United We Stand, Divided We...

Can we really be this divided? The stimulus bill passed the House this afternoon nearly split right down the aisle. Does this sound familiar? Has nothing changed? I watched yesterday as President Obama went to Capitol Hill to rally support for the bill and take time to meet with Republican leaders. Each Republican praised him for making the effort and trying to help bring the bill around to something they may not like, but that they could support. And then today they voted in a block and 100% of them voted "Nay". Let's see, tell me why the next time the President should leave the Oval Office to meet and discuss something before a vote? He did it because he told us in the campaign he would. He did it because maybe he is as tired as we are of the rest of the world seeing us divided on such critical issues. There is an argument that says, "well, there were some Democrats who also voted no, so it wasn't a pure partisan vote". That would be true, but the answer doesn't stop the real question in my mind; "why all the partisan posturing?" This division is far too ingrained in our politics. Even the visible fact that we split the seating in the House and Senate to have sides across an aisle bothers me. Why not seat them alphabetically, or by state so states can work together, or by tenure, or by age so they oldest (and hardest of hearing) can all sit up front? All of this posturing reminds me of that Gilligan's Island episode where the Skipper is trying to get Gilligan to do something and he crosses his arms in front of him and says three times, "You can't make me, you can't make me!, you can't make me!!!" I think I heard that same phrase today on C-Span coming from one side of the aisle. Elected officials, please, please, please remember the words of Aesop, "United we stand, divided we fall"!

January 20th, 2009...The Closing of a Circle

Today marks what would have been the 80th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Tomorrow marks the first inauguration of an African-American President of the United States. While this is an important day for many people in America and around the world it is remarkable for me personally too. You see, I was born in Kentucky and grew up in Southern Indiana during the 60’s and 70’s. Living five minutes from Louisville, Kentucky, I remember my father having a gun permit so he could travel across the Ohio River to work into Louisville as a radio disc jockey during the 70’s race riots. I remember well that busing in Kentucky, when implemented, saw families from both races flocking to Southern Indiana. It was a difficult time for everyone. I grew up around it all and have vivid memories of the hatred and unrest. What I did not know until later in life is that those racial sentiments permeated my household and family. My father would not let me wear blue jeans because Martin Luther King wore blue jeans. That should have been pretty obvious for me, even back then. But, I didn’t realize until years later when I grew up and learned political science stuff that when someone was a supporter of George Wallace and the John Birch Society that those far right ideologies at the time included racial segregation and racist attitudes. I also remember my grandparents using the “n” word freely in public and private and hearing that word in my house from time to time. I grew up with all of this around me and from the earliest days, I knew it was not me to inherit these small and close-minded thoughts. I refused to fall into the pattern. I just refused. And now, 40 years later, I have watched many things come full-circle. I happen to go to church with the son of James Meredith, the man who George Wallace ordered to not be able to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962. And, tomorrow, I will watch Barack Obama be sworn in as the President of the United States, a man I supported for election and will support wholeheartedly as the 44th President of the United States. Tomorrow, I can feel that the circle for many will be completed; the circle of all men created equal. Tomorrow for me sets so much right.

Scrub your Facebook and LinkedIn Friends!

