Tag Archives: politicians

Levels

Posted on June 4, 2014 | Leave a comment

My parents bought their first home for under $18K. It was a starter street but with some wicked smart folks and we all got along and kids played together and especially when they called on Dad. Everybody played, if it meant a 12 year-old carried a three year-old to a touchdown or a base hit in our back yard.

I’ve never believed in the ladder theory where everyone upstairs has to kick an associate down a rung or two. Leadership and teamwork, it’s the only way to go.

High school, it’s all people in your socio-economic level, college there’s a mix. Work, an even bigger mix and it’s frightening to some but liberating for me.

With living, it’s interesting. We all got along on our street and out in the country. In high school there were clicques and in college a vastly different story.

We live in a city with a rust belt mentality in a very nice place with a view. The last place we did that was in the Rockies. Our year-round neighbor-friends knew we were here for each other whatever came along and counted on that while we threw a few pot luck dinners a year to get together by the fire or outdoors.

Every once in a while I came by a snob who looked down on me but didn’t give in to their prejudice that I couldn’t afford an $8 million dollar home. Over 90% of the time we met really interesting people from all over the world and it was a scenic and joyful experience.

Here there are some people who also think they’re above all others and seem to think I’m beneath them. I do not send mass emails or any of the jokes my father sends to me. What I do is personal and meaningful hopefully for the person on the other end. I care very much about that.

Today I was dismissed by two neighbors, one who was too busy as I was about to say “have a good day, ‘bye” and another who said not to send emails that don’t pertain to him when he couldn’t read that the issue directly impacted him.

People think of themselves on certain levels and treat others according to keeping that step on the ladder intact. When an issue is of interest they may bite in an ephemeral way. Yes, they may write an email and never go on.

I like to think that every person should be given a chance to survive and surprise. Just as I’ve done shelter work for 20 years and believe that nearly every dog and cat deserve an opportunity to live and thrive with a good family.

Egotism and being quasi-elite don’t have a place in our lives. We are smart, simple people who simply want to change the world. The business and non-profit worlds at least. Everyone has potential and should be treated equally.

If one has some status as a celebrity, star athlete, politician, business person, bring people up. It only can make you look better. If a star, give a kid an autograph then help out your community. Think about what you’ve earned and what life has given you and give back. Don’t give to Make A Wish, think about where you learned to play basketball or who your mentor is/was and think about the folks who can learn from your experience, not about you.

Think Cal Ripken. Every game, no drugs. And he gives money to help adults learn to read, among other charitable pursuits. If you have something to share, whether it be piano or football or history, share it. And not only for the cameras. Be real, Dee

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Of The People

Posted on April 25, 2014 | 2 comments

by the people, for the people. I’m sure you’ve heard it before. We took a Thanksgiving trip two years ago and made many plans to see many things but we had the dog with us and traffic and long roads to nowhere. We really wanted to see Lincoln’s birthplace in Springfield IL. Some of his words and teachings have shaped my life and political philosophy.

Standing in front of his statue at the Lincoln Memorial is as moving for me as reading the original US Constitution and standing in front of the Supreme Court building. Or listening to Coretta Scott King at the AME church on the first Martin Luther King day.

But a government of the people, by the people and for the people resonates with me. I worked in government, a good pet to have for higher-ups. Take a young smart kid, throw them in the deep end and see if they can swim. Luckily my “deep end note” from Mom worked and I’d aced swim classes thanks to Dad.

President Lincoln would go with the flow of technology but would probably not have approved, lauded and fought for tooth and nail for the so-called Patriot Act that allows all our phone calls and emails to be monitored by the government.

I have a small local issue that may become a national issue and have gone up the chain of command, so to speak, in order to address it. Please hear me out because I left government because I thought, erroneously in my youth, that I was in policy, not politics.

Our city, county and state say I’m imagining insect bites, everyone passes the buck, there’s standing water below and no-one will do anything about it. One official tells me I’m making things up, others even said that four inches of fetid swamp water in a railroad bar ditch (the rails now paved and part of a city trail) is governed by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. I haven’t seen any porpoises, manatees or blue whales in this disgusting standing water.

I was actually told by local bureaucrats that no-one cares about standing water or mosquito breeding grounds until late summer when residents start going to hospitals with symptoms of West Nile Virus.

