The Representative that we need

Political rallies and primary elections are driving me a little bugnutty right now. 

No one seems to do much more than leverage the broken system for their own gain.

In late August 2017, the Boston Globe asked Jeff Ballard "when you talk to voters in the district, what's their most pressing concern, and why do you think you're the best person to address it in Congress?" Ballinger replied:

Corporations have such a pervasive influence in Washington that people don't believe that elected representatives can really address the problems of the country. My skills as a corporate crime fighter organizer are key to rallying people to demand reform. Politicians won't get money out of Congress.

The Union of the United States of America

Last night I ran across a rant about people buying steak and lobster with food stamps. This was my response. [Apparently I vented my spleen on someone else's post, something I usually don't do. Apologies to Tree, and many thanks to her for bringing the whole situation to my attention, since I clearly needed to get this out of my system.]

Now, I have never been on food stamps, so some people will say I don't have a right to an opinion; that has never stopped me before, so feel free not to read on if you think I'm out of line.
Basically I would rather see them spend it on steak and lobster to celebrate than on junk food. Call me crazy, but wholesome food is a good thing for tax dollars to buy. In European countries, the real first world, families are given a stipend to help support young children; health care and education are free and available; daycare is subsidized. These are not perks or entitlements; this is a country that ensures the well-being of its citizens, which, if you think for a minute, is the Prime Directive of government. There is no excuse for belittling someone for paying for food. Other people need to sit down and shut up and reconsider why their noses are out of joint.
If I had my way, we would have thirty hour work weeks (including lunch, not excluding it) and six weeks of vacation for everyone. Infants would be subsidized at one-half the poverty level each year from birth until five (yes! Each and every one of them!). Minimum wage would be determined by the poverty rate, which would reflect the real cost of basic food and housing and gasoline, so that if you work a minimum wage job you can support a family [PovertyRate/1500=MinimuWage; it's not rocket science here]. Public schools and libraries would be palaces and teachers, librarians and police/emergency responders/military would be amongst the highest paid professions. Why? Because our citizens deserve to be through with worrying about bread and shoes and need to focus on learning, have time to be creative, and focus on being whole with themselves and their families.
Don't tell me we can't afford it. We spend more bickering with each other than other countries do on being decent. And this is The United States of America. We have every reason to expect to be able to hold our heads high as the wealthiest is the world.
If you think taxes are class warfare, you are absolutely right. Our founding fathers levied huge taxes on the wealthy, and plundered the hoard reflected in large estates with good reason - they were deliberately undermining the ability to create and maintain an aristocracy, for they knew first hand the evils it causes and brings. And most of them were not the poor huddled masses but were quite wealthy themselves. It was a matter of understanding that in this New World, no one would be hungry. No one. Not because of race, color, creed, or gender. Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton and Henry knew from the inside of the upper class the wrongs and dangers of allowing the very rich to sneer at the very poor, and there is only one way to ensure the basic necessities are not trampled: do away with the lower class altogether; dismantle extreme unearned wealth of inheritance; throw open the lanes of access to all that life has to offer; let the only dividing line amongst citizens be a matter of brains and hard work. Never would they have imagined the way we have mucked it all up. It is about what you do once your access is unfettered - a citizenry with no excuses would be an amazing sight to behold, a beacon to the rest of the world, and we are betraying their vision by impeding anyone from basic necessities.
Please feel free to send this to those who want to marginalize the citizens of the United States. I wonder why some people cry so loudly against taking care of our own.

Brother can you spare a ride?

While the price at the pump continues to fall as a nationwide average, the reality in my little area of southwestern Virginia is that we are feeling the pain of gas shortages. It's not as bad here (yet) as it is in West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee and the Carolinas, but given that my fair piece of the commonwealth resides at the crossroads of all these places, it certainly makes me wonder how David and I will be able to count on commuting. The shortage has hit hardest in Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., and the Carolinas, including the Charlotte area and the mountain towns to the west. For days it has closed civic offices, cut short workdays and even canceled community college classes. Getting to work is not a small deal in the best of times for those of us in rural locations. And with the tidal wave of unemployment running around, David and I are lucky to have jobs. So perhaps it's time I asked my neighbor-down-the-road about carpooling, and asked a neighbor-up-the-road about meeting the bus after school. One thing is certain: if we are going to make it through this crisis, it's going to be because we have gotten more creative and pulled together as people. Now let's see if the government can be as flexible and committed to a solution.

