Relevance of Political Campaigns

Proving the unprovable is what political campaigns do these days. Spinning an image is part of it. Displaying personal attributes the candidate needs to succeed in the position being sought, that’s another function of the campaign. Day by day sound bites are made and used and demanded – over and over again, until one day a campaign manager has the bright idea to showcase the remarkable mind of the candidate on a host of issues.

A bright idea but one most difficult to bring off successfully.

Why you ask? Glad you asked! Because, no candidate has a mind so creative, experienced and voluble to cover a gold range of subjects that will fit comfortably in a campaign. Oh they try! How they try. But eventually the lie is shown clearly and people make up facts, and quotes from the candidate that fit each and every circumstance. It would be nice if the candidates did have this breadth of understanding of the most critical issues. But they don’t. Take Trump. Does he have any grasp of international relations, use of military power or nuanced negotiations to gain collaboration among a large array of allies? I know you know the answer to that question! Don’t make me put it into words!!

And policy issues closer to home. How would America improve its educational output among students? Are they mastering the classwork they will need to survive in the modern world? Are they capable of creating whole new futures that will sustain a vibrant and successful nation? How do we measure that? How do we pay for that? How do we calculate performance along the way toward those goals?

Most of the candidates running for president have never run a city department let alone serve as policy chief, or Mayor of a city. Or a Park District or Library system? What about congressmen and senators? Do they govern? I don’t thing what they do is actually governance. It is obstruction at the worst, and advise and consent at the best. But please watch how the Illinois State Legislature failed to provide a budget last July 1st and still doesn’t have one. It won’t, either. It will be the following year’s budget they might have the gumption to pass for the next fiscal year. Meanwhile the state molders, university campuses are threatened with closure, local schools lose teachers, aides and management staff. Classes are shortened. Study halls are lengthened. Day care for all ages has been born.

That is not governance. Nor is Congress’ obstruction of President Obama’s every wish and program. So they can accuse him of being ineffective. They are wrong of course; he is effective; they are not. And their poverty of spirit and intellect are in full view for all to see. Governance? No. If they could they would but they cannot. Even John McCain cannot do this and never has at the national level. Play acting at it, for sure! Same with the senior Utah senator. Talks a good game but delivers nothing. Nothing for his state, region or nation. He is a zero producer. And all for the game of politics.

Governance requires persons with authority to consider seriously what the nation, state or region needs, then create viable options to explore, choose the best at reasonable cost and then implement. For the good of the country. Implement and produce results. Have you witnessed anything like that lately from Washington DC or your state capital, or your mayor’s office.

Small communities excel in governance. They are up close and personal with both the problems and the people who live with those problems. There is real concern and caring that drives solutions forward. And action is taken to deliver those solutions.

Big government is not the bad thing people think it is. No; it is the people elected to serve in big government that disappoint. When will we – you – make this situation disappear? How do we do it?

We have an election coming up. A national election. I have my favorite candidates but I won’t share that with you. That’s not the purpose of this essay. The purpose of these words is to help you make a commitment to support only those people who are doing their jobs. For the rest, support their opposition.

I’ve said in this space before – get rid of most elected national politicians and elect serious candidates who know what they are talking about and really truly want to get good things accomplished. For the nation. For its people.

Only then will we have a responsive, intelligent forward looking governance structure. We deserve that. We need that. The lack is apparent upon all that we survey.

So what are you waiting for? Time’s a wasting!

March 28, 2016

Southern States Still Battling Gays

North Carolina has passed a law unanimously in their Senate to ban all municipal gay rights laws passed outside of the state’s direct supervision. It started because squeamish politicians felt a transgender person ought not be allowed in a public bathroom based on their claimed sex rather than their gender at birth. So a man now identifying as a woman and for all the world to be viewed as such, is forced to walk into a men’s room instead; can you imagine the confusion over that? Same for a woman who is now for all the world seen as a woman but dressed as a man must enter a woman’s restroom.

Such folly. I hope those fools understand it is straight people with hidden cameras taking illicit photos of unsuspecting ‘normals’. Do they understand that pedophiles are almost always opposite sex straight people molesting both boys and girls? You understand that, right?

Pedophilia is a straight person’s problem, not a gay person’s pathology. Of course a person would have to be open to research and actually reading it to receive this message and understand it. But no, Congress has legislated no research on such. And southern states are following suit.