I just got around to reading Bill Ayers' (you know, William Ayers, the supposed terrorist friend of Barack Obama) NY Times, December 6th, Op-Ed article. In his article he details his lack of relationship with President-Elect Obama and goes on to say, "President-Elect Obama and I sat on a board together; we lived in the same diverse and yet close-knit community; we sometimes passed in the bookstore. We didn't pal around, and I had nothing to do with his positions. I knew him as well as thousands of others did, and like millions of others, I wish I knew him better". As I read his piece and heard him say, "Demonization, guilt by association and the politics of fear did not triumph, not this time", it made me think about the associations that we make throughout our lives that could come back to haunt us, even though they were innocent at the time. What is different than the past and if we fast forward to the future will be the scouring of our Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks of the future to see who our "friends" are and trying to use that against us? Will the next Presidential candidate have to account for all of the millions of friends that they have accumulated or do we need to now start thinking about who we let in our friend networks or not? I casually accept just about everyone who asks to be my friend on Facebook and LinkedIn. I don't pay attention to my MySpace page anymore as it got too cumbersome rejecting one named women who were significantly younger than me. But for Facebook and LinkedIn, who are both better controlled for spam, I tend to trust that because someone knows someone else or I might have tangentially known them in the past that I let them in. But, I have no way of knowing that someone I went to college with hasn't turned into a subversive type. How would I know what secret clubs and societies they belong? And, especially I would have no idea what activities they have financed overseas on those annual vacation trips out of the country. I just accepted a friend on Facebook who I worked with early on a Frito-Lay back in 1986. He was a little wild and crazy back then but it is hard to tell now. His profile picture has him surrounded by five children who all look like him, but how am I to know that these aren't genetically engineered offspring to throw me off and never have me suspect that he is a spy for a terrorist faction? It really is hard to tell these days. Now, that Bill Ayers guy, are we really sure that when they passed in the bookstores they weren't passing secret code books between he and President-Elect Obama? Sounds like we all should just accept that we are guilty by association until proven innocent and just go ahead and have as many friends as we want because it is going to come up some time no matter what.

An Area of Growth!

It seems everywhere I turn I am hearing and seeing the shrinking of people who are leaving their homes to go to the theater, museums, ballets, operas, concerts, movies, sporting events, etc. It seems like leaving the house, and the associated costs of that trip, has become beyond discretionary, it has become prohibitive to many, if not most.

I sit on a number of non-profit arts and entertainment Boards and support other non-profit organizations so I see it first-hand. The thing call “subscribing” seems to be becoming a relic activity. And, getting people out to attend events, even when they are free, has become such a chore that organizations are shuttering these events and venues to save the productivity and overhead costs. So, it looks like an overall shrinking of audience, except in one place that I see. That is our church. For the past month plus, we have been seeing record number of attendees. These past couple of weekends, we have had people sitting everywhere we could find to be able and accommodate the crowds. Nothing has changed at the church. We haven’t changed the music or the message. What has changed, I believe, is that people are looking for more meaning in life and that the uncertain economic and world fundamentals are driving people back to their own fundamentals; the baseline quest for, and questioning of meaning and purpose. President-Elect Obama got slaughtered for his comments in San Francisco about what people do when they lose faith in their government and cling to their church and guns. I don’t know about the guns part, but he is more right than wrong about the first part and what is wrong with that? I like to say, “That when the going gets tough, the tough drop to their knees”. I personally, look to God and my faith to carry me in the bad times and I know I am not alone. I suspect that we are on the verge of a spiritual reawakening in America. We saw a short-lived one after 9/11 when people returned to their faith to cope and allay their fears. The same is happening again. I would also suggest that those non-profits and corporations who are looking for how to bring back their consumers find a way to delve and probe into what they can provide to help people feel meaningful and purposeful. At least until we are through the crisis, this will be top of mind.

Chinese Democracy

No, this is not about the elusive Guns ‘n Roses album, although I do wish Axel would get the darn thing out and let’s be done with it. No, this posting is about the $586B Chinese Stimulus Plan that was detailed today in the news. The Chinese government is starting their version of the Works Progress Administration. They are putting their talent to work to build things that last; infrastructure, dams, transport systems, buildings, etc. Hmmm, wonder where they got this idea from? I tend to think that they are on the right path. We have learned over the last few months that putting money in the pockets of Americans doesn’t translate to the economy being stimulated. What has occurred is that we have taken our fear and uncertainties and let those force the stimulus money into savings accounts and mattress stuffing. And, why wouldn’t any of us do this if we were worried about our job being lost tomorrow? It’s actually quite rationale and I’m surprised that the economists didn’t think that this is exactly what was going to happen. So, here we sit wondering what would stimulate our lagging economy and the Chinese reached the economic moon before we did. Of course, stimulus starts with job security and job creation. This really isn’t that hard is it? And, as we drive on crumbling roads and bridges, send our children to antiquated school buildings, drive our cars because there is no viable national transit system, we are arguing over the next check amount that should be handed out. How about we take that money and we create jobs to lead us to energy independence? Last week we passed in California Proposition 1A to fund $10B of development for a west coast high speed rail system. Now we find out that the project needs another $10B injection from the Federal government (yes, those are earmark funds and depending upon how they are structured, pork) and the project won’t even start until 2020. That’s 12 years from now. Our roads will be long over-crowded and we will be that much further in the hole with our dependence on oil for travel. Come on, let’s take this project and start creating jobs to clear the way for the rail program. Let’s put people to work now and shorten the time frame to build the railway. Let’s get people excited and galvanized around progress programs. Let’s get people off of the streets and worried about where they will work tomorrow and let’s really stimulate America. If the Chinese can get the joke, so can we! It’s just a shame that we have to follow versus lead.

