This is solely my opinion and does not intentionally reflect the official or unofficial opinion of any other person or entity. That, and my movers are coming today, so I am avoiding thinking about my task at hand.
Was the war in Iraq worth it? Based on a variety of recent polls and news reports, it would appear that majority opinion among US citizens is that it was NOT. Though, did we really need a poll to tell us that? There are blame games going around and supporters of the war on all the news shows insisting the war was the right thing to do. I'm not even sure what their point is in doing this. Nobody can change the past and it is not going to persuade war-weary Americans to go back to war.
I cannot help but wonder how far all the money spent in Iraq could have gone toward research and development for sustainable energy sources within our own country? Again, beside the point, because we cannot change the past. And, even if we could, we don't actually know what would have happened. Would President Obama have been elected president had we not gone to war in the previous administration? Would we now have President Clinton or President McCain instead? Who knows? The point is that so many things would have been different that we have no way of knowing how those differences would have affected Iraq, the US and the world.
What do we know? We know that regardless of the past mistakes, and clearly there were many from many different people, we have to deal with the situation we have now. So, let's stop the blame game and deal with the reality of the present.
These realities can be found throughout the news stories that all seem to agree, at least, on some core basics regardless of political leanings.
Reality is that Iran already has a lot of sway and will continue to have such sway with the Shia populations.
Reality is that the Sunnis do not trust the Shia or Iran.
Reality of the present is that the American public will not support putting thousands of troops on the ground.
Reality is that even if we do put troops on the ground, ISIL would use it as an exceptionally successful recruiting tool.
Reality is that more the West gets involved, the more ISIL will claim that this is not about one sect of Islam against another, but about the West against Islam.
Reality is that if we give weapons to "moderate" rebels in Syria, there is a strong possibility those weapons will end-up in the wrong hands at some point down the road.
Reality is that if we do nothing ISIL grows, if we bomb Syria we support Assad.
Reality in each of the regions is that though united against a common enemy for now, still each region has a variety of factions that at some point will again be fighting each other for power should a partition take place. This still could be a better situation than we have now, but that is above my pay grade (especially since I don't get paid).
What do we do with all of that? I really can't say. But, ignoring reality is not a viable option.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Sunday, June 8, 2014
How not to argue your point
Ok, I just have to comment on this because it is a huge pet peeve of mine.
If you are an obvious far right Republican and you post articles from FOX news to your Facebook page to prove your point, you prove NOTHING.
If you are an obvious far left Democrat and you post articles from MoveOn.Org to your Facebook page to prove your point, you prove NOTHING.
That is all.
If you are an obvious far right Republican and you post articles from FOX news to your Facebook page to prove your point, you prove NOTHING.
If you are an obvious far left Democrat and you post articles from MoveOn.Org to your Facebook page to prove your point, you prove NOTHING.
That is all.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Just doing a little math, the daily total cost to our economy from the 2013 government shutdown.
Just doing a little math here. . .
According to Brian Kessler, with Moody’s Analytics, a three- to four-week Federal government shutdown would cost the economy about $55 billion. (Isidore, 2013).
According to Republican Representative Tom Price, “Obamacare” will cost $1.76 trillion over 10 years. (Price, n.d.).
So, that is $176 billion/year or $482 million/day for healthcare versus $55 billion per three- to four-week period for a government shut down. Let us assume that $55 billion is for a four week period giving us the least cost/day estimate of a shutdown. Even still that is about $1.96 billion/day.
So, which is really more expensive, affordable health care at $482 million/day or a government shut down at $1.96 billion/day?
Let the government run and have this argument without putting our country in the hole by $1.96 billion/day for an argument that does NOT need the government to shut down to occur.
Common sense people, common sense!!!
References
Isidore, C. (2013, September 30). Shutdown: A multi-billion dollar hit to economy. CNN Money. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/30/news/economy/shutdown-economic-impact/
Price, T. (n.d.). The cost of Obamacare threatens America’s wellbeing. (Press Release from Representative Tom Price). Retrieved from http://tomprice.house.gov/press-release/true-cost-obamacare-threatens-america’s-wellbeing
According to Brian Kessler, with Moody’s Analytics, a three- to four-week Federal government shutdown would cost the economy about $55 billion. (Isidore, 2013).
