Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The Rantings of a Bulldog, or My Thoughts on Hillary's DNC Speech

I'm a little bit scared of Hilly. Admittedly.

First, the more obvious critique of the physical appearance. I kept thinking she had smudges of red lipstick on her teeth. I couldn't tell for sure. And what's with the probation-orange jumpsuit? Did she come from picking up litter on the side of the road? I mean, really... No way, no how, no shiny, ill-fitting orange tent.

Cut to a teary-eyed Bill Clinton mouthing "I love you" over and over to a Hilly two football fields away. This is either really creepy or a stunt for the cameras. You decide.

Now on to more substantive commentary. If I were a Democrat, it really would've been a rousing speech. You have to give her that. It was pretty expert the way she pitched her big "unity" plan. Essentially, all it was, though, was encouraging her people to vote for the least of two evils in her eyes. She really didn't say much in support of Obama; however, she said a lot about why you should vote Democrat.

Green-collar jobs? Really? I thought I misheard at first. She wasn't kidding.

The one part of her speech that truly did get me thinking were her many appeals to the emotional climate of the room. She described in detail poor little boys whose mothers worked for the minimum wage, or the poor woman who languished on with poor health and no health insurance. And she had me for a couple minutes. I was like "Yeah...I want to help those people!"

But then I came to my senses.

The thing that interests me most about Democrats in general is that they assume they're the only ones that care about people. They assume that because they throw money at problems in the form of welfare or government programs that they are the only ones who want to fix society's ills.

I can attest that Republicans care about people. And I also can attest that they care about bad situations and even care to work to fix the problems in society. They just have a different philosophy on the ways in which this should be done.

This is the crux of why I do not call myself a Democrat. I believe that the ultimate responsibility for people and their lives lies within their own hands. Not with the government in the form of a handout.

Handouts ultimately only enable people to continue making the same poor decisions that got them in that bad place to begin with. Changes in society come about ultimately with the individuals in that society working to bring about change in that their own lives. Granted, there can be systemic issues which contribute to societal problems. People get themselves in binds and need help. But, ultimately, individuals must learn how to be self-feeders, taking care of themselves and not looking to the government to bail them out of bad situations they find themselves in.


I have my doubts if a massive, bureaucratic organization full of red-tape and politicing can really ever "help people". Non-profits have a much better track record on that front. I think the government should leave it to them. But, if the government can do anything to "help people", it should be creating programs to empower people, not to enable them.


And, Hillary should fire her stylist.


Oh, by the way, Hilly, I would never send you on live television wearing Hammer pants the color of a traffic sign. Call me, we'll work something out...

Friday, August 15, 2008

Today's Fixation

Hello, all!

Here is an update on my progress toward a more zen life.

The waking up early has not been going as planned. I guess this week I've been waking up around or even after 7:15 or so, which is not ideal. But, it's been a crazy summer and my sleep schedule has gotten all out of whack. My goal is to get back on track next week with waking up right at 7:00 on the nose, and then get back to moving earlier gradually.

I just realized today how much of a weight debt is when it comes to financial peace of mind. Money is tight in my budget each month because of money going to pay down debt. Duh, you say. Yes, perhaps I'm a little slow, but today was my first realization of how being in debt effects my quality of life in a day to day way. I've always understood this concept in theory, but it really hit home today examining my finances and realizing how much extra money a month I would have if I weren't in debt. So...announcing my latest zen goal:

GETTING OUT OF DEBT!!!

Thus: I paid off my credit card today! I had a little extra cushion in my checking account, and I figured, why not? If I find that I overextended myself and need a little extra money, worst case scenario, I just put another couple hundred back on the credit card. But even in that scenario, I'll still be in much better shape with a much lower balance.

Furthermore, I have decided to add something else that I'm going to be working on. So, here is my latest goal that I would like to announce. Duh-duh-duh-duh: I would like to pay off my car completely in the next three months. I still have eight months of payments, so I will have to be a little resourceful, but I'm going to make it into a little game for myself. I think that if I send all my extra money toward this noble cause, I can make it happen. What's a goal if it's not a little challenging?

In other news, I hope to spend this weekend bringing order to my apartment and getting things good and cleaned up. It's time to make my house a home.