There are times I wonder if the year is 2016 or 1416. the medieval mindset seems to be well implanted in some areas of America; most notably southern states. That would include Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas and Arizona. Arizona? Well, there is just no figuring out that state. But Texas you have to admit is consistent with its discrimination and passe social thinking. 

Georgia will lose the Super Bowl if they don’t change some discrimination laws currently on the books targeting gays. We shall see if the state is amenable to such a solution.

I still marvel at the hilarity of southern intellectuals. They seem to think that gay rights and abortion rights are values given by God and thus are protected by the US Constitution.  It is precisely because they think it is granted by God that makes it religious credo and thus exempt from the Constitution. Protected practice, yes; but not protected enslavement of others not believing as they do in the name of their religion.

Please, you can avoid gays all you want, and avoid temptation of abortion. But the rest of us are not subject to your beliefs. We’ll leave you alone with those just as long as you leave us alone with our beliefs.

Freedom of religion? Or freedom to enslave others to your belief system?

Gays are harmless. They may be different from the norm. That does not make them pathological unless discriminated against so continuously and illogically that paranoia sets in.

Oh Lord, save us all from these weirdos!

March 25, 2016

Yearning for Success

What do you yearn for? What does your family, or neighborhood or community yearn for? Is it success? If it is, how do you define it? I mean, how do you define success? In any specific situation, or in the larger context, what do you mean by success?

I ask this of my clients all the time. The quickest answer is – “to earn lots of money, all the time, and not worry about finances.” Well, that’s dandy, but I don’t think that is a very good answer. Here’s why.

Success is the result of something. We work hard and earn a paycheck. In the short term that is success. We have suffered through whatever, performed tasks, put in our time and earned a paycheck. That paycheck is used however we will use it, but mostly for the necessities of life. I doubt that is the success standard my clients are referring to.

So back to the task to define what is success? When pressed the clients will add that they want to be compensated for their time, talent, work, creativity or use of investment assets appropriately enough that a stream of income results large enough to fund dreams and hopes, not just the necessities of life.

OK, now we are moving along in the right direction. But I suspect there is a very large issue hidden in all of this, and that is: What do I have to do to earn this revenue stream? Is it something I like? Is it a pleasure to perform? Is this technically work?  And to all of that I say, yes!

Of course it is more. Generating a revenue stream may be central to your definition of success, but for many that doesn’t compute. What they are interested in is feeling rewarded for being who they are and what they are contributing to that is larger than themselves. This is not an ego thing; it is a self definition issue that allows a person to realize – admit really – that they are of worth, of value, and it’s OK.

It is OK that I am overweight. That’s not an ego element to me. I am overweight and I most likely will never return to the weight I felt best at. That is a reality of aging. We cannot attain what we want because obstacles beyond our control exist. In the real world. Things don’t work out the way we want them to. Grow up and accept it!

OK, past that obstacle, my appearance is changing to something I’m not liking but it’s OK. As long as I’m not ugly or disgusting. I can live with that. I will just have to focus on other things that don’t have anything to do with liking, attractive or other superficial ‘things’.

Now we are getting somewhere. Success does not really relate to attractiveness (although that is nice!) or to money, whether in the bank or invested in things or flowing through my fingers all the time. Money is only a means of transacting business and paying for necessities. On its own it has no lasting value.

Success has much more to do with lasting value. A piece of art, for example, has value because it means something to a lot of people. It is a statement that stands the test of time. The statue of David in Florence is such an example. It is a classic. It has presence that makes the viewer ponder life. It whets the brain to think. As does most serious art – sculpture, painting, fabric, ceramics, music, literature, theater – whatever is art is also activity of the mind. It is a one to one relationship. It is not always apparent. But it connects just the same. And it is remembered. Lasting value. Lasting presence. It is not money although many will strive to own it so it will be readily accessible to stimulate their mind.

So, again, success; how do we define it? Maybe it is the nondenominational payback or reward for doing something we are good at that satisfies our inner self in some way. Being of help to others is its own reward. You might get paid for doing that help but most of the time you won’t. You feel good about yourself because you helped another person. That’s a form of success.

When I ask a client these questions I’m really looking for a clue to what drives them in life. What is their passion? What are they doing in life that they want to continue doing other than survive? When I dig deeper most clients respond: “I want to make a difference in the lives of other people”. Now that’s what I’m getting at.

