mandaloo . com

with the election being over, my feelings have been mixed. while i don’t post often about politics, it is important enough to me that i try to keep up and read about what is going on. and when i don’t, my highly political family keeps me afloat on what is going on.

with the election season that has passed, it is clear that nobody likes what has been going on with the current administration. there is frustration for valid reasons for many groups of people. the present has made us hungry – starving, even – for change. but just because something is a “change” doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right direction. if i’m traveling north and all of a sudden, i turn 180 degrees and start heading south, and my destination is west, i’ve still missed my mark. i feel like some people lost sight of this and didn’t look at the big picture.

opinions will vary and people have differing arguments. and that’s awesome – that’s what keeps us moving as a country. it’s what keeps us accountable. i love healthy discussions about what motivations and strategies others may have and the practicalities behind them. but i continually got annoyed when i would talk to some people about their choice candidate and all they could say is that they wanted something different than bush and knew nothing about the platform they supposedly supported. i’d bring up a topic and they’d have no knowledge about what i was talking about. better yet – i love the people who take the “well that doesn’t apply to ME” approach when discussing tax brackets and other issues. i don’t mind when well-informed opinions are molded and happen to differ with mine. but ignorance guided with shallow rhetoric or trivial reasons absolutely digs under my skin. too much of this year has smacked of a popularity contest.

on the upside, i’m completely delighted that people went out and voted in record numbers. it shows participation on some level and i hope that awareness and involvement won’t disappear as the “i voted” stickers make their way into trashcans, bottoms of purses, and couch cushions across the country.

it’s also cool that our future president is a man who happens to be african american. it’s a notable milestone in history and a symbol of progress. think of how many people that are alive and fought through the civil rights movement that would have never dreamed they would see an african american president. it’s inspiring and a great example for younger generations. it’s history.

i think barack obama is an intriguing guy. his public speaking skills are top notch and his energy is infectious. and i think there is merit to the hope that he speaks of. i agree that our nation has the potential to be much better than what it is. but i’m just not sold on some of the topics that have come up lately.

there’s been a lot of time spent on discussing opportunity. and how all americans need the same chances. and that sounds great when you first hear it. why wouldn’t we all want the same things? wouldn’t it be nice if we were all educated, had health care, etc.? but what a lot of people don’t get is that throwing money and/or programs at the problem is not going to fix anything.

it may not be politically correct, but some people are lazy and lack ambition. (and before i get on my soapbox, i’m not talking about disabled, elderly, etc. groups here – i’m referring to able-bodied people with no major physical or psychological issues.) others make decisions that impede their ability to achieve goals. and that’s not the government’s problem… nor should it be. this notion of “everyone who wants to go to college should be able to go” is a bunch of bull. there is nothing stopping most anyone from getting an education. most excuses can be overcome through hard work and wise decisions. my parents didn’t pay for my school – like a lot of people out there, i got my degree through holding a steady job, earning scholarships, and taking out loans (notice the verbs – none of which include expecting the government to foot the bill for me). it was hard and it wasn’t fun (to this day, i don’t know why people call college the “best years”)- but i put myself through and am receiving rewards of that effort. if i had involved myself in substance abuse or premarital relations that could have resulted in a baby or any other type of distraction (unwillingness to study, debt, etc.), it could and probably would have had a profound effect on my goal of completing college. but yet again – that’s not the government’s problem. some poor taxpayer should not have to pay for my mistakes or lack of desire to complete a goal.

even if the government paid for every kid to go to college, it wouldn’t help. think of our K-12 system now – we still have kids failing, dropping out, etc. just because you send someone to school doesn’t mean they will put forth their part and complete their studies. i knew tons of kids in college who had parents who paid for their education – we’re talking about dorm, books, tuition, food – everything. they didn’t have jobs… school was their job. and i was amazed to find that many of them failed classes, didn’t complete school, and/or took 5+ years to do so. it was during those hard four years that i realized firsthand that unless one earns something, it is not valued. if people don’t value something, throwing money at the problem will not help. it’s a waste – people who want to better their lives and make things happen find a way to do it.