Why yesterday I voted for Barack Obama

Yesterday, Patti and I voted. We went to our local early voting office and couldn’t find a parking spot, stood in lines and had to wait to get to the voting booth. There was something that was palpable in the air. You could feel the importance and criticality of what each person knew they were doing. There was also a sense of nervousness. People were being extra careful with their ballots and wanted to be assured that their vote would be counted.

I voted for Barack Obama for President and I wanted to share with you why.

First, let me come clean that I have never voted for a President who was not a Republican. I was a staunch Republican growing up and subscribed to the principles of the party of fiscal control, low taxes and small government. I always struggled with what to do with social issues that would lean me more liberal, but I allowed the commitment to a balanced budget and financial controls to work all that out, and in most cases, for many years, it all did work out. I was proud to be a Republican.

When George W. Bush first ran for President, I subscribed to “compassionate conservatism”. I felt that it defined where I stood and I liked even more the idea that we could be conservative in nature but open to the needs of all and show compassion to those less fortunate. Even after all those Ayn Rand books, I still feel for those who have been marginalized and I want to be sure that they get their chance even if it means a little more giving from the rest of us. So, I supported George W. Bush. The first term was, like most, hard to define the results but after September 11th and the state of the world, I thought a change of leadership for the country would be worse than what we knew. So, I voted for him in a second term as well.

It was obvious to me shortly into his second term, that President Bush was not governing to the principles of the Republican Party that I had grown up with and that he and a small band of people were proving the power of the Executive Branch and going in their own direction and there was no agenda other than their own. To this day, it is hard for me to understand what it was that they were setting out to prove, but it doesn’t take a Phd in Political Science to know that things have not gone well.

So, about two years ago, I decided that I would break with the Republican Party and look for new direction in our government leadership. This was very hard for me as I was in a place where neither party represented to me 100% of what I believe in from values, principles, policies, programs, etc. All I knew was that we needed a new direction and I was open to listening and learning.

Because of my work and other activities I got a chance to meet Hillary Clinton on two occasions and be with her in small settings. I found her in those settings to be very Presidential but what was lacking from her was a sense of vision and inspiration that I felt that myself and the rest of the country needs. I may have prematurely turned my back on all of the Republican candidates, but I couldn’t see sending another Republican back to the White House.

And then Barack Obama came onto the Presidential scene. I had been in a live setting with him only once before, when I was in Washington, DC and was able to say hello to him as he passed me. I remember being struck even in that passing moment, with a sense of charisma and that unique “drawn to someone” personality quality that few people have. Patti and I later paid up for one of his big fund raisers as I wanted to hear him up close and personal (as personal as one could get in those settings). We ended up having the opportunity to shake hands and trade a few words about a friend we have in common. And then he spoke for 40 minutes, with no tele-prompters and no note cards. Those 40 minutes were awe inspiring. Patti and I both had chills as we felt like we had been in the presence of someone who could truly lead and bring about change and yes, bring hope back to America.

Since then, I have been challenged many times by my closest of friends, family, those I attend church with, and others in our social circle. Each have their own challenges to me, whether it be tax policies, supreme courts appointee consequences, Senator Obama’s background, his ability to lead, on and on.

I don’t dismiss the advice and counsel of friends lightly. We are to keep close confidants and counselors around us who share our same values and principles, so to be breaking with these people I trust and love, was of a great burden and weight.

