amount of social good and, importantly, positive financial returns, could be the result.

Earn Your Sticker. In California, showing your ballot stub to your employer allows you to take off work to vote.

I Had To Vote Provisionally Today

I just returned from voting. I strode purposefully into the polling location, confident in myself. I have voted before; as a Michigander I’ve voted for John Dingell, Carl Levin, and Barack Obama. I am a proud American. Now, I am a registered California voter.

A row of smiling black ladies greeted me to my right. I smiled back, and then headed to the desk to check in. The only thought in my mind – Yes on 19. It’s very important.

Then, the voting process hit a snag. My name wasn’t on the rolls. The gentleman at the desk told me, I’m sorry, but your name is not on the rolls. I told him, I don’t care, I’m an American and I expect to vote. He said, you’re probably on one of these blue sheets. Fantastic, I said aloud, meaning it.

He checked again, and once again my name did not appear. I’m sorry, he said, but you’ll have to vote provisionally. I stood my ground. I’m sorry sir, but I am a registered voter at this address. I will be glad to provide proof of residency. I am going to vote today.

Strong words, and I meant them. Unfortunately, the voting process in this state, and in this country, are not so simple. The lady behind the desk explained to me, that she too had to vote provisionally. And so I did, much to my chagrin. As a former head of Voice Your Vote, a voter registration organization that registered nearly 5,000 students to vote on the University of Michigan campus, I understand very clearly the rights and importance involved with voting. And I don’t like the idea that my vote won’t be among the votes counted on Election Day. How many people registered before the deadline that will have the same issue I had?

I Want You To Vote To Legalize Marijuana (Yes on 19)

I will say that I felt an energy in the air. It is an energy I haven’t felt since my Michigan days, in fact since November of 2008. When people vote, democracy is happening. It is real, it is felt, it is visceral. It is amazing and is why I love America.

Today, we Californians are voting to legalize marijuana. Among other things, of course. I am proud to say I voted for Jerry Brown for governor, and Barbara Boxer for senator, and that Henry Waxman is my Congressman. But more importantly, I am proud to say that I voted yes on 19.

The ballot clearly stated that passing the initiative will increase state revenue by the hundreds of millions of dollars mark – the figure included there as a non-partisan fiscal informative for voters on the importance of their decision. And I think that that truth, that legalizing marijuana will bring the state hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, is a compelling factor for its legalization.

But I think marijuana ought to be legalized for a number of reasons. People go to jail, are convicted and converted into criminals in the eyes of society, for little more than selling a patient a joint, or growing a plant. I have plants in my backyard; I watered them today. Not a marijuana plant, mind you – I’m growing an orange tree and an avocado tree. Nevertheless, I grow plants. I add water every other day. Growing a plant should not be illegal.

Secondly, I’ve been high.  I have gotten high to the point of discomfort.  Marijuana isn’t for everyone. But I’ve also smoked and been brought to deep truth, or what felt like it at the time. And sometimes, I’ve smoked after writing a paper and it took the edge off.

That’s fine. People drink alcohol to take the edge off. I enjoy a glass of wine when winding down the day. And for many, the same goes for a joint. If they want to it’s their business. Or so it ought to be. And so because it keeps people out of jail who ought not to be there, because it would bring California muich needed tax revenue, because it’s a plant, and because it’s really not a big deal, I think Californians ought to vote to legalize it.

Not to prematurely count chickens, I have heard that people in Humboldt County are voting no, because legalizing it would decrease their profits. Guess what? I’m fine with that. Because then people don’t have to go to jail for smoking marijuana.

It’s Time To Abolish Voter Registration

Finally, I think this country needs to abolish voter registration. You read that correctly. Obviously the right to vote is held sacrosanct in the hearts of Americans.  Might I remind them that they don’t actually have the right to vote.  The Constitution specifically DOES NOT DENY you the right to vote based on your sex, but it equally DOES NOT EXPLICITLY GRANT  you the right to vote.  Check your Amendments (the 19th, in particular).

Now that you’re back from reading your Constitution, the point is that having to register to vote is stupid.  Everyone who turns 18 ought to be eligible.  I thought of a reasonable objection to that idea while in line to vote – if you don’t have to register, how do you prevent people from voting multiple times?  First of all, the idea that people would vote multiple times to throw an election is preposterous to me.  Instances of voting fraud are nearly non-existent in our democracy, while instances of people being denied the right to vote at polling locations happens every election.  It ought not to.