The next series of questions is uncovering what they want to do action-wise to achieve the result of making a difference in the lives of others. At that point we begin to enter the realm of measurable. And that’s when the real work begins.

The intellectual exercise that starts it all, however, is defining success. How much of that intellectual work have each of us done? Some? A lot, or none?

Sadly I think the latter is the most common answer in today’s America. If we had done the work so much of what we consume in modern culture would be dumped immediately. So too self absorbed politicians.

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and do the brain work. Who are you? Who am I? What do I want to do with my life? What is success and how do I define it for my life?

Start with those and see where it leads you. Your journey will be filled with awe I promise!

March 24, 2016

Civility Please!

We all have firmly implanted in our minds how uncivil the Trump rallies and campaign events are progressing across the nation. The model of nastiness, even violence, seems to be accepted as normal. But it isn't and the Trump organization is beginning to get the message. A lot of repair work needs to be done.

I don't much care for the insouciance of the republican party. They seem to accept a lot of behavior in the past 20 years that does not conform to what had been the American polite behavior norm. They have pulled out all the stops to win elections and they have been successful with this approach. That's how they won control of the House of Representatives and the US Senate. It hasn't worked so well for winning the White House but they did manage to get George W elected and re-elected, so.....

But here's the thing. Americans at large do not accept this behavior. Even republicans are admitting embarrassment with the Trump antics. His sour face and angry scowls, twisted lips and spittle drenched announcements. His off hand demands to 'get him out of here' echo throughout the nation. To his supporters this is a show of force and executive demeanor. To the rest of us, however, it is a show of offensive bullying.

American culture is much more polite than Trump and his supporters. Manipulation goes only so far.

But wait! Trump is not the only one engaging in this behavior. Rubio responded in kind and lost his own state of Florida in the primaries. He is no longer on the presidential campaign stage. His supporters and others in the republican party have made a statement. Make it civil or go home. He went home before he got the message. Now for Cruz to get the same message!

But now Bernie's supporters are doing the same thing with Hillary's campaign. The nastiness level is less than Trump's, but the steam and rancor are building. This could very well destroy Bernie's campaign, and harm Hillary's campaign at the same time. It will lessen the democrat's chances of beating republicans. We all lose in this scenario.

It is up to everyone to ratchet down the rhetoric several notches. It is also time for candidates to own up to the excesses rising in their own campaign organizations whether they approve of them or not.

I think Bernie Sanders has excellent talking points. He has been persistent with these for years and he is correct in most of his positions in my mind. But to allow them to be machined against a fellow democrat is foolish and misleading. It is also dishonest. He needs to disassociate himself from this practice and to admonish his supporters from engaging in this behavior.

I believe republicans will destroy their own message, campaign and party with a continuation of destructive politics. In the end, however, it is the American people who will enforce this result. You and I have the responsibility to inform decision makers this sort of behavior is unacceptable.

Winning at all costs no longer works. What you have after victory simply doesn't function well at all. The very fabric of governance is built on collaboration and compromise. At the crux of those two is trust and respect. Agreement need not be present. Only respect and trust. Decency allows that to emerge but only if we work for it.

Are you? Are you calling out fellow supporters to cool the rhetoric? Are you cooling your own?

It's high time we all did this.

March 23, 2016

Dealing With Anger

The guy in front of you cuts you off; intentional or slopping driving? You watch and keep your distance but note his actions are erratic. Either he is texting or checking work files on the computer next to him. Now you really keep your distance.

No wonder accidents occur. And no wonder road rage is more prevalent today than in days long gone. Traffic is more congested now. Street and highway designs are better engineered, but volume tests the limits of those designs. Besides, rush hour seems to rewrite the rules of the road each day.

You are in line at the pharmacy drive-through and someone is taking a long time. No movement for 15 minutes. You wonder why someone monopolizes this facility at the expense of all the other customers. Fumes begin to form in the mind! 

A doctor’s office notifies you they have denied your prescription refill. When you call you learn they think you have not seen the doctor yet for the annual checkup. I can’t believe I let something like that slip. I challenge them. Their voice belies tension. I later learn they changed their annual checkup scheduling procedure and they failed to notify patients of this. A reminder card had been sent to patients at the 6 month time frame and we were to make the appointment following instructions on the card. They dropped use of the card. Told no one. All appointments for annual checkups were left to chance memory of patients. I don’t have that kind of memory. Besides I have too many doctors to leave it to this memory schema.