But here is where I netted out.

I am just not a single issue voter. I don’t believe that the world can be boiled down to one single political issue. Maybe some day that might be true if I felt like one of the Bill of Rights was being directly challenged, but I don’t see anything in this election that puts those at threat in the next four years.

There are lots of issues in front of us that have to be dealt with; the economy, the war(s), international relations, energy independence, etc.

But, I am most worried how all of these things cut across the middle class of our country and what I perceive as a growing class-divide. I have been fortunate that it has been a long time since I had to worry about my future financially, but I remember what that was like growing up where new cars, second homes, or first class airfare, were not something that was even known about. Saving and being cautious about spending was what I learned, because it was a necessity. College was provided through loans, parental support, and working multiple jobs all the way through school. Today, we have too many hard-working people in America who live from paycheck to days before the next paycheck planning on everything going right because they cannot afford for anything to go wrong. We have working Americans who hold down multiple part-time jobs without health care coverage for themselves and their families, hoping and praying that everyone can stay healthy. And, we have productive American workers who without any fault of their own, are laid-off and put on the streets because the worker in India or China is cheaper. While this last point is a reality of capitalism that a company is going to find the greatest leverage and cost advantages it can, there is a missing compassion and understanding of the consequences on our American worker. It is the middle-class that suffers.

Our schools are a mess and no wonder that those who can afford to send their children to private schools do so. I was the product of public schooling but that was in the days when the best teachers could make a living teaching in public schools. The middle class having to send their children to sub-par schools today is only exacerbating the problem. We need real change in our education system for the middle-class.

There is a fair amount of things that Senator Obama has done or hasn’t done that I don’t like. He really upset me when he went back on his word on public campaign financing. I wondered after that if he could be trusted. I didn’t like the way his campaign slipped down the slope to negative ads and campaigning. He was supposed to be above that type of old-school politicking. His initial naïveté on international affairs concerned me. And, I am not wild about Joe Biden. I wasn’t crazy about Hillary as vice-president, but in hindsight, I think she would have been a good choice and maybe we wouldn’t have had to spend $1B dollars on this campaign and that money could have gone to better uses.

At the end of the day though, I decided to stick with Senator Obama as my choice as our next President.

I also understand that with my vote for Senator Obama that I will see my taxes increase and I will have less money to spend, invest and save and potentially less money to give away to charities. But, for me it is worth it. It is worth it so that the largest part of our population, the working middle class of America can have hope and a chance to progress.

Yes, our country needs hope. We need to put away our single issues and open our minds to what is best overall for our country in this complex time. We need to bring a renewed sense of inspiration to our next generation and instill back a belief that government is of and for the people.

So, whatever you decide to do with your vote, what is most important is that you do vote and exercise your constitutional right and privilege. And after the votes are counted, that we not stay one-sided and divided but unite behind our new President whether it be Senator Obama, Senator McCain or Ralph Nader (well not if it is Ralph Nader :)). It is time for us to put, as John McCain says, our country first, and unite in support of our leadership, so we can we tackle the problems and the future in front of us.

Thanks for reading my rant.

Rusty


PS: I have attached the New York Times endorsement of Senator Obama if you are interested. They are much more articulate than me.