Of the people. We are a representative democracy.

By the people – we elect our representatives, and when we don’t care or don’t vote that’s our problem.

For the people. It’s actually about re-election. There’s no response, there’s the runaround where you’re directed to other agencies in a vicious circle, there’s the “we’ll look into it” and no callback, they try to make us feel stupid and then there are outright liars. We pay their salaries. More people should call in about the dead cat in the middle of the street or broken glass strewn on the crosswalk.

Your money pays these people to treat you like dirt. If you’ve a problem, contact them. Here the city takes care of one side of the street and the county the other. They won’t work together. It took a lady being killed for them to put in a crosswalk. It’s been there less than a year and the paint is fading and they think I’ll let it go. No way.

Dad always said I should run for office. No, I don’t think so. I think I was meant to run people out of office for not being of the people, by the people and for the people. I vote. Please vote your conscience as well and volunteer. Dee

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Who Do We Elect, and Why?

Posted on July 26, 2013 | 2 comments

Note to professors: you taught me well. But this is from the heart and from years of experience in politics, plus age and wisdom you always knew I’d gain (thanks Fr. C).

Perhaps our founding fathers made a few missteps. Like having no founding mothers. In ye olden days teachers and carpenters and lawyers ran for office. Now it’s only lawyers.

The class clown needs attention because he’s bored with school, gets average grades but knows he can ace everything if he wanted to do so.

Sometimes the politician is class president, I believe a lot of those folks peter out in high school or college.

Today we have Anthony Wiener and Eliot Spitzer running for office in NYC. We have 70 year-old Mayor Bob Filner in San Diego groping women.

Who are we and why do we vote these people into office? My theory is that they are attention-seekers. It would be interesting to see how many are middle children.

When our country was formed it was an honor to run for office. Now it’s a stepping stone to a lucrative career as a lobbyist or attorney. We vote for and “hire” them so we don’t have to deal with legislation ourselves. If there’s a dead squirrel in the street, we may have the wherewithal to call the right department to do dead animal removal. Otherwise it’s someone else’s problem.

We vote for the name or party on the ticket, if we even take the time to vote at all. That’s where the founding fathers faltered. They thought we would be interested in our government and where we are going. In a representative democracy we have ceded all power to the government, and don’t get me started on the NSA and privacy issues.

We just don’t care anymore. A government of the people, by the people, for the people. It’s still summer. Take your kids to the state capitol, or to Washington. Read the Declaration of Independence. Know that we can each make a difference if we choose to do so.

Make the word “politician” a good one, and not one that rates below used car salesman. People who seek attention and get into scandals because of it are not worthy of our votes. Thinking ahead, author of legislation that affected 35 million people, and one that just got three new stop signs installed on our street, Dee

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Freedom

Posted on December 3, 2012 | 5 comments

We don’t actually have freedom in the great US of A. We natives give it up at birth, and heaven forbid the illegal aliens and their freedoms. My mother got a Green Card from Canada over fifty years ago to live here and experience our freedoms.

We earn a license to live here, one to drive and to work and to pay the government a good portion of our wages. Part of that is to Social Security, which we’ll never see because our government chooses to spend our “lock box” money elsewhere.

Our government also says we are subject to God. I don’t mind that, but don’t want my government telling me that. Worship is one thing I can do without government interference, especially as it was contraindicated by our founding fathers. Who is anyone to print on our money “In God We Trust.”

Why did we have no founding mothers? Did these founding fathers spring from the gods as did Zeus?

Back to freedom. We have no freedom to take care of our health or well-being. Our lives may be insured by employers but not to make things right for a spouse when one is hit by a bus.

Perhaps employer-based health and other plans are bound for obscurity but until there are alternatives, I’m ok with that. Right now it’s a scary world out there and the next person who says “I can’t talk to you, you’re ONLY the wife,” I’d like to at least throw a glass of water in their face.

If we don’t have choices, we don’t have freedom. Can I leave the country and become a citizen elsewhere? Probably. Do I want to? No. I want our country to be all that it can be for all of us. Make it work.

A few weeks ago we hired a lot of politicians to speak for us. Let’s make sure they do. Then freedom is a word we may be able to use again. Dee

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