Thursday, November 1, 2012

Power & Politics

So watching the conventions, I made one realization. The rich are anti-government because they don't like the idea of anyone having any power over them. The government is the great equalizer. And it is the great equalizer in this country because it is us. We, the people. It makes me wonder if you can be considered a patriot when you hate 90% of the people with whom you share the country with and who are the country?

Okay, maybe I have gotten a little ahead of myself. Perhaps you don't believe that any politician or political wannabe could possibly hate other Americans. Sure they can. And do. They do it in that same mental illness afflicted way that anyone who wants to externalize blame does it. They demonize them and say that they are not "real Americans."

I know, now you are thinking, "I don't recall ever hearing a politician specifically refer to someone as not a real American." That may be true. However, have you ever thought about what they are really saying when a Mitt Romney says that he was talking to some "real Americans" in middle America?

Now this does require a little logic and rational thinking and maybe even a little math, so hang in there. If Mitt Romney has to go halfway across the country to speak to some "real Americans" then what does that say about the people who are right there in his home state? Or any other state? Are there only "real Americans" located in certain parts of this country? What does that make the rest of us?

Maybe I am being a little oversensitive, but I get a little offended when someone who has not met me can so casually strip me of my citizenship and my loyalty. It's strange that the same guys who will blast the majority of people living in this country as unAmerican can turn around and wrap themselves in the flag. The flag that, by the way, they seem to value far more than anyone of us.

And so goes the battle between the right and the left. It's too bad both sides don't fight fairly. And I will say it, the GOP does a great disservice to us all with its draconian attitude toward helping the majority of Americans. All us little folk need to stay in line and tow that barge and tote that bail.

Since I first started this post about two weeks ago, it has come to light that presidential candidate and former governor Mitt Romney does indeed hate a big chunk of Americans. Perhaps not so high as 90% but a fair amount at 47%. 

What started out for me as an entry into pure speculation about the true feelings of those who seek to rule us has become instead an oddly accurate summary of how little some politicians think about so many of us. And to their credit, the GOP is finally letting their true colors show.

Now to those of you who will say that the Democrats are not any better, you are entitled to your opinion. I think that both parties have their flaws but I would rather put my trust in the party that is open about expecting all Americans to help all Americans through a judicious use of government than a party who would like to help themselves by eliminating our greatest mechanism to work together.

To put it plainly, the American people don't need to get their country back. We need to get our government back. We need to wrestle it away from those who would use it to serve themselves at the expense of the rest of us. We need to recapture a government that was designed to work for all of us because it is all of us.

Tricks and Treats

Whoa! That was a quick month!

Okay, so it would seem that the busier things get, the less likely anything will get posted here at 73 percent. This is not that unusual though. I can recall back when I used to do this the old-fashioned way in a marble composition tablet that there would be huge gaps in my "journal" (let's be honest, it was a diary) whenever anything more interesting was going on. Translation: I only used to write because things were slow.

Back then, it meant that things were slow socially. These days, it means that things are slow professionally.

However, I discovered this writing device that I like to employ whenever breaks like this take place. It's called the "recap."

This past month was really all about a couple of things. One, a big trip to Seattle to visit colleges to learn more about learning community best practices. Believe it or not, I found it quite interesting. Not only was the subject matter compelling to me but the people I met were also very engaging and generous with their time. And hey, I am not mostly nerd for nothing.

The second big thing was getting my father-in-law over and situated at our apartment so that he could watch over my son while my wife was also on a business trip and I had an accreditation site visit to participate in. One of the challenges of having two professionals in one marriage is scheduling conflicts. In our case, this was the big one for the year. Luckily, my father-in-law came through like a champ!

All in all, we ended up very fortunate. Despite the crazy schedule, we were both back home in Honolulu by October 26. As it turns out we just missed an earthquake, a tsunami and a Franken-storm all within one week!

More on the my Seattle adventure later. For now, I hope everyone out there had a Happy Halloween!