NY Times Editorial
Barack Obama for President
Published: October 23, 2008
The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.
As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.
Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.
In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.
Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.
Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.
In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”
Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.
The Economy
The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution” — is still a believer.
Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.
Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending — about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem.
Mr. Obama is clear that the nation’s tax structure must be changed to make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefited disproportionately from Mr. Bush’s tax cuts will have to pay some more. Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall and their children’s options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in which workers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educational opportunities.
Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent. And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposed cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans while digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.
National Security
The American military — its people and equipment — is dangerously overstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan, which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary and staggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly and responsibly as possible.
While Iraq’s leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troops and a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is still talking about some ill-defined “victory.” As a result, he has offered no real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any further damage to Iraq and its neighbors.
Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq, and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawing American forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until the Pentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enough troops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused on Afghanistan’s dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboring Pakistan may quickly follow.
Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deep foreign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment. Mr. McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska more irresponsible.
Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Both candidates talk about repairing America’s image in the world. But it seems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world.
Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wants to create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that would incite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as divided into friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposed kicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even before the invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow’s bullying, but we also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States must find a way to constrain the Russians’ worst impulses, while preserving the ability to work with them on arms control and other vital initiatives.
Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions. Mr. McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.
The Constitution and the Rule of Law
Under Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers have come under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of a unified nation, to try to place himself above the law.
Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges and browbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy on Americans. He has created untold numbers of “black” programs, including secret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will take years of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have been violated.
Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify and correct Mr. Bush’s attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain has been silent on the subject.
Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helped the White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of 2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court and put Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatly increasing the risk to American troops.
The next president will have the chance to appoint one or more justices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated by a radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges than some of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pick rigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge who believes in women’s reproductive rights.
The Candidates
It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.
Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility.
Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.
He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.
Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of “drill, baby, drill.”
Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies.
Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks ever mounted against a candidate. He’s been called un-American and accused of hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him to domestic terrorists and questioned his wife’s love of her country. Ms. Palin has also questioned millions of Americans’ patriotism, calling Republican-leaning states “pro-America.”
This politics of fear, division and character assassination helped Mr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeat Senator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of his failed presidency.
The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing “robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.

Decent and True

I write another blog called, "Purposed Working", (www.purposedworking.blogspot.com) and it is a business day blog that uses the Bible as a reference guide to find purpose in our work. A couple of weeks ago I made an entry there that can be also referenced here, regardless of your faith or belief. There is a verse in the book of Romans (Romans 13:13) that says, "We should be decent and true in everything, so that everyone can approve of our behavior". I like this verse a lot because it not only tells you what you should do but also the outcome if you demonstrate these behaviors. Like I said, regardless of your beliefs it is hard to argue that being decent and truthful in all you do is not the right way to live. But, that seems really hard for our political leaders. The same political leaders that we look up to and should aspire. I have rambled on and on about their lack of decency and civility with each other, but I have to say that the most troubling is their flat-out lack of truthfulness and such, their lack of integrity. How easy they make it for someone to walk up to them and say, "sir, I can't vote for you since you don't tell the truth and lack integrity". I can only imagine the smooth responses back but at the end of the conversation the person who questions the integrity of someone who lied, wins the argument. Both candidates have recent examples. Senator Obama went back on his signed statement about what he would do about public campaign financing. He decided he wouldn't take it after he said he would and he failed to negotiate the clauses that he said he would before he decided to not accept and keep his campaign funding juggernaut going. He lied. And as someone said the other day to me, "but he he is better off because he did", tells the whole story of why he shouldn't have. Someone I respect and admire thinks it was okay for him to go back on his word. They think the lie justified the result. Why does it mean anything to me? Well, because when I was making my decision on how much to give to the campaign and was trying to raise money through others, I was told that we needed to dig deep now and fill the coffers because after the primary the Senator would be limited to public financing. so, I was lied to as well when he changed his mind. Senator McCain is not innocent either. I was appalled that he could sit on the David Letterman show and be caught red-handed in a lie about why he cancelled on Letterman at the last minute and he laughed it off saying, "I screwed up". Not what he should have said, and what our Mother's would have required; "I am sorry that I didn't tell you the truth. That is not right and I ask you to please accept my apology". To throw out a cliche of "I screwed up" and try and laugh it off, is just silly. Some would say, it happens all the time in TV, but I see it differently. I see not following up on a commitment, leaving another person holding the bag, and that person (in this case David Letterman and CBS) trying to explain to advertisers and viewers what happened and then passing on the lie that they were told. This is not America. We don't lie. We are supposed to tell the truth and Presidents who lie leave office or are ashamed of their behavior, and remembered with an asterisk into history. Look guys, all you have to do is be decent and truthful and you will win everyones' approval. You may not win the election because of this, but your loss won't be because you lose a vote over whether someone can trust you and/or trust that you will be a decent human being to others. Can't we just do better?