In the same way that my provisional ballot is going to be checked to verify I’m not voting in two locations, the same can be done for individuals without voter registration at all.  Here’s how to do it.

1.  Pass a law that all American citizens age 18 and older can vote.  Explicitly give the American people the right to vote.

2.  Verify identity through the one number every American has – his or her social security number.

3.  If you’re worried about your identity being stolen, you simply type your SSN into a box at check-in, that will print you out a digitally coded number.  So my SSN might come out 34X-3Q-V98M.  Fine.  I don’t care.

That’s it.  It’s a simple way for every American with a Social Security Number (which is every American, I do believe) to vote.  No registration required.  No provisional ballot necessary.  I don’t want to over-complicate things.  I just want a simple way for every American to be able to vote, hassle free.

Immediately I ran into Ryan Scott, the CEO of CAUSECAST, and he and I caught up about Cause Integration, and the Corporate Philanthropy report set to be released tomorrow – and with my analysis soon to be published on Huffington Post Impact.  I had the pleasure of meeting his wife, a lovely woman, and I additonally met a mutual friend of theirs who is a published author in the suspense and thriller genre.  She had just been having an email exchange with Tim Ferriss, and when Ryan mentioned that he knew Tim also, I immediately asked for an introduction for my friend Joshua Pellicer, another one of those make-everyone’s-life-better types.

I quickly found myself conversing with Gabriela, the bartender and CAUSECAST extraordinaire, about my road trip from last summer, and how Couchsurfing was an incredible community — it actually reminded me of the people at CAUSECAST, and if you know my experiences with Couchsurfing then you know that’s a huge compliment.  I recommended to her that CAUSECAST host some field-trips, and have some of this social exchange in a relaxed and equally engaging environment.  Ryan agreed, to my delight.  PS Gabriela, here’s the link for that Caipirinha taco truck: http://twitter.com/#!/legalizecachaca

As I meandered and mingled, I met an interesting group of people.  First, I met a gentleman who introduced himself to me as Oren.  He said his father was Israeli, and that his name meant pinetree in Hebrew, and that he worked in the online advertising field.  I laughed, because I share all of those characteristics, and I ended up taking his business card.  Perhaps I will promote a CPA offer of his or two.

I then turned to my right and met an interesting young lady named Jennifer who worked in the music industry.  We talked about her alcohol-free month of October, and I shared how I too had stopped drinking for a time while living in Venice – and how the observational awareness I developed was acute.  She agreed, and we’ll soon be Facebook friends.

Finally, I returned to the bar to find that Alyssa had arrived!  I caught up with her, and then about half an hour later managed to get two free premium tequila shots from the party next to ours, which we promptly knocked back.  Delicious!

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Before taking those shots, I remembered that I had introduced myself to a group of friendly-looking CAUSECAST team members, when a gentleman in an orange jacket walked past.  Immediately I had a smile on my face, and I couldn’t take it off.  The reason, I immediately ascertained, was that the gentleman was none other than Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of Mahalo.com and an angel investor for a number of startups.

Jason and Ryan looked to be friends, and I decided to join the conversation.  Ryan introduced me as the blog manager for Cause Integration, and Jason then proceeded to facetiously ask me what cause and business had any business doing together.  I took the opportunity to answer seriously.

I told him that capitalism is the most powerful mechanism in the world, and that it can move money and people more than any other social institution.  Given the severe structural inequalities the world faces, I believe business can solve the problems facing the third world far better than any other institution, including non-profits.

He responded with a laugh, in a good way, and told me that he thought capitalism was the worst economic system ever invented after all the other ones.  I told him I agreed, and that I thought there was something better, a new capitalism, that was more integrative.  He asked me what that meant, fairly, and I responded that it meant a capitalism that was based on values.

Jason heard my point, and I appreciated his taking the time to meet me at face value.  I also told both Jason and Ryan about my idea for changing the world.  Sensing the validity to Jason’s point that real good often starts with becoming very wealthy and then donating to philanthropy, I told them both about my idea.  Mainly, my first goal is to become wealthy, currently to do so I market luxury watches, diamonds, and gemstone jewelry on Luxuriesse.com, and I also have a fantastic business idea in Championic.com that could scale nationwide and earn a serious financial return.  Secondly, I want to take the innovation of the LifeStraw, and scale it throughout the third world.  Create distribution systems regionally to create lower cost supply chains, and then empower small-scale third-world entrepreneurs through micro-franchising to allow village members of third-world communities to earn a profit selling LifeStraws to their fellow villagers.

