The World According To Talk Radio

I have often wondered what famous historical figures would have sounded like as guests on today's talk shows. Imagine Abraham Lincoln discussing slavery with Imus, Rush Limbaugh going head to head with Benjamin Franklin on foreign policy, or Dolley Madison on The Laura Ingram Show. No doubt it would have made for some interesting conversation. But, how would today's "hardball" approach fair with yesterday's more respectful atmosphere?

Has talk radio, under the cloak of a "climate change," become more self-serving rather than serving in the public interest?

I recently discovered an essay published in 1931 entitled The World As I See It. I'm sure the author would have made a great guest, but wonder how he would have been treated. Before I tell you who wrote it, let me share an excerpt that addresses the search for and the meaning of true happiness:

"I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.”

Who is this man who lived a life filled with kindness, beauty, and truth? And, who goes on to say that the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious: That is, the zest and quest for knowledge.

These are the thoughts of one the greatest thinkers the world he loved has ever known: Albert Einstein.

Let's go to the phones.