A personal accounting of my plans to help our country move forward and do the right thing for all.
I will continue to contribute towards the successful leadership of my country.
I will give my time and what little I can afford when it it necessary to help others.
I will continue to give my best ideas to those who can bring them into focus and make them happen.
I will continue what I have started that began with the Obama-Biden campaign.
I will continue to provide optimistic support to those around me in these troubled times.
I will keep an eye out on my government and make it know when I think it's veering off course.
I will communicate my best intentions and ideas to my representatives in Congress and the White House.
I will do my duty to uphold my devotion to liberty, honesty and wisdeom to support Deomcracy.
I will continue to believe.
Yes, I will!
"Change" is only the beginning.
I mentioned in an earlier blog that I would get to this subject -- Washington, D.C. As a 12 yearold boy, I visited our nation's capitol in the Summer of 1968. Yeah, one of the year's that will go down in American History as a time when we thought it was possible that the great experiment of a democratic state might not last. The Vietnam War had pitched the half the country against the other half. Riots erupted on college campses from coast-to-coast. The Chicago Police brutally beat Anti-War protesters on National TV. The National Gaurd was called out to help. The newspapers and magazines of the day were filled with photos of tear gas, flower power, troops with young college students, people being beaten and dragged away.
The spin from the was into the Media was atrocious -- always listing how many "enemy" dead as compared to how many US sodiers killed each day and each week. And this on the six O'clock new delivered straight to the family dinner table. Never were the numbers believable -- the US troops were always less killed sometimes by orders of magnitude, but the reality surfaced that whole battalions of troops had been killed, sometimes in single days.
It was a time that tried everyone. I really began to believe that the future of our country would not stand, if things continued like this.
And yet, in 1968...
When I visited the Senate, there were no security lines. When I visited the Washington Monument, I walked the stairs all the way to the top with a friend of mine, there was no security ensemble or Xray room to stop us. The biggest security was at the US mint! My friend, Michael, and I went to the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the Sentate, the House, the White House, the Washington and Lincoln Memorials, the Jefferson memorial, the Tresury Building -- heck, we even had lunch in the Senate Office Building cafeteria and rode on the subway to get there from the Capitol with Senator Edward Kennedy! No xray. No security details. No fear.
But in 2008...
I had told my son and his friend of my Summer in '68 and what I had done, and how much I had enjoyed the great City of Washington. How proud I was of it and what a shining example of honor and peace it was.
Everywhere we went, streets blocked off, barricades to prevent "who knows what". Xray machines, and military-like security personnel, yelling at us to stay in line and stand against the wall in order to go into the Capitol rotunda. Heck, my wife had to get her purse Xrayed just to visit the National Aquarium in the Federal Triangle. It was ridiculous, the complete overkill of security and disdain for visitors to our Nation's Capitol. We couldn't climb the stairs in the Washington Monument any more -- closed due to Security. We couldn't visit the White House (owned by the Public since the 19th Century) -- closed for Security. We managed to visit many places, but going to them was worse in most cases than boarding an airplane's security.
And some of you might think that this is necessary because of the terrorists. Is it necessary in your city? Is it necessary in your hometown? Would it make any less of a headline if terrorists blew up something in your city than Washington, D.C.? Would it kill any less people?
What I saw in Washington, D.C. this Summer was fear mongering. Out-and-out marketing to tell everyone who participates in that city that you should be afraid, all the time.
I say that this is wrong. It wasn't necessary in the bomb-throwing times of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, it's not necessary today.
Washington, D.C. needs to lead by example as an exemplary city, the quintessential American city. If the new president wants to lead, the city he lives in and governs from should lead as well.
You know, on the Federal Planning and Urban Development Building there are NO solar panels? There is no water reclamation system in place for any of the city parks or memorials? The traffic gridlock is horrendous and the subway system is fabulous! Oh, by the way, no security measures in the subway system -- oversite? No, just doesn't take as good of a picture for the media marketing.
