What to Watch This Year

What to Watch This Year

Some extraordinary events have taken place over the past couple of years. We elected a new president and the Senate and House have strengthened their majorities, and the legislative agenda has shifted dramatically left.

Some of us have always leaned left and some of us have always leaned right, and some of us drift left and right as the spirit moves us. Those of us with a permanent lean left or right usually pay close attention to the news and to the political events that happen around us. The drifting personalities don’t always pay close attention to the details of the political world and to the government in general.

The events of September 11, 2001 caused everyone to pay close attention to the news and to the government. There was a patriotic groundswell that grabbed the country and shook us into reality. The media had to describe events and the events which were a clear attack on our country and the loss of several thousand innocent civilians was a significant event that pulled us all in the same direction.

As time passed many stopped paying close attention to the events of the world and to the government in general. However in the past 18 months the government has conducted itself in a manner to wake up the vast middle ground who drift from left to right. The aggressive agenda undertaken by government that we have seen has poked the bear who was sleeping peacefully. Every poll showed that the public was against the aggressive agenda. No one was against the good intentions of the agenda, they were against how it would change the status quo and against what it would cost.

Most people have a difficult time adjusting to change. As time passes we have to adjust how we do things to keep up with life. Change happens and some of it is good and some of it is questionable.

Among the many extraordinary events effecting us today is health care. Do we have to fix health care which isn’t broken? It’s not broken, it can stand to be improved, but at what price. The changes coming our way and the costs are alarming to many in the political middle who find that their opinions drift from left to right depending on the current events and how the changes affect them. The same with the stimulus bill. Billions spent with no apparent result. Government is attempting to spin their version of events and the results, but the public isn’t accepting the story as they present it. More people are watching and paying attention today than ever before. More people can feel the effects of the reality that we face today, not the presentation by government officials.

KISS keep it simple stupid is a handy thing to keep in mind. I was recently in a training seminar where we had to complete an exercise in problem solving. There were 6 on a team. The first person held a marble, the last person held a paper cup. The other 4 team members were given a sheet of paper. The instructions were to get the marble into the cup without touching the marble. The instructor demonstrated the transfer of the marble from one sheet of paper to the next to show us how we could do it. The image was provided that one person would careful hold each side of the sheet and catch the marble and transfer it to the next person trying not to let it roll onto the floor.

The first person in my team rolled his sheet into a cone, then the marble was dropped into the cone and the first one walked over to the cup and dropped it in. Let me repeat the instructions. Get the marble into the cup without touching the marble. The instructions didn’t say everyone had to handle the marble. KISS.

Any legislation that has 2000 pages can’t be a good thing. Complexity is so bad on so many levels. Besides the complexity what else is in the details. The recent finance reform bill had the creation of organizations responsible for race and gender diversity. In our current enlightened environment is it necessary to create quotas and preferences to the free market? What other unintended consequences of the details will rise to the surface to create more confusion and obstacles for the free market. They really need to go through the marble and paper cup exercise. KISS works every time it’s tried.

With this much complexity and detail who’s reading what they are voting for? When they vote do they know what they are inflicting on us? Probably not.

The voters are angry that the government isn’t representing us as we should be represented.  They’re spending more money than we have and the expenditures aren’t  improving anything. The government’s out of control and the voter is getting screwed. The left and the right are always motivated and vocal about their opinions, but now the vast group in the middle with frequently shifting opinions are drifting to where they feel they must be.

Spending is out of control, the current crop of elected officials is out of touch with reality and with the constituents. Our freedoms and liberties are at risk. The public doesn’t want what the government’s force feeding them.

Politian’s move left and right depending on what election they are trying to fix / win. The vast group in the middle with frequently shifting opinions are forming a significant opinion right now and that opinion is that we need new elected officials. Watch who gets elected this November, watch who doesn’t get elected this November. We’ve already seen some of the fallout.

Elected officials must respect the voters who voted them into office. Loyalty is a requirement. Spending must stop, taxes must go down. The borders must be secure and the country must be safe from external threats.

Watch and see who gets elected and who doesn’t get elected. 2010 is stage one 2012 will be stage two. Watch and see how the vast group in the middle with frequently shifting opinions creates the change and hope we were all promised.

Vote the Bums Out,

Gino