Although the new appointment was now made, the prescription was approved for only one month at a drug cost premium of about 30%. So I denied the refill and will await my checkup with the doctor and acquire my 90-day refill approval. And then for the remainder of the year going forward.

There were other instances this past week when I was challenged and did, in fact, lose my cool. Although I’m usually a pretty nice, cooperative person, I get agitated when tired, pushed by others with outrageous expectations, or am treated poorly by bureaucracies. In truth I can melt down pretty easily. Because last week contained an election day and I worked it as an election judge, my work schedule was doubled. We all spent about 20 hours on Tuesday’s election routine. So we are tired. I am pooped. I am thus ready to be irked easily.

And I was. Melted down at least three times, maybe four. Believe me I was tempted on other occasions but restrained myself. Sometimes the meltdowns are good medicine. Most often, though, they are not. Just the opposite; they are destructive and not good for my own physical health. Or any one else for that matter!

I’ve discussed this with others and admitted my lack of control and poor humor. Others piped in with their own experiences. Seemed I was not the only one stressed last week. Maybe there was something in the air or water supply?

I kind of doubt that. but I don’t doubt that the incivility within our current social environment is catching and infecting others. I’m just one of the sufferers. And infectors!

When will these awful political campaigns be over? Really? They just seem never to stop. Following a campaign and inauguration, it seems campaigning starts all over again for the next election just 2 or 4 years distant. That’s so unfair. To begin campaigning again. So soon.

Please God. Make them stop!

March 22, 2015

Obama’s Thinking re: Foreign Affairs

The April cover story of Atlantic Magazine is written by Jeffrey Goldberg. A national correspondent, Goldberg tracked down Obama for face to face interviews over a three month period – in the White House, aboard Air Force One and one in Malaysia. He did background work with Obama’s top national security and foreign policy staff and advisers as well. This is a long work (19 pages) because of the depth and detail covered. In short, read the article for an understanding of Obama’s strong performance in foreign affairs during his tenure.

Goldberg believes ‘The Obama Doctrine’ is visible throughout all of this. It is: military action has limits per each situation and is to be used sparingly; regions have their own cultural disputes they must own and manage; America is not the global community’s war machine.

Goldberg quotes President Obama: “I had come into office with the strong belief that the scope of executive power in national security issues is very broad, but not limitless. Where am I controversial? When it comes to the use of military power. That is the source of the controversy. There’s a playbook in Washington that presidents are supposed to follow. And the playbook prescribes responses to different events, and these responses tend to be militarized responses. Where America is directly threatened, the playbook works. But the playbook can also be a trap that can lead to bad decisions. In the midst of an international challenge like Syria, you get judged harshly if you don’t follow the playbook, even if there are good reasons why it does not apply.”

To that I say Amen! Restraint is the hardest reaction to manage but is often the most valuable and effective.

A thinking president uses his intellectual gifts. Obama did this in deciding not to strike Syria with missiles. In his words, Obama states: “I’m very proud of this moment. The overwhelming weight of conventional wisdom and the machinery of our national security apparatus has gone fairly far. The perception was that my credibility was at stake, that America’s credibility was at stake. And so for me to push the pause button at that moment, I knew, would cost me politically. And the fact that I was about to pull back from the immediate pressures and think through in my own mind what was in America’s interest, not only with respect to Syria but also with respect to our democracy, was as tough a decision as I’ve made – and I believe ultimately it was the right decision to make.” Goldberg claims US allies and Obama’s own cabinet and advisors were stunned by the decision. Even Secretary of State John Kerry was flummoxed by the decision and repeatedly urged the president to strike Syria with missiles. Obama is reported as announcing that no one except the secretary of defense should bring him proposals for military action.

On  the Middle East, Goldberg suggests that the chaos in Libya proved to Obama that the Middle East was best avoided. Obama said: “There is no way we should commit to governing the Middle East and North Africa. That would be a basic, fundamental mistake.” “Right now, I don’t think anybody can be feeling good about the situation in the Middle East. You have countries that are failing to provide prosperity and opportunity for their people. You’ve got a violent, extremist ideology, or ideologies, that are turbocharged through social media. You’ve got countries that have very few civic traditions, so that as autocratic regimes start fraying, the only organizing principles are sectarian.”