According to Republican Representative Tom Price, “Obamacare” will cost $1.76 trillion over 10 years. (Price, n.d.).
So, that is $176 billion/year or $482 million/day for healthcare versus $55 billion per three- to four-week period for a government shut down. Let us assume that $55 billion is for a four week period giving us the least cost/day estimate of a shutdown. Even still that is about $1.96 billion/day.
So, which is really more expensive, affordable health care at $482 million/day or a government shut down at $1.96 billion/day?
Let the government run and have this argument without putting our country in the hole by $1.96 billion/day for an argument that does NOT need the government to shut down to occur.
Common sense people, common sense!!!
References
Isidore, C. (2013, September 30). Shutdown: A multi-billion dollar hit to economy. CNN Money. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/30/news/economy/shutdown-economic-impact/
Price, T. (n.d.). The cost of Obamacare threatens America’s wellbeing. (Press Release from Representative Tom Price). Retrieved from http://tomprice.house.gov/press-release/true-cost-obamacare-threatens-america’s-wellbeing
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Thoughts 3
There are many different thoughts running through my mind at any given time. Sometimes I think I really ought to write this down; not sure whether I will share it or should share it.
Lord knows we don't have control over every aspect of our lives. Sometimes bad things do happen to good people. However, I see a trend that I wish we could conquer. There is a trend among some folks to always blame on bad luck what could be better attributed to bad choices. I'm not casting stones here. Lord knows, throughout my life, I have made some bad choices. And, I didn't always see the connection between the choices and the results. So, I'm trying to think about why?
Well, here is my reason, I was bitter. Yes, I was sweet and nice on the outside, but one bitter, sad, scared, resentful, hopeless and lonely kid on the inside. I was tired of seeing so many around me with so much, while I had so little. Tired of growing-up seeing those who were offering “help” arrive in their fancy cars, wearing their designer clothes, using me as an example to their own children to show how lucky they have it. I was tired of such people offering what I viewed as their “table scraps” (items I should supposedly feel grateful for, but that wouldn’t be good enough for them or their kids). It fueled a level of bitterness and resentment in me that was hard to overcome. My thinking, like my parents before me, was that I "deserved" to have as much, as nice, and as expensive things as the next person and it wasn't fair that I didn't. So, whether or not I could afford such things, any money I received should go toward righting this wrong.
Finally, thank G-d, I realized that I didn't have to continue my parents' pattern of bad choices; of basing my desires and needs on comparisons to others with more. I had thoughts of this before, as a mouthy teenager (and boy was I mouthy), I was ready and willing to point out my parents bad choices and the alternatives that I saw as available. Pointing out they could probably pay our rent if they'd didn't spend so much on smoking five packs/day. Or, that if Dad got a real job we could go to the doctor for check-ups. Or, if Mom stopped taking all of her painkillers, she could actually have the energy to make us dinner. As you might imagine, those comments didn't always go over so well.
For awhile, during college, I did let myself fall prey to their dogma of "I deserve." Soon after, however, I came to confirm to myself what I think I always knew inside. That is that we do have some choices. And, I started to realize it is not a matter of what you deserve. Don’t get me wrong, there are some basics we all deserve (i.e., healthy food, safe shelter, education, love of a family, opportunity to support ourselves and our families, compassion). Deserve is about those things that are core to human rights, not things simply to build our ego or status in life.
For many years after my realization, I was still bitter; however, in a different way. I was bitter against the Democratic Party because it was the party that my parents believed in. And, in my young mind, I started blaming the entire Democratic Party for always giving my folks an out, a way to not take responsibility for their lives or for their choices. As much as my parents simplistically believed the Democrats were for the poor and the Republicans were for the rich, I came to believe the Democrats wanted to hold me down, keep me poor by throwing just enough money my parents way to keep us off the street, but never actually giving them the help they needed to learn how to make better choices so that I might actually compete with these pious Democrats in their own world. You can imagine how my discovery of Ayn Rand helped to cement these ideas even further. But, this too, was a simplistic view.
Over the years, I have come to realize there are people on both sides of the aisle who want to really help those around them and make great effort to do it in a way that really helps for the long term. And there are folks, on both sides of the aisle, who care more about saying they are doing something by throwing money, rhetoric and/or religious doctrine at the problem, without ever actually doing anything that could really help. It is not isolated to one party or the other.