In retrospect, it may have been bold of me to take the leap of telling two successful tech CEOs about my dream for changing the world, but I am tremendously glad I did.  While Jason excused himself briefly, I spoke with Ryan and he imparted to me a serious lesson about being successful in business.  It had to do with understanding the value of B2B business, and getting the right long-term customers that can help you grow and provide sustainable and long-term income.  I appreciated the point, and took it to heart.  It made me more confident that Championic.com was built to succeed.

Jason soon returned, and we briefly chatted for a few more minutes, bringing back a bit of air of the facetious.  It was a cocktail bar meetup after all!  He offered me his email and one of his tacos, and I readily accepted both.  Sensing that Ryan and Jason wanted to catch up, as successful CEOs presumably do, I politely excused myself and pondered a tequila shot before deciding to return to the bar and flirt with one of the bartenders there.

The night ended with briefly meeting one of the editors of CAUSECAST on the Huffington Post side, and then taking pictures with a few of the staff.  All in all, I had a fantastic time at the W, and I look forward to getting to know the CAUSECAST  team better over time!

It seems to me that people can’t seem to link up. Missed opportunities happen all the time. It’s almost like there’s this invisible barrier that’s holding everyone back from being in love.

What could it possibly be? I’ll tell you what it is.

Haha, just kidding. I honestly don’t know much about love and dating, in actuality. Sure, I’ve had my share of fun, but I have not yet (or have I not?) yet found that girl (those girls?) to call my girlfriend(s).

Whoa – slow down Auren! Is he really talking about multiple non-exclusive relationships?

Well it all started with a coffee shop exchange, as most stories predictably do.

I was seated at a coffee shop in Santa Monica when a tattooed guy walked in. I noted his presence.

As minutes passed, I overheard that he was a relationship expert. Interested, I asked him what was the one factor that would be, if there could be one, a defining factor in a successful relationship.

His response was fascinating to me – what do you think?

He said – the mark of a successful relationship is two people being open to growing together.  If two people have a relationship for comfort’s sake, then the relationship may not succeed – because as one partner decides to grow, then the other wants to stay in the comfortable feelings of sameness that attracted them in the first place.  Alternatively, if both partners enter a relationship with a dynamic of playful challenge, then the relationship is likely to stay healthy because both partners are comfortable with their individual growth within the context of the relationship, and in fact they can help each other grow.

As we talked more, he told me of some of his exploits – he once dated 7 women simultaneously in New York City, and all of them knew each other and were okay with the fact he was seeing them non-exclusively.  He talked about the beautiful communication patterns women have to weed out the non-worthy suitors, in order to focus their attention on men worth their time.  Knowing what these patterns are, he calls “seeing the matrix.”

As I went out in Santa Monica and Venice in the ensuing few weeks after this conversation, I began to notice things.  How a woman would squint her eyes and smile, almost expecting me to fall into her gaze, where really it was just a test to see if I would actually go along with her projection.  Once a woman did this, and I did not respond, because whatever she had said just genuinely wasn’t funny – like I would have lost myself.  She immediately came back to my perspective.

I flirted with one women for two minutes or so, then later saw her about to take home some guy on the dance floor until I came close – it was as if I was a magnet that pushed the other man away, and her closer.  Fascinating.

The more I become aware of all these nuances in social interaction, the more I think back to social interactions I have had in the past.  Were they authentic?  Many indisputably were.  Sitting on the floor of Janssen and Destiny’s apartment, smoking hookah with Sean and Jonathon too, we all connected on a deep, personal, and somehow essential level.  That was as real as can be.

But I can’t help but go back and think about past opportunities, with women of course, and even interactions with women I am currently having.

For instance – not last week I was in the bar and I approached a party of 4 – 3 women, and 1 man.  It turned out to be one of the women’s birthday, and I started conversing with a friend of hers.  Then, another friend joined the conversation, and after realizing I was a legitimate guy who had things to say, she seemed to tacitly give her approval.  She started smiling, encouraging her friend to flirt with me, and she happened to be really funny (and Jewish, and married).  The girl I spoke with ended up sending me an email and we are now corresponding on there.

Then, I excused myself, as they were celebrating a birthday with friends, and given that I was solo at the bar, I sat down at the counter.  I ordered a water, and then I saw a lovely French girl with a black hat, black vest, and popped collar.  She was standing a few feet away from me, so I started conversing with her.  A few exchanges and she was seated next to me, ordering a glass of wine, and we were flirting and laughing.