On ISIS, Obama believes it is like the Joker in Batman. Obama says, “These are men who had the city divided up. They were thugs, but there was a kind of order. Everyone had turf. And then the Joker comes in and lights the whole city on fire. ISIL is the Joker. It has the capacity to set the whole region on fire. That’s why we have to fight it.”  But the president goes on and states this dichotomy: “ISIS is not an existential threat to the United States. Climate change is a potential existential threat to the entire world if we don’t do something about it.” That gives us a powerful thought to ponder. It also provides insight to how the president’s mind works incisively.

Goldberg develops a strong line from Obama that Saudi Arabia should play a much more inclusive role in the Middle East. According to Obama, “The competition between the Saudis and the Iranians – which has helped to feed proxy wars and chaos in Syria and Iraq and Yemen – requires us to say to our friends as well as to the Iranians that they need to find an effective way to share the neighborhood and institute some sort of cold peace.”  Finally a sensible suggestion to a fiery region of the world.

On other matters the Atlantic Article provides these Obama positions:

Libya: European nations, especially Britain and France, should have done more to help solve the Libyan problem. They are the closest to the region and have the most to lose.

Ukraine: Obama believes Ukraine is not a core American interest and he is thus reluctant to intervene in the country. Russia will always be able to maintain escalatory dominance there.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: Obama thinks Netanyahu doesn’t think the president understands the pressures and political consequences in the Middle East vis a vis Israel. But as an elected President in a divided United States who won the White House twice, Obama told Netanyahu to stop the lecturing. He does understand the situation as well as he does.

Vladimir Putin: Obama is reported as saying: “The truth is, actually, Putin, in all of our meetings, is scrupulously polite, very frank. Our meetings are very businesslike. He never keeps me waiting two hours like he does a bunch of these other folks. He’s constantly interested in being seen as our peer and as working with us, because he’s not completely stupid. He understands that Russia’s overall position in the world is significantly diminished.”

The article helps us understand the strengths of President Obama as a world leader. He is serious about the role. And he is serious about not involving America in fruitless and expensive side trips that only confuse and worsen conditions.

I think at home Obama has been dismissed for racist reasons. That is something our nation will need to repair in the near future. Meanwhile, it is apparent that Obama’s intellect is intact and magnificent. He understands domestic and foreign issues better perhaps than any president in recent memory. The political climate of his presidency has been poisonous to anyone who would have won the White House. But especially for him for cultural reasons beyond his control.

Just imagine what it would have been like with any other person in the White House during the past 8 years! I tremble at the thought.

And I tremble now because of the poisonous political campaigns now rolling across the nation.

March 21, 2016

One Coin: Two Sides

Oh go ahead, flip for it! Yes or no, up or down, in or out. Flip that coin and see what it is. Take your chances and let the natural world of chance decide the question. Or your fate?

The coin these days is not yes or no; rather it is Fear or Anger.

I say that with calm. I awoke this morning realizing that most people facing this presidential election season are disturbed by developments. Wondering how to distill the situation in a few words I decided on Fear and Anger.

Fear – a reaction to the unknown, the unpredictable, the unknowable. Hard-to-understand might be a phrase relative to this distillation.

Anger – a reaction to what exactly? Indecision by authorities? Continuing confusion in areas of normal certainty? Frustration over the unpredictable, unknowable or unknown?

Are fear and anger opposite sides of the same coin or actually the same thing?

I ask this because I observed both anger and fear on primary election day. Our polling place processed nearly 1300 ballots. Each one came from a citizen. Many acted as though they knew what they were doing but many more acted fearful, suspicious and angry as well. One lady stomped into the polling place early while daylight savings time delivered an inky blackness to the parking lot and indistinct entryway to the polling facility. She claimed it was too dark outside and she nearly tripped and who was going to do something about it? She said this to me because I was the first staff in line to greet and serve her.

I informed her we didn’t own the facility nor did we have access to the light switches. And besides, the parking lot is not lit anyway. We had to navigate the same territory with no lights, used our headlights to find the lock for the key to work in, open the doors until the light switches for the front area and hallways were found and switched on. Then we parked, entered the building and began set up operations. And that was at 5 am.

Her response: incompetence, everywhere incompetence; you should have taken care of that detail the day before.

We did report this situation to the Election Commission, mentioned the need for better lighting to the building owner when we saw him later in the day, and filed concrete suggestions for improvement via the Election Judges Report when closing the polling place late that night at 10 pm.