Living overseas in some very poor countries educated me more than I ever knew possible. Many folks in other countries actually don’t have choices. They do not have the basics to survive. The basics we all deserve. They are born into poverty, and as such, will never have the opportunity to change their lot in life. Caste systems are very much alive (unspoken, but alive) in much of the world.
And, I know the bitterness I felt as young poor kid, pales in comparison to the bitterness felt by many around the world who have nothing and look at our country and other countries like ours and cannot understand how it is things can be so different for them. How any American with a TV, some kind of mattress to sleep on, and any type of car could possibly consider themselves "poor." Why they have nothing and we have so much? And, I also believe that many leaders of these countries use these feelings to further embitter their people against the US and others, to hide the fact it is largely the leaders of these countries who are profiting off of the misery and lack of education and opportunities for their own people. It is largely the leaders of these countries who have a vested interest in keeping their people powerless, uneducated, and with little choice to change their lives.
We must address the bitterness and the helplessness. What got me over the bitterness, the helplessness, was the realization that I really did have some choices for my own life. This is the key. We need to help those with nothing to have choices, real choices to make a better life for themselves, their families and their countries. This is what all people deserve!
Lord knows we don't have control over every aspect of our lives. Sometimes bad things do happen to good people. However, I see a trend that I wish we could conquer. There is a trend among some folks to always blame on bad luck what could be better attributed to bad choices. I'm not casting stones here. Lord knows, throughout my life, I have made some bad choices. And, I didn't always see the connection between the choices and the results. So, I'm trying to think about why?
Well, here is my reason, I was bitter. Yes, I was sweet and nice on the outside, but one bitter, sad, scared, resentful, hopeless and lonely kid on the inside. I was tired of seeing so many around me with so much, while I had so little. Tired of growing-up seeing those who were offering “help” arrive in their fancy cars, wearing their designer clothes, using me as an example to their own children to show how lucky they have it. I was tired of such people offering what I viewed as their “table scraps” (items I should supposedly feel grateful for, but that wouldn’t be good enough for them or their kids). It fueled a level of bitterness and resentment in me that was hard to overcome. My thinking, like my parents before me, was that I "deserved" to have as much, as nice, and as expensive things as the next person and it wasn't fair that I didn't. So, whether or not I could afford such things, any money I received should go toward righting this wrong.
Finally, thank G-d, I realized that I didn't have to continue my parents' pattern of bad choices; of basing my desires and needs on comparisons to others with more. I had thoughts of this before, as a mouthy teenager (and boy was I mouthy), I was ready and willing to point out my parents bad choices and the alternatives that I saw as available. Pointing out they could probably pay our rent if they'd didn't spend so much on smoking five packs/day. Or, that if Dad got a real job we could go to the doctor for check-ups. Or, if Mom stopped taking all of her painkillers, she could actually have the energy to make us dinner. As you might imagine, those comments didn't always go over so well.
For awhile, during college, I did let myself fall prey to their dogma of "I deserve." Soon after, however, I came to confirm to myself what I think I always knew inside. That is that we do have some choices. And, I started to realize it is not a matter of what you deserve. Don’t get me wrong, there are some basics we all deserve (i.e., healthy food, safe shelter, education, love of a family, opportunity to support ourselves and our families, compassion). Deserve is about those things that are core to human rights, not things simply to build our ego or status in life.
For many years after my realization, I was still bitter; however, in a different way. I was bitter against the Democratic Party because it was the party that my parents believed in. And, in my young mind, I started blaming the entire Democratic Party for always giving my folks an out, a way to not take responsibility for their lives or for their choices. As much as my parents simplistically believed the Democrats were for the poor and the Republicans were for the rich, I came to believe the Democrats wanted to hold me down, keep me poor by throwing just enough money my parents way to keep us off the street, but never actually giving them the help they needed to learn how to make better choices so that I might actually compete with these pious Democrats in their own world. You can imagine how my discovery of Ayn Rand helped to cement these ideas even further. But, this too, was a simplistic view.