Fix our city, Mr. President, make it a place where fear doesn't exists again. Lead by example.
Well, I thought the state of the Markets might get like this, but I thought it would be at least a couple of months before it happened. Amazing to watch people panic when it comes to their investments. At least, to those who can afford investments. Don't be fooled, there are thousands of people who still live hand-to-mouth in the U.S.
But things aren't looking so smart right now. Are they? In spite of all of our Capilistic prowess, we still get it dead wrong every other decade. So, let me ask you this. When the ecomony is put under extroidinary stress and brings our nation to the doors of a national BANKRUPTCY, who do you think is responsible?Now, really think deeply about that one. What would be our leader's response, if suddenly, we could no longer afford to enforce certain things because we had to take care of basics only? And what would your list of top 10 basics be? Who might WANT our country to go bankrupt and what would the benefits be to them?
I see a lot of people blaming Congress, but remember Congress is us. They are our representatives. If they are not agreeing, or if they are not getting the job done, then we haven't used the tools we have available to us to do OUR job -- communicate with your represetatives. I blame us, WE THE PEOPLE, when our Congress is struggling for an answer. I can see why many people don't though. They think Government is bad. Government is too BIG. What can I do to alter their course? Do what the Founding Fathers told us. Don't keep silent on issues. Speak out! Even if you're wrong, it is your right as an American to SHOUT to the clouds what you think your Congressmen should be doing.
Now, then, back to the question at hand -- Who would benefit in a U.S. Bankruptcy? What would happen?
Well, let's imagine that YOU are in charge. You can no longer afford all of the stuff that our laws say we have to pay for. What do you do? You have to choose which laws get the money and which do not. Suddenly, with the prospect of people not eating or drinking safe food, paying for Social programs that enforce Equal Rights don't seem as important, right? In fact, all of that Social Legislation that went through in the late 60s and 70s might just have to be put on hold, right? We need hospitals, doctors, roads, food, water. That stuff is more important, you might say.
In fact, we may have to take the country back to the 1950s socially to be able to pay for the important stuff.
Gee, now I wonder who would like that?
You know, it doesn't take much convincing of your odinary guy or gal in the street that Capitol Hill seems to have a different meaning for the phrase "to go to work." The Bail-Out... Oh, excuse me. THE GIGANTIC, ALL-ENCOMPASSING BAIL-OUT debates are occuring as I write this. There have already been several Congressmen quoted as saying "We worked ALL weekend.." Uhm...I've got news for you. Most of the rest of the country works weekends just to make ends meet, so, if you want your popularity to fall, by all means, brag about working the weekend.
And now, this morning, John McCain told the Press that "Americans should be proud" of the bipartisan effort to push the bail-out through. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Congress over the last forty years has been so polarized by Party-Dom that we SHOULD be thankful that they are at least trying to work together instead of being of the usual bull-headed posturing. "No! I want it my way and that's that!" You know, the typical stuff we get from the Hill.
But, no, I'm not thankful. According the the founder of the Republican Party, Thomas Jefferson, party politics are the one thing he feared most because he knew it could bring down the country. Bi-partisan effort shouldbe SITUATION NORMAL, not the exception. I say that any Senator who votes only the party line is a lazy son-of-a-gun and not worth my respect! Working weekends? Working with other Congressman? It's you job. Just do it! If you don't work this way, then you deserve to lose whatever you have and be replaced by someone who WILL act responsibly.
By the way, when are you guys going to start re-writing American Corporate Ethical Reponsiblity laws, huh?
---- next time ----
I just spent two weeks seeing Washington, D.C. and I must tell you, I was not proud of what I saw. The last time I was there was in 1968 and I spent a month seeing all the tourist sites, including the Senate and a tour of the White House with Julie Eisenhower. I will go into the differences that forty years have made on my next blog.