The woman’s anger and rudeness stayed with me. All day long her angry, twisted, frustrated face flashed in my memory. Exhausted that night, I fell into bed at 11 pm, well past my normal bedtime of 8:30 (give me a break, I’m retired!). Later that night, around 3 am, I awoke with the woman’s anger and thready voice echoing in my thoughts. I arose then for a bathroom break, and remained up to tend to the computer.

That is when I wrote my Wednesday blog. I searched the internet for voting results and learned them, realized the large turnout, and then understood why we were so busy. We had worked triple time throughout the day. We were constantly under pressure to keep the lines manageable. We interacted with voters as positively as we could but realized, as nice as they normally are, they were strained.

It came to me during the early hours of Friday morning, this morning, that the American voter is frightened, dismayed and angry at the turn of events. The campaigns mirror this anger and fear. People don’t understand what is happening.

Into this environment snake oil artisans enter to take advantage. Fear always sells. With that anger builds. And sales go through the roof. Always has; and I think it always will.

Americans think they won World War II. We were on the winning side and our participation in the war was critical to its successful conclusion. However, the war was won because the world had its future at stake. The world community understood this. And they pulled together and fought the war and won it for everyone else. Hitler and Japan were defeated. The forces of evil were defeated.

That was then. Today is now. We have not won a world war since 1945, 70 years ago. Meantime, generations have lived relatively happy lives. They have attended to their homes, families and personal interests. All was well with them. Until today they realize something is not well.

Our infrastructure is crumbling but congress doesn’t wish to replace it or fund the replacement. Education is not responsive to the tens of millions of people who have lost careers due to obsolete technologies, products and services. Other nations and their people are hungry enough for jobs and incomes that they have invented new products and services, and produce them cheaper than Americans could. So business has shifted to other regions of the globe. New investments in these industries have built solid economies around the globe. Living standards have improved globally. A fresh set of possibilities are present for once poor nations.

In America things are different. We still enjoy a high quality of life but the future  appears dim and dented. Worn around the edges we wonder where all of this will lead. And then a political campaign season descends upon us and we are teased, bullied and harangued about what caused all of this and what we can do about it. We learn what to fear and what to be angry about. But something is missing.

And I think that is accountability.

Each of us is accountable for our own lives. We are also accountable for making decisions that affect the lives of others and, in fact, the well-being of our nation. We exercise accountability by reading and researching what is going on around us so we know how to react productively and constructively.

If the future is to be bright what do we need to be doing along the way toward the future? Among the responsibilities are these:

• Educate my kids and our neighbor’s kids so they can think their way to careers and lives filled with meaning; educate people of all ages so they keep up with the changes happening around us at all times and thus assist them in realizing the need for career changes before they happen and make proper adjustments
• Maintain public infrastructure so our society continues to work efficiently; this includes schools, streets, sewers, water supplies, storm water management facilities, highways, bridges, viaducts, dams, power stations and energy grids of all sorts
• Retain inventive investment mindsets so emerging technology, scientific and medical breakthroughs are used productively. This is how we discover new things and create change. Education is how we learn how to adapt to change.
• Be interested in and involved in governance of our society. This means know and understand what is going on around you in your name. We are the citizens of our nation and thus own it and are responsible for it. What decisions are being made in our name? Why? What consequences will these decisions have on our lives down the road?
• Do not leave it to someone else to do the work or take the responsibility. This is your job, my job, our job together. It is not rocket science. We do not have to have an advanced college degree to do this. Common sense will suffice. That is, common sense will suffice IF WE KEEP UP WITH THE WORK. If we fall behind things get messy and confused. And that is where the fear and anger enter the picture. 

The Angry Woman Voter is a symbol and symptom of our time. She left important work to be done by others while she concentrated on her own life and interests. Unfortunately, others did the same and left the hard work to others and now they are disappointed because they see the destruction such avoidance has created.

Yes America, we have done this to ourselves. Our governance structure is in shambles because selfish people focused on themselves rather than the basics of our society. It doesn’t run by itself. It is run by people like you and me.

Best we pay attention and select the best and the brightest to do our work for them. Being on the board of directors of this enterprise, shouldn’t you pay close attention to how well they are performing?

Don’t blame the poll watcher or election judge for the low funding of polling places and dim lighting. That one’s on you and something you should have been paying attention to long ago.

March 18, 2016