Over the years, I have come to realize there are people on both sides of the aisle who want to really help those around them and make great effort to do it in a way that really helps for the long term. And there are folks, on both sides of the aisle, who care more about saying they are doing something by throwing money, rhetoric and/or religious doctrine at the problem, without ever actually doing anything that could really help. It is not isolated to one party or the other.
Living overseas in some very poor countries educated me more than I ever knew possible. Many folks in other countries actually don’t have choices. They do not have the basics to survive. The basics we all deserve. They are born into poverty, and as such, will never have the opportunity to change their lot in life. Caste systems are very much alive (unspoken, but alive) in much of the world.
And, I know the bitterness I felt as young poor kid, pales in comparison to the bitterness felt by many around the world who have nothing and look at our country and other countries like ours and cannot understand how it is things can be so different for them. How any American with a TV, some kind of mattress to sleep on, and any type of car could possibly consider themselves "poor." Why they have nothing and we have so much? And, I also believe that many leaders of these countries use these feelings to further embitter their people against the US and others, to hide the fact it is largely the leaders of these countries who are profiting off of the misery and lack of education and opportunities for their own people. It is largely the leaders of these countries who have a vested interest in keeping their people powerless, uneducated, and with little choice to change their lives.
We must address the bitterness and the helplessness. What got me over the bitterness, the helplessness, was the realization that I really did have some choices for my own life. This is the key. We need to help those with nothing to have choices, real choices to make a better life for themselves, their families and their countries. This is what all people deserve!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
GAO report on Overseas Comparability Pay Misses a Few Points
I recently read the GAO report on Overseas Comparability Pay (found at http://www.gao.gov/htext/d11772r.html) and, as a Foreign Service family member, would like to point out a few things.
First, hardship pay and danger pay were implemented before locality pay was instituted back in 1990. As far as hardship pay goes, the intent was to provide financial incentive and compensation for Foreign Service Personnel and their family members agreeing to live in situations that are more difficult than living in the US (i.e., unsanitary water supply, food supply, etc.; lower quality medical assistance; exposure to parasites and diseases not present in the US, unreliable power and water supplies). And, danger pay was implemented to compensate for living in situations where personal safety is in jeopardy due to civil unrest, high crime with little host country security forces or corrupt ones, etc. . . .
When locality pay was enacted in 1990, it gave federal employees living in DC (and the US in general) more base pay than those overseas. That percentage grows almost every year. It is to the point where our base pay in DC is more than our pay, with hardship incentive, would be living in a country like Dakar, Senegal and many other similar posts. In Dakar, for example, Malaria is a real concern, health facilities are lacking and not up to par with the US; employees and family members (including young babies and children) are required to take Mefloquine (an exceptionally questionable drug) that we are told is still better than getting Malaria; manga worms (a worm, that unbeknownst to you, lays eggs on your skin, which then hatch right out of your skin) are a part of life, especially for kids and pets. We don't have access to US style grocery stores, food establishments, and products and those we do have access to are very expensive. So, given the choice of taking a posting in DC or living in Dakar, which would you choose - 10% less pay, including all the "incentives" to live in Dakar, or stay in DC?
The whole point of incentive pay was to provide an INCENTIVE. To use those incentives as a way to help equalize us with DC pay goes against the intent of why they were created in the first place. And, as locality pay rises almost every year, there becomes less and less incentive to serve in hardship posts. Do you really think taking a pay cut to serve in West Africa is really an incentive to go there?
In 21 years, locality pay has risen to 24%. What happens as it raises more? Our "incentives" to serve in hardship posts become less and less. If you take away OCP, make no mistake, with each passing year and rise in the locality pay, you are increasingly taking away incentive to serve in hardship posts. Even those of us who seek hardship posts, will be hard-pressed to do so when it means a significant pay-cut to do so.
As far as COLAs go overseas, we see no profit from those amounts. The COLAs exist because the cost-of-living is so much higher than compared to the DC area. Every cent we receive in COLA goes toward paying the higher cost of living in whatever country we are in. I think that GAO completely failed to take that into account.
Remember that incentive pays (such as hardship and danger pay) preceded locality pay by many years. When implemented, it WAS the intent to provide INCENTIVE for serving in less desirable locations. This incentive is eroding; help fix it in one way or another. Something must be done to ensure that the intent of incentive pay is preserved as it has been for our Senior ranks.