And yet – the other party was just a few feet away.  I was doing my best to balance both parties, not aggressively flirting with the French woman, who did intrigue me, but still wanting to respect the woman I met (and the hilarious friend, who’s fun nature I enjoyed).  Given I didn’t want to sit at the bar with lack of conversation, I continued talking with the French girl.  A couple minutes later, I felt a distinct change in the atmosphere.  It was as if the friend saw my connection with this girl and then took away some of her approval.  I felt it.  Fascinating.

Given I was connecting with the French girl, in that man goes first, girl responds, beautiful kind of way, I asked her to introduce me to her friends.  She walked me over to her friends, and lo one of them was a French gentleman I actually met months earlier when first arriving on the Venice scene.  And yet, somehow my conversation with the French girl hit a stumble.  It was as if there was an action I was supposed to take, and I missed it – though I wasn’t sure what it was.

Next thing I know, she has shifted just slightly more attention to her female friend seated beside her, and her female friend now has her hand on this other French girl’s thigh.  High up on her thigh.  I think, interesting.  I continue chatting with the one girl, who seems to be sending some eye signal to her other friend that she is liking this moment, but that I am not going to fall in love with her.  It had that quality.  Then, the friend said that actually, she and the French girl were dating.  I was already fairly well acquainted with the first girl, and knowing how women reciprocate, knew there was some attraction between us.  And so, I said to the two girls, “prove it”.

Next thing you know, I have two beautiful French women kissing each other, tongues interlocking, and they linger right in front of me.  Was I supposed to jump in?  I had simply never been here before.  A woman sitting across the bar gives me a look like I need to do something about this, because these girls want me to get more acquainted.  I was out of my element.  I settle for taking the first girl’s name for a Facebook friendship, and then I am off.

So now I am going to bring all this back to where I am currently.  Which is, single.  And, interested in dating.  I would like nothing more than to have a meaningful relationship with a great girl.  Of course, the reality that my friend the relationship expert Josh Pellicer explained to me is of course, deeply seductive.  Well, that or it sounds like a lot of work.  Either way, I am a man who likes approaching beautiful women, and I enjoy nothing more than creating a beautiful interaction with someone who was once a perfect stranger.  At the same time, I want some depth too!

In this city in which I reside, I realize that I am looking for a women whose opinion I respect, who is ambitious, and who of course meets me at many wavelengths – physically, emotionally, and mentally.  I don’t mean that we’ll agree.  But at least, that we can interplay (or roleplay?).

So, for now my treatise on relationships is up.  What do you think is the secret to a meaningful relationship?

Might I remind you what happened the last time people organized to burn books.

Might I remind you of the quote of German philosopher Heinriche Heine:  “Where one burns books, one will, in the end, burn people.”

I just returned from a trip that included a stop to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center in Jerusalem.  I saw the videos of people throwing books into the fire, books written by contributors to humanity like Sigmund Freud and countless other German Jews.  I saw the pictures of Nazis giving Jews shovels to dig their own graves.  I saw the video, recorded by Nazi cameras, of those Jews who were then lined up in that ditch and executed.  I saw them fall.

In 1940 the head of a German printing press wrote to the Nazi party that he had prepared a special paper for the torahs he would print for the Jews.  This paper would allow the ink to easily be washed off, so that after the Jews were killed, shipped off to camps, etc., then the Germans could simply wash away their text.  Wash away any trace of their existence.  When one burns books, one deletes a record of a piece of humanity.  I don’t care how much you hate the Muslims.  I don’t care how much you hate the Koran.  The Koran was a book written by human beings, and their voice ought never to be erased from the library of humanity.  Period.

I am proud to be an American.  I respect the First Amendment even when it means a church with a name that conjurs images of world peace in fact writes a book entitled “Islam Is Of The Devil”.  And yet burning books connotes something more, something dangerous and inhuman and wrong.  UCLA Professor Eugene Voloch wrote in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed that “the First Amendment protects symbols, paintings, handwriting and, yes, flag burning.”  And yet, the Dove World Outreach Center takes it a step too far.  I urge Congress to pass a law immediately making book burning a crime.  We do not burn books, nor people, in America.

These views are Auren Kaplan’s alone, and are not representative of any views held in public or private by any of the organizations mentioned here, or any other organizations with which Auren Kaplan is associated.  Auren is an entrepreneur and social media expert living in Venice, CA.

Next up, some of my favorite books.

Want to get in touch?  Give me a call.  248-417-8514.

Peace, love, and freedom.  May joy be upon you always.

Oh, and in case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m Auren Kaplan.  Namaste.