"Americans are living beyond their means." -- Jimmy Carter, 1978 "Regulations are stifling America's economic growth." --Ronald Reagan, 1981
"Americans are living beyond their means." -- Jimmy Carter, 1978
"Regulations are stifling America's economic growth." --Ronald Reagan, 1981
Well, friends and neighbors, that second little statement up there convinced Congress to loosen the controls on American Corporations that had been put in place in the 60s and 70s to prevent monopolies and encourage small business growth. After leaving the American Corporation and our now worldwide economy un-regulated for TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS, suddenly, John McCain and his VP are shouting, "Regulate! Regulate!" as the answer.
I don't know about you, but I feel that it's kind of ironic that the man largely held up by Republicans as the one responsible for the sucess of the modern Republican Party is the same man whose economic policies are now being shouted down as desperate for change. History has already seen that Jimmy Carter and his Cabinet were wise beyond their decade. After all, it was Carter's administration and Dept. of energy who first put Solar Panels on the White House roof to help set a good example to what could be done to offset deficit spending by Americans. And of course, it was Ronald Reagan who ripped the panels off the roof when he took office after Carter.
In hindsight, not the smartest move, was it?
My overall point is this, you don't let something set for twenty-seven years and then suddenly say, "Oh yeah, that was a bad idea." no matter how nice the guys seemed to be. It was still a bad idea.
And today, the bailout that is happening is a band-aid to try to alleviate the decades old bleeding problem. I have a bad feeling about this. I don't like the idea of investing in bad investments. Yet, that is esactly what we, as taxpayers, are being asked to sit back and let out Congress do--Invest in what all of the economic advisers have known for years were poor investements. Well, I'm not going to sit back. I'm going to write my Senators and Congres Members and ask them to let poor investments fail. If our financial system is as strong as everyone thinks it is, then the catastrophe will balance out over time. My property, bonds and stock investments may lose for a few quarters, but the LONG-TERM good will be for the best.
That's right, I'm in it for the long term, not this quarter. Short term investment strategies are encouraged by our Financial System. One of the fundamentals that has to change.
So, in the meantime, apply the band-aids, shout "Regulate!" to the rooftops, but in the long run, this too shall pass.
I couldn't be more thankful. The news yesterday and today just tantilizes me for what I hope to see tomorrow in the headlines. Three days ago, I was beginning to really feel despondant. I thought, "Oh, here we go again." In the past two Presidential elections, the Democratic Party has responded so poorly to the Republican Spin Cycle -- Announce something that will enamour the Conservative Base, whether true or not, and wait for the Democrats to respond badly. Rinse and Repeat 'til Election Day.
So, with Hillary out of the picture and a LOT of women feeling disenfranchised from the Democratic Party, McCain launches the Palin payload filled with bottom-line Repbulican spin. Suddenly, the U.S. Media, always hungry for the cult of celebrity, has a new mug to put on all of its covers for days on end. Radio, television, the Internet -- none of them seem to be able to get enough of presenting and postulatingi over what she said, who she is, and what might she do in the White House! And what dd we do? Okay, a couple of comments where we called her out for "making stuff up", but beyond that, nothing. Where was the focus on McCain? Why were we even responding to this empty threat?
Thank God, Barack and Joe have started to address the real issue and call McCain to the matte for who he is, what he's done and who his friends are. Now, the Republican's have to respond. It happened yesterday with questions on McCain's record in the Senate and today with questions about the "honor" of his campaign. McCain leads in Ohio? Okay, but not by much and he doesn't lead in the West. It's already proven that Ohio and Florida are no longer the important swing states they used to be. Plus, Plain, now three days later has been relegated to coverage by People Magazine and whatever ABC wants to do to try and improve some sitcom ratings. I'm sure we'll hear more blather from the Alaskan Queen, but ignore her, concentrate on McCain. If his past responses are any indication, he'll blow his stack, like he has many times in the past. And faster than you can say, "See ya!" the first week of November will be over.
I couldn't be more pleased than to see us turning the Republican Machine back on itself. It's about time.
