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Cain goes down

If he ever had a chance, there's no way HC can win now...

This site needs an overhaul

Call them the 'odyssey years' and me the 'wayward son.' There's a reason behind this gap in posting, and I think it needs to change. This needs to be a log of my journey towards self-betterment and self-actualization, finding my tenacity each day. I realize my challenge is in accepting uncertainty and fear, not hiding from it, and putting the pieces in place to consistently move forward. I find inspiration and awe in the people who are do-ers, who refuse to shirk or take the easy route (example one). There's no answer, just simple action steps to infuse life with value.

So far, I have:
-played a lot of music
-moved back home with parents
-taken the GRE
-sent out two applications
-taken and quit a finance/admin job
-taken a coaching job

Communication Breakdown

With stories like this, it's clear that the Obama administration and the Dems stumbled in their first major communications effort. With a sorely needed economic stimulus package, a newly inaugurated and popular President, and an opposition party in disarray, it should not have been hard for the Democrats to convince the country that what the American economy needed right now was a "spender of last resort" - a massive package of government spending and tax cuts to stave off the deepest recession in decades.

When the Republicans, in reflexive knee-jerk fashion, hyperventilated about "wasteful government spending," the Democrats should have pointed out that it was a Republican congress and a Republican President that oversaw the massive expansion of the deficit in the past eight years. When the Republicans said that this will have "zero stimulating effect," the Dems should have called them out as opportunistic liars. The Democrats are so instinctively defensive and fearful that even when they hold the winning argument, they run the risk of quivering and cowering and making the American public uneasy about their own self-confidence.

Here's a quick checklist of suggestions for the Dems and the new administration:
(1) Mean what you say - Don't use words like "crisis" liberally. Convey your message with a level of sincerity and emotion, because that is the only thing people connect with.
(2) Make your appeals visceral - If you're talking about unemployment, explain what that means to a middle-class family struggling to get by. If you're talking about investment, explain how that affects the everyday lives of American families.
(3) Stand on principle - No one trusts a shill. No one trusts a hack. No one trusts an empty suit who echoes platitudes and party slogans. Where do you draw the line that no one may cross? If someone crosses that line, are you going to stand up for yourself? Principles aren't the things you talk about, they are the things you defend at all cost.
(4) A little bit of mockery never hurt anybody - It's important to avoid being earnest and serious... all... the... time. If a pithy criticism or a trivial snipe can be rebuffed with a joke or shrugged off with a smile, do that! It shows that you are secure in your own principles and will heighten the impact of your words when they are sincerely earnest.

Larry, Stop Being so Bitchy!

Larry Summers needs to check his ego at the door. This is a national economic crisis, and Summers should not allow his conceited and catty instincts to prevent him from listening to outside perspective, especially from one of the most respected figures in modern economics (Paul Volcker). Perhaps, Larry Summers is still stuck in the back-biting era of the Clintons. Wake up! This is the era of Obama! You're allowed to be rational.

What Sound Does a Defused Time Bomb Make?

Quirky Joke of the Day

You can't spell politics without polite.

Congressman Sneetch (D/R)

It's articles like this one (Ka-Ching: Dems Rake in Cash from Business) that remind me of the old analogy between politics and sausage making -- the more you know about the process, the less appetizing it seems.

Long story short, big businesses really don't care who is in office, so long as they cater to their interests. So, it should come as no surprise that the minute the election results come in, businesses switch sides and start cutting checks to the winning party, no matter who their "first choice" was during the campaign. Some might call it hypocrisy, but hey, this is a business, and if I can insure that my Representatives are privvy to my interests and cater to my demands, who cares what side of the aisle they speak from?

The inevitable tragedy is that public servants, who are elected to serve the public interests of their constituents, end up serving the private interests of whichever corporations fund their election campaigns. And trust me, private companies would never invest in powerful lobbyists and campaign "donations" if they did not fully consider them investments, leverage tools for gaining cooperation in the future. I believe there are smart and principled people in Congress who want to make a difference, but at the end of the day, they must know that if they are kicked out of office, their potential for effecting positive change is equal to zero.

The whole thing got me thinking. Who else shamelessly profits off the ephemeral shifts in public opinion? Who else falls prey to bitter divisions and irrational prejudices while someone else robs them blind?

SNEETCHES!!!



I hope that, after a robust public finance system is instituted and the influence of high-power lobbyists is corroded, we can look back and laugh at a system of politics that looked more like Dr. Seuss than democracy. John Dewey said it best:

As long as politics is the shadow cast on society by big business, the attenuation of the shadow will not change the substance.