First, hardship pay and danger pay were implemented before locality pay was instituted back in 1990. As far as hardship pay goes, the intent was to provide financial incentive and compensation for Foreign Service Personnel and their family members agreeing to live in situations that are more difficult than living in the US (i.e., unsanitary water supply, food supply, etc.; lower quality medical assistance; exposure to parasites and diseases not present in the US, unreliable power and water supplies). And, danger pay was implemented to compensate for living in situations where personal safety is in jeopardy due to civil unrest, high crime with little host country security forces or corrupt ones, etc. . . .
When locality pay was enacted in 1990, it gave federal employees living in DC (and the US in general) more base pay than those overseas. That percentage grows almost every year. It is to the point where our base pay in DC is more than our pay, with hardship incentive, would be living in a country like Dakar, Senegal and many other similar posts. In Dakar, for example, Malaria is a real concern, health facilities are lacking and not up to par with the US; employees and family members (including young babies and children) are required to take Mefloquine (an exceptionally questionable drug) that we are told is still better than getting Malaria; manga worms (a worm, that unbeknownst to you, lays eggs on your skin, which then hatch right out of your skin) are a part of life, especially for kids and pets. We don't have access to US style grocery stores, food establishments, and products and those we do have access to are very expensive. So, given the choice of taking a posting in DC or living in Dakar, which would you choose - 10% less pay, including all the "incentives" to live in Dakar, or stay in DC?
The whole point of incentive pay was to provide an INCENTIVE. To use those incentives as a way to help equalize us with DC pay goes against the intent of why they were created in the first place. And, as locality pay rises almost every year, there becomes less and less incentive to serve in hardship posts. Do you really think taking a pay cut to serve in West Africa is really an incentive to go there?
In 21 years, locality pay has risen to 24%. What happens as it raises more? Our "incentives" to serve in hardship posts become less and less. If you take away OCP, make no mistake, with each passing year and rise in the locality pay, you are increasingly taking away incentive to serve in hardship posts. Even those of us who seek hardship posts, will be hard-pressed to do so when it means a significant pay-cut to do so.
As far as COLAs go overseas, we see no profit from those amounts. The COLAs exist because the cost-of-living is so much higher than compared to the DC area. Every cent we receive in COLA goes toward paying the higher cost of living in whatever country we are in. I think that GAO completely failed to take that into account.
Remember that incentive pays (such as hardship and danger pay) preceded locality pay by many years. When implemented, it WAS the intent to provide INCENTIVE for serving in less desirable locations. This incentive is eroding; help fix it in one way or another. Something must be done to ensure that the intent of incentive pay is preserved as it has been for our Senior ranks.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Just Another Thought From a Not-So-Desperate Housewife
Warning: Going to get up on my soapbox here. . .
Dear Political Elitists* of both parties;
Your view is the right view for you, but you must realize that everyone feels that their view is the correct one. And, as difficult as it would be to persuade you away from your long held beliefs, understand it is equally as hard to persuade others from their beliefs.
Please remember that we are all human beings trying to make our way in the world for ourselves and our families and trying to live the American dream in the best way we know how. Most, regardless of political affiliation, recognize the importance that all people have the opportunity to live to their fullest potential and to ensure that we leave this world, at the least, a bit better than we found it. Ultimately, I do believe we have similar goals; just not always the same ideas about how to get there.
Though I may only have a BS degree from a public university, I do understand that the culmination of my life experiences has made me who I am and believe as I do. I also understand, though your education level may be more or less than my own, the same holds true for you, for everyone. As such, I pledge to keep these filters in mind in order to have an open discourse about the issues, the ultimate goals to be reached and the best way to get there. I will not vote for an issue or a candidate because anyone tells me to, whether it be friends, family, educators, colleagues, a political party, a politician, a tv personality or a movie star. However, I will listen and try to understand the ideas of others whom I feel are truly willing (not just paying lip service) to do the same for me. Of course, this is just my view of how to reach goals together. But, in this case, you'll have a hard time persuading me that it should be any different.
*According to Urban Dictionary a Political Elitist is a person, regardless of party affiliation, who thinks that they are better than another person, simply because of their alignment with a particular political party/cause/opinion/etc., and as such, exhibits anger and/or animosity towards another person because they have a different view/opinion. (definition can be found at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Political%20Elitist).
