ran 2.8 miles
Today I feel reminded of why I had never paid any attention to politics until recently. It’s 8:09 p.m. as I type these words and there is little I wouldn’t give right now to see my television interrupted suddenly by a news report flashing “April Fool’s Day…about everything. Not just today but last week, last month, oh, and that thing last year and the thing before that…April Fool’s Day…for it all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.”
Nothing in particular happened today in the world or in our nation that struck a culminating point of how frustrating it is to make sense of America on a day-to-day basis, but for some reason today it hit me like a bolt of lightning that the more things change the more they stay the same.
The French novelist Alphonse Karr coined that phrase in the nineteenth century. It also appeared in George Bernard Shaw’s “Revolutionist’s Handbook”, as well as, dozens of books of proverbs and maxims. It is one of the most profound truths I have ever heard regardless of how many times I hear other people say it.
I have always been drawn to nonconformity and used any excuse I could find to not belong to a majority of any sort. One of my favorite quotes, by Mark Twain, has always been “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect”. I have always gone against the grain for the simple sake of going against the grain.
I can honestly say, now that I find myself among the closest thing to a political majority I have ever been a part of, for the first time in my life I am proud to be like-minded with so many others in wanting Barack Obama to be a one-term president and wanting our Congress to do what we elected them to do.
With the millions of miniscule details pushed to the side, the constant speed bumps on the American interstate, which slow us down to an idle speed, we need to stop spending, slash our deficit, maintain our status of world currency holder, and it is going to take sacrifices from everybody in every state in different ways unique to whatever each state’s circumstances are. This has to be where it starts. Whatever your vision of America is begins with our Congress uniting to cease the wasteful spending. Yet, the best compromise Democrats and Republicans can come up with is to reduce the volume of an ocean by a drop.
Felt like ranting a bit tonight. Friday’s posts are usually statistics and facts about a certain state, so I’ll close with that.
Today I feel reminded of why I had never paid any attention to politics until recently. It’s 8:09 p.m. as I type these words and there is little I wouldn’t give right now to see my television interrupted suddenly by a news report flashing “April Fool’s Day…about everything. Not just today but last week, last month, oh, and that thing last year and the thing before that…April Fool’s Day…for it all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.”
Nothing in particular happened today in the world or in our nation that struck a culminating point of how frustrating it is to make sense of America on a day-to-day basis, but for some reason today it hit me like a bolt of lightning that the more things change the more they stay the same.
The French novelist Alphonse Karr coined that phrase in the nineteenth century. It also appeared in George Bernard Shaw’s “Revolutionist’s Handbook”, as well as, dozens of books of proverbs and maxims. It is one of the most profound truths I have ever heard regardless of how many times I hear other people say it.
I have always been drawn to nonconformity and used any excuse I could find to not belong to a majority of any sort. One of my favorite quotes, by Mark Twain, has always been “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect”. I have always gone against the grain for the simple sake of going against the grain.
I can honestly say, now that I find myself among the closest thing to a political majority I have ever been a part of, for the first time in my life I am proud to be like-minded with so many others in wanting Barack Obama to be a one-term president and wanting our Congress to do what we elected them to do.
With the millions of miniscule details pushed to the side, the constant speed bumps on the American interstate, which slow us down to an idle speed, we need to stop spending, slash our deficit, maintain our status of world currency holder, and it is going to take sacrifices from everybody in every state in different ways unique to whatever each state’s circumstances are. This has to be where it starts. Whatever your vision of America is begins with our Congress uniting to cease the wasteful spending. Yet, the best compromise Democrats and Republicans can come up with is to reduce the volume of an ocean by a drop.
Felt like ranting a bit tonight. Friday’s posts are usually statistics and facts about a certain state, so I’ll close with that.
- Nebraska was the thirty-seventh state to join the union on March 1, 1867, nine years before Colorado and three years after Nevada.
- Population, as of 2010, is 1,826,341.
- Senators are Mike Johanns (R) and Ben Nelson (D).
- Representatives are Jeffrey Fortenberry (R), Lee Terry (R) and Adrian Smith (R).
- Nebraska has five electoral votes. Historically, the state has not voted blue since 1964. Nebraska is one of only two states, Maine being the other, in which the winner of the popular vote gets two electoral votes while one is assigned to the winner of each of the three congressional districts. McCain defeated Obama 57% to 42% in 2008.
The 3 causes for the national debt in order is Medicare/Medicaid, social security and defense. Major Medicare reforms are in the health care law, making providers accountable for services rendered. Obama just laid out an aggressive energy policy that would reduce dependence on foreign oil. The economy just added a lot of jobs. What's up with all the pessimism? For 2 years has been nothing but gloom and doom from the right.
ReplyDeleteJ