And the universe speaks

Yesterday, I took some time off from work to go to the bank to work out financing deals. Apparently, asking for a loan to finance car repairs just isn't enough money to bother with writing a loan application, so David and I put some other debts and the purchase price of a commuter car all together, and suddenly we were on the way to the approval process. After we left the bank, we picked up Charlotte and then drove to test drive the smart car. I really like it, and it'll be coming home with us in a couple months. We're buying it from a tennis friend of David's, and even though it is practically new (Jim has only had it for a few months), it already has a nickname and a personality (Jim corrected me when I referred to the girl as a "she." Apparently it's a "he" and his name is The Bruiser).

I was driving home, thinking that perhaps buying a small commuter car wasn't exactly wise just as we are heading into the snowy season, when I'll need to drive the jeep more often any way. We had just filled up the gas tank in Roanoke, and were ignoring the 3.99 we paid per gallon, figuring it was just anticipatory price gouging because of Hurricane Ike. As I drove past the gas station in New Castle, I almost had to pull over: regular gasoline had already climbed to $4.85, with midgrade at $5.15.

If this is what happens when a hurricane hits on the other side of the country, what is going to happen when we all start using home heating oil?

Suddenly, the timing of a purchase of a 45 MPG commuter car didn't seem silly at all.

Graeme spent the night at a friend's house, his first-ever sleepover, and a much anticipated event. I spoke with the friend's mother this morning, and discovered Graeme had informed her he would be staying "the whole weekend." Uh, no.

We picked Graeme up, despite his best efforts to convince us it was fine to leave him, and the boys and David are heading to Old Salem Days while I make up the time I was out. There is a demo by Ethan's karate school. Ethan isn't on the demonstration team as yet, but he did manage to get a new stripe on Friday.

invested in outcomes

Most people get a little (or more than a little) nervous when the stock market takes a downturn. But for me and my family, news of bear market territory came at an excellent time: I had just made my first (ever) payment into my 401(k). This means that my first purchase yeilded more stock than it would have otherwise, which is only good news in the long run. Bear markets don't last forever; in fact they don't even really last for very long. Even if the markets were to take a long slow slide toward the 5000 mark (perish the thought!), it's only good news for my 401(k), given that I don't expect to cash it in for at least twenty-five years. This is not to say that the current situation has me dancing in the streets: inflation is real, and I was certainly amongst the hawks who were less-than-thrilled at the fed's decision to hold interest rates. David and I have been having financial talks about credit cards, medical debt, where and how to cut costs from the daily living expenses, and how to shore our financial situation up against the slow burn that started a year ago and shows no sign of slacking off. The good news for us is that we can actually have this conversation; many folks around the country simply cannot, and it wasn't so long ago for either David or me that we counted ourselves amongst their number. But the boys are in public school, David and I are both employed in real careers, and our cars (without which we couldn't have any sort of job) are both paid off. We spend a fair amount in gasoline and daycare, granted, and these expenses aren't going to go away any time soon. We have a passion for good food, and enjoy eating and cooking in equal measure. But part of that is enjoying being at home, not being out spending money, and spending our time at the place we are already paying for each month. Far from free, but still, its a nice way to go. Entertainment in our world consists mostly of home projects, fishing and camping trips, and netflix. It is certainly not a life of deprivation. I'm looking forward to tackling the medical debt that has threatened to overtake me if I don't address it somehow. There is always something else that needs to be done, of course, but this matter has finally gotten in my sights and my goal is to clear it out of the household budget by Christmas. It's not going to be easy, but it will be imminently satisfying to show it the other side of the door. Wish me luck.