Dear Political Elitists* of both parties;
Your view is the right view for you, but you must realize that everyone feels that their view is the correct one. And, as difficult as it would be to persuade you away from your long held beliefs, understand it is equally as hard to persuade others from their beliefs.
Please remember that we are all human beings trying to make our way in the world for ourselves and our families and trying to live the American dream in the best way we know how. Most, regardless of political affiliation, recognize the importance that all people have the opportunity to live to their fullest potential and to ensure that we leave this world, at the least, a bit better than we found it. Ultimately, I do believe we have similar goals; just not always the same ideas about how to get there.
Though I may only have a BS degree from a public university, I do understand that the culmination of my life experiences has made me who I am and believe as I do. I also understand, though your education level may be more or less than my own, the same holds true for you, for everyone. As such, I pledge to keep these filters in mind in order to have an open discourse about the issues, the ultimate goals to be reached and the best way to get there. I will not vote for an issue or a candidate because anyone tells me to, whether it be friends, family, educators, colleagues, a political party, a politician, a tv personality or a movie star. However, I will listen and try to understand the ideas of others whom I feel are truly willing (not just paying lip service) to do the same for me. Of course, this is just my view of how to reach goals together. But, in this case, you'll have a hard time persuading me that it should be any different.
*According to Urban Dictionary a Political Elitist is a person, regardless of party affiliation, who thinks that they are better than another person, simply because of their alignment with a particular political party/cause/opinion/etc., and as such, exhibits anger and/or animosity towards another person because they have a different view/opinion. (definition can be found at http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Political%20Elitist).
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thoughts of a Not-So-Desperate Housewife
Oh, what has happened to me? Here I was today sitting listening to "Fresh Air" on NPR, driving in my SUV, with my two kids in their car seats in the back, donating money to various causes that make it easy and convenient to do so and not giving a bit of my time or effort to actually change anything outside of my little world that I profess to care about. I am exactly what I railed against only 10, maybe 15 years ago. Does some part of me now feel a little of that "middle class guilt" I never before understood? The "middle class guilt" that I resented as a young "poor" kid, that I thought was demeaning and useless, that I thought led people to donate rhetoric and money, but never their personal time and effort to make it better. Just a minute, let me finish texting "Haiti." OK, done.
Or, maybe it's just that I realize as hard as it was growing up, there are so many in the world that have it so much harder and, so, a lot of the bitterness has dissipated. Perhaps, I now understand just how lucky I am to have been born an American. I never slept on a cement floor in a straw hut, without infrastructure for electricity or water, nor without an opportunity for an education or a way to better my life beyond my parents' place in life. So many in the world lack basic foundations of living, they lack opportunity for class mobility, for education, for so many things. And, they are surrounded by deep, embedded corruption that teaches "take advantage of what and who you can, when you can, because everyone else around you is doing it and if you don't, then there will be nothing left for you or your family." It's an attitude I absolutely abhor, but after living in too many countries where "democracy" is a title bantered about without real meaning, where oligarchy would really be the better description, I do have a slight understanding of why they've given in to it.
Perhaps I get frustrated and feel overwhelmed by my inability to do anything that would actually make a difference or at my lack of desire to do anything except, perhaps, just enjoy my little slice of life in the world for a while. Perhaps I'm just thinking too much. What's that, my turn for Wii Mario Cart? OK, gotta go.
Or, maybe it's just that I realize as hard as it was growing up, there are so many in the world that have it so much harder and, so, a lot of the bitterness has dissipated. Perhaps, I now understand just how lucky I am to have been born an American. I never slept on a cement floor in a straw hut, without infrastructure for electricity or water, nor without an opportunity for an education or a way to better my life beyond my parents' place in life. So many in the world lack basic foundations of living, they lack opportunity for class mobility, for education, for so many things. And, they are surrounded by deep, embedded corruption that teaches "take advantage of what and who you can, when you can, because everyone else around you is doing it and if you don't, then there will be nothing left for you or your family." It's an attitude I absolutely abhor, but after living in too many countries where "democracy" is a title bantered about without real meaning, where oligarchy would really be the better description, I do have a slight understanding of why they've given in to it.