Politics of Personal Destruction

Yesterday morning on this "This Week with George Stephanapolous", the Governor of Pennsylvania said we have now entered into "politics of personal destruction". I am sure he was not the first one to coin this phrase, but it stuck with me, as I spent the rest of the day, more concerned than ever that the example we are setting as leaders to our children and future leaders continues to erode and worsen. At the risk of being sexist, I think this is even heightened with Governor Palin than the others. During this election cycle we have seen two extremely smart and capable women leaders emerge. They have broken a ceiling. I am proud that this has happened. It reflects well on our country. What is not good is the example we see our future women leaders seeing and thinking what they should emulate. Governor Palin has an even larger responsibility as she casts herself as the person who is most like the typical American. She is, more than any of the other candidates, carrying an even larger responsibility to be a role and character model for other young women and men to follow. But why does she, and all the others, feel that they can only win if they are mean and degrading of others? Can we not find one politician, man or woman, who will rise above the fray and bring a spirit of decency to what they do? It is not right to try and degrade and demean other human beings. Can we not see this and call each other out when it occurs? I realize what the holy grail is to a politician; it is to be approved by as many people as possible. There is a Bible verse in the book of Romans that tells them what to do to gain that approval. Romans Chapter 13, verse 13: "We should be decent and true in everything we do, so that everyone can approve of our behavior". It's that simple. So, please, Senator Obama, Senator McCain, Senator Biden, Governor Palin, please be decent for the next month so we can not only be proud of our leaders but feel confidence without reservation that you are the leaders our children and next generation of leaders can emulate! If you are really in touch with the American psyche, you will know we need this even more than we need you to win.

Ugly Americans

I'm disheartened by what I am seeing from the political process and this election cycle. The amount of pure cynicism and personal attacking and demeaning of the value of someones work and contributions to society is appalling. It's happening on both sides and it should stop. It's not right to look down on someones work experience and belittle it. What someone does with their time to serve our country and others whether it be as a Senator, a Governor, a Soldier, a Mayor, or a Community Organizer is special and should be celebrated and not demeaned. To listen to those who are supposed to be the leaders and role models to our country, the world, and most importantly to the leaders of tomorrow (who are looking for role models on how to behave), mock and belittle each other is nothing short of shameful. I get that it is politics but nothing absolves decency to each other. I have been in some heated discussions recently about the differences between the two parties and the leaders on both sides, but I ensure that I stop short of making a mockery of someones work. It's just not right. This political season was supposed to be about bringing out the best in us, to show the world and ourselves that we can operate differently and be better than we have been, and to bring in a new generation of voters who could look to their government and their leaders as positive influences on their lives. But, we are failing and sliding back into the ways of the past and we continue to earn that term "ugly Americans" from the rest of the world. Yesterday I was challenged on what political party was the party who welcomed in those of faith and moral values and which one was about trying to eliminate religion and moral values in our society. What I see is that that is not the core issue right now. That's a higher level of authenticity that we haven't even reached yet. It's still baseline fundamentals that need to be worked on first. What I see is that we need to make sure that both parties are living, talking and acting to the values they espouse. What I would like to see first and foremost from the candidates is that they treat each other like the way they want to be treated and start being decent and graceful in how they speak and act. Start with just being grateful of each other's service and work for the country. From there, I will accept whether or not they are being the person, or the party that they say they are. Until that happens, we can expect it to get worse and worse. We shouldn't stand for it and we should, with our vote, just make it stop.

100 Business Days Out: Day 41 - History

More about today tomorrow, but I thought it worth stopping and marking that this day, my 41st day out was the same day that history was made with Barack Obama winning the Democratic Party nomination for the President of the United States. Whether or not you agree with him and his policies, we have done something extraordinary by electing an African American to be one of two people who will compete for the highest office of the land. In the scheme of history it was not that long ago that "we the people" did not include african americans and today I believe we can all be proud of our country, our government, our democracy for allowing that regardless of all of our woes and problems, it holds itself true that anyone who so desires has the opportunity to become the President of the United States. It is a great and wonderful country we live in.