this point is further illustrated by hurricane katrina. a horrible event just took out the louisiana coast – you have people who lost everything. when these same people were given debit cards with money from the government, there were many stories of individuals who bought plasma tvs, video games, went to strip clubs, etc. and blew the entire balance of the card! free handouts are not a solution to many of the problems we have today.

there’s been this overused phrase of “spreading the wealth” during the election season. and while it may have been a bit blown out of proportion and overused, the concept is clear from obama. there is going to be further pressures on those deemed “wealthy.” and while the tax bracket of “wealthy” is nowhere near my reach, this concept has my attention (unlike many who dismiss what is about to happen since it “doesn’t apply to me”… pff). i wouldn’t be surprised if the “you’re too wealthy” line shifts, as it has done with certain political figures in the past, but that’s besides the point.

i don’t mind that there are some people who get paid a butt load of money – much to many people’s disbelief, most have worked hard for it and made wise decisions/sacrifices in their life to get to that point. there are some very well paid people in my company – but they are the type of people that go out and win work so that peeps like me have a job. and that’s great – pay them well. i want those types of people to stick around and do what they do. i want successful men and women to continue to be motivated to run companies, win work, come up with new ideas, etc. people should not be punished for excelling at what they do. doing so would just promote a message of mediocrity.

already, the wealthiest people (top 10%) pay right under 70% of our taxes. i can’t even wrap my brain around that. this demographic is already paying more than their fair share – and we’re going to go after them even more? there are some major issues with this notion. let’s take this new-found villain…this so-called evil rich person who hoards all their money and doesn’t care about the little guy. do you really think that when the pinch is felt, that it is going to provoke him/her to change his/her lifestyle to make up the difference? no. it’s going to mean that their employees aren’t going to get raises that year or that some other adjustment is going to be made so that they can still buy a yacht next spring (because every rich person has a yacht, right?… right?). and that’s not good for the country. the pinch will be passed around. take another situation where you have a married couple who both bring in a good amount of money – just to stick with stereotypes, let’s have the man be a lawyer and the woman be a doctor. if you bring the hammer down on them too much, it won’t take long before there is a diminishing rate of return on what they earn and one of them will eventually stop and go, “what am i doing working so hard for when i’m not getting the reward?” and will quit to get under a different bracket. and that does nothing to help progression.

the last thing we need are handouts and programs. we need accountability in our country. we need to understand that we can succeed by the efforts of our own hands and that accomplishment is derived from our actions. we need to vow that we’re not going to continue to cater to illegal aliens and continue stacking up freebies and incentives for them to come and stay in the country. it’s ridiculous that US citizens to have to wait on a necessary procedure due to financial reasons and that an illegal alien can have free health care (this topic could be a post by itself all together). we need to have some moral fiber and just simply say that some things are wrong and should not be permitted. we need to come to terms with the fact that life decisions have consequences and that it’s not the government’s job to be our safety net.

there are other things that are nagging at me right now – discussions about the government putting their fingers in the 401(k) pie, the health care system, etc. but i don’t want to beat my own dead horse.

no matter who won, i think i would have the uneasiness i feel now (although the degrees would have varied). i’m not scared or experiencing irrational anxiety bc of the election or anything, but i do have my eyes open. oh yes – change is going to come. i just hope that it’s worth the price we might have to pay. obama is equipped with the all the right tools (democratic congress, etc.) to implement his platform. i’m semi comforted that government is still government – mostly slow and inefficient. i know stressing about tuesday’s outcome will not accomplish anything and it’s silly for anyone to do so. but that doesn’t mean that we should turn our attention away from washington now that the polls are closed. some silver linings include that environmental regs will probably tighten up, which benefits our natural resources and my job security. heh. i think obama means well and isn’t some evil dude out to get us. maybe he really does think that everyone works hard and values the same things – in which case, his ideas make some sense. i’ve just seen enough examples of society to know better.