Perhaps I get frustrated and feel overwhelmed by my inability to do anything that would actually make a difference or at my lack of desire to do anything except, perhaps, just enjoy my little slice of life in the world for a while. Perhaps I'm just thinking too much. What's that, my turn for Wii Mario Cart? OK, gotta go.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
IMHO
First some quotes to preface my rant.
Those who will not reason, are bigots; those who cannot, are fools; and those who dare not, are slaves. -Lord Byron
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered. -Lyndon B. Johnson
The Rant
The problem with the extreme Right and the extreme Left is that they are so set in their opinions that they will not listen to anything or anyone else. One tends to legislate from the pulpit and the other from an ivory tower. Both are guilty of paternalistic, dogmatic, black and white thinking. If you haven't figured it out, this is the best way to TURN OFF swing voters. To extremists on both sides of the aisle, it would do you well to stop living in your self-created bubbles and see just how out-of-touch you are with much of America. Whichever party does this first, is going to be the big winner in the long run.
Why did Senator Brown win? Besides the fact that many people are hurting and not yet feeling the "benefits" of the "recovery," there is another reason that the Democrats need to consider. The Democrats made a fatal error by refusing to answer questions in a meaningful way about health care reform. Folks with real questions are told, "you are trying to derail healthcare." Or, just as bad, all too often "answered" with "holier-than-thou" stone-walling responses that do nothing to show any real desire to listen or to address questions and concerns. Sure there are those who want nothing more than to derail health care reform in its entirety. But, you are letting them win, letting them succeed by not seeking out and talking to those who truly just want clarification and answers.
What about the person who is not against the idea of healthcare reform in some form, but, also doesn't want to throw money at a problem just to SAY something has been done. What about providing a solid plan with a solid explanation of how the plan will be effective in its implementation and efficient in its costs? It is a mistake to assume that anyone with questions is seeking to derail the whole thing. It is also a mistake to assume that anyone with questions does not have any worthwhile ideas to contribute. Such attitudes are exactly why the Democrats have alienated so many.
Wouldn't it be interesting to compare legislation created by the vocal extremes with legislation, hopefully one day, created by pragmatic moderates of both parties? Now, that is change I could believe in. And, in fact, what I believe many moderates believed Obama was espousing when he ran for President.
Those who will not reason, are bigots; those who cannot, are fools; and those who dare not, are slaves. -Lord Byron
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered. -Lyndon B. Johnson
The Rant
The problem with the extreme Right and the extreme Left is that they are so set in their opinions that they will not listen to anything or anyone else. One tends to legislate from the pulpit and the other from an ivory tower. Both are guilty of paternalistic, dogmatic, black and white thinking. If you haven't figured it out, this is the best way to TURN OFF swing voters. To extremists on both sides of the aisle, it would do you well to stop living in your self-created bubbles and see just how out-of-touch you are with much of America. Whichever party does this first, is going to be the big winner in the long run.
Why did Senator Brown win? Besides the fact that many people are hurting and not yet feeling the "benefits" of the "recovery," there is another reason that the Democrats need to consider. The Democrats made a fatal error by refusing to answer questions in a meaningful way about health care reform. Folks with real questions are told, "you are trying to derail healthcare." Or, just as bad, all too often "answered" with "holier-than-thou" stone-walling responses that do nothing to show any real desire to listen or to address questions and concerns. Sure there are those who want nothing more than to derail health care reform in its entirety. But, you are letting them win, letting them succeed by not seeking out and talking to those who truly just want clarification and answers.
What about the person who is not against the idea of healthcare reform in some form, but, also doesn't want to throw money at a problem just to SAY something has been done. What about providing a solid plan with a solid explanation of how the plan will be effective in its implementation and efficient in its costs? It is a mistake to assume that anyone with questions is seeking to derail the whole thing. It is also a mistake to assume that anyone with questions does not have any worthwhile ideas to contribute. Such attitudes are exactly why the Democrats have alienated so many.
Wouldn't it be interesting to compare legislation created by the vocal extremes with legislation, hopefully one day, created by pragmatic moderates of both parties? Now, that is change I could believe in. And, in fact, what I believe many moderates believed Obama was espousing when he ran for President.
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