Don't choose McCain! (Or Obama, of course.)

I wrote the following to my siblings, most of whom will probably vote for McCain because they think he's a much better choice than Obama.

---

John McCain is no saint, you're right about that. I understand that he has shown personal integrity in some areas and deserves respect as a soldier, but that doesn't translate to integrity in the rest of his life, and it definitely doesn't mean he understands anything about good government. I won't address specifics of his personal life; I'll only say that I don't believe he holds the same values as I do when t comes to commitment to families. When it comes to political office, it's all about money for your friends: he was actually reprimanded by the Senate Ethics Committee (as one of "The Keating Five") for manipulating things on behalf of some of his rich friends, and he's still doing things specifically to benefit his corporate contributors. The current mode of "free enterprise" in federal government means that they hire private contractors with our tax money; heck, they've even started calling government departments "corporations", such as the Millenium Challenge Corporation. McCain is a poster-child for this egregious cronyism, and although I'm afraid of more government control in socialist policies, I'm as much (or more afraid) of government passing on government function to corporations. Is corporate socialism better than public socialism? We've already got corporations "investing" in lobbyists because it's a good ROI (see last paragraph); and it's crazy how the biggest recipient group for earmarks isn't local government or public institutions, it's for-profit companies.

But that's not even the worst part about McCain: he has somehow been able to pass the infamous "McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act" which restricts free speech about our politicians. That's right: the FEC is now ruling on cases and saying what people can and cannot say about politicians. The most direct consequence of this is that it keeps incumbents in power; that's why this is also called the "Incumbency Protection Act". Don't expect to see many more decent political leaders like Reagan in this system where people like him are getting into power and subverting basic rights to keep it.

I know, I know: it's all about money to keep your friends' corporations healthy, and then keeping yourself in power so you can keep up the good work. Everybody's doing it! Obama may even be a worse choice than McCain. But in case you feel that McCain at least has the benefit of being closer to your political ideals, beware that he says the same kinds of things when it comes to government control, which is why he's often called a "RhINO" (Republican In Name Only) (google it).

Although Republicans and Democrats present themselves as competing political parties, they are really two squabbling factions of the same political machine when it comes to the national government. If not redirected, they will attain the same kind of state that make us recoil when we think of the USSR or China. Who cares if we live in a two-party, democratic totalitarian state vs. a one-party, communist totalitarian state? We still have one of the best political systems on the earth, and the American people and media are still best equipped to live freely and discover and reject most corruption as it happens. But nowadays, the choice of most people is to go along with the current people in power, voting for the lesser of two evils. I understand the reasoning, and I know how you often have to make compromises on particular issues to get to a better place when working in groups, but that doesn't translate very well to choosing good leaders. I hope to bring more people to my side: we really have to fight the political status quo and change course. Otherwise, I'm afraid our children will have a hard life: they'll not only have a real mess on their hands when it comes to their own livelihood, they'll probably find themselves ruled by some very bad system because we couldn't keep this one going. This year, is our president going to come from one of the two main parties? Yep, and the same will probably happen in 2012. Heck, maybe we can never turn them around. But if there is any chance to avoid further statism, it's going to be by getting large numbers of people to join us and do something other than perpetuate the current system and it's candidates.

Spread the word! :- )

my Republican precinct boundaries

I have been voted in as the precinct chair for the Republican party in my area. I believe we're the West Bountiful 2 precinct. The addresses for people in my area stretch:
* from 500 South to 1000 N
* from 560 to 1450 West

The Fed and the Great Depression

It's pretty telling when the current chairman of the Federal Reserve admits (when he was one of the governors) that his organization caused the Great Depression (see the second-to-last paragraph):

"Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry."

But it's OK: he says they won't do it again. I'm sure he can absolutely protect us from that kind of economic problem in the future -- especially if we give the Fed even more authority.

My Federal Congressional Delegation

I found my Senators Hatch and Bennett and Representative Rob Bishop here. For the House of Representatives, I'm in District 1 in Utah (the northernmost of the three).

Here are links to email them my opinion:

• Rob Bishop
• Orrin Hatch
• Bob Bennett

democratization of self-realization

In Daniel Pink's talk at Pop!Tech (which I recommend), he discussed how affluence, asia, and automation are the biggest factors changing the landscape of our working world. He quotes Robert William Fogel, winner of the 1993 Nobel :

"[Prosperity] has made it possible to extend the quest for self-realization from a minute fraction of the population to almost the whole of it."

That is exactly the kind of work I want to target, but especially for my own society where I think people (and their children!) need help to bring meaning in their lives.

growing earmarks in Congress

This story about earmarks in Washington is illuminating, and scary.

"More than 11,000 of those "earmarks," worth nearly $15 billion in all, were slipped into legislation telling the government where to spend taxpayers' money this year", and in spending bills for the 2009 budget year that starts Oct. 1, "the House committee alone has 23,438 earmark requests before it".

Holy cow.

"Rules forbid lawmakers from raising campaign funds from congressional offices, but members and their aides sometimes find ways to skirt them."

Well, duh.

I don't care what anyone says: when you get that much power (and money) flowing through one organization, it's going to be very advantageous for masses of people to work the system any way they can. The article says that "earmarks can do a lot of good"; who cares when you've created a system that pays people very well to twist it for their own ends? Even after we work to make Congress' money transparent (which I highly recommend), we will continue to have a huge organization with all kinds of power that people can trade in ways other than their bank accounts.

Unlimited government is bad government, plain and simple. And we are not limiting the growth of the US government. I believe this is the most important politicial issue of our time in this nation.

Here are 4 government watchdog groups they mention in the article:

• Center for Responsive Politics
• Citizens Against Government Waste
  
• Sunlight Foundation
• Taxpayers for Common Sense
  

"Achieving Breakthrough Performance" article

The following principles of non-profits that achieve "breakthrough performance" is from this article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

"Managers of nonprofit organizations should use the following four principles to help make the decisions that lead to breakthrough performance: 1) costs of serving should always decline; 2) market position determines your options; 3) clients and funding pools don’t stand still; and 4) simplicity gets results.

These four principles are derived from the recently published book The Breakthrough Imperative..."