The Election

Last week my wife and I voted for Barack Obama. He’s impressed us with his intelligence, his wit and humor, and his willingness to try and reach out to all Americans, not just Democrats. He’s been patient and steady through a very long and difficult campaign. He’s used the skills he developed as a community organizer in Chicago to build a nationwide campaign organization of unprecedented size, and it has attracted a huge number of enthusiastic volunteers. He clearly has the ability to attract and inspire very talented people—the ones at the top of his campaign are aces. He has attracted the support of people like Warren Buffett and Colin Powell.

But most importantly, he has convinced me that he understands that the future is not about him. It’s about us. No President, no matter how smart, talented, and articulate, can accomplish much without the support and active participation of the citizens. Historically, the quickest way to bring the country together was to have an external threat. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the national effort during WWII is a classic example. In contrast, after 9/11, we were told to support the country by—shopping.

Turns out that while we were borrowing and shopping, the deregulated mortgage industry and Wall Street were gambling away trillions of dollars. Now we’re in the middle of an economic meltdown. (It may, unfortunately, not even be the middle. It may only be the beginning. No one seems sure.) In addition our exhausted troops are fighting two wars, our reputation as a world leader is in tatters, our infrastructure—roads, bridges, airports, railroads, schools, and hospitals—range from dangerous to inadequate, and the current President...well, let’s just say that no one seems to be listening to his speeches.

So it’s up to us. Not to the Democrats. Not to the Republicans. Not to the Libertarians or the Green Independents. Us. We can figure out what needs doing, roll up our sleeves, and get to work while we still have time, or we can bicker and bitch and blame everyone else until the good ship America founders. And we’ve already started to transform our country. That’s why there are windmills in Texas, green roofs in Chicago, and a lot of people carpooling. But wouldn’t it be refreshing to work together as a nation?

The problems facing the next President are stunning. But guess what: he’s not going to be able to fix those problems by himself. Obama or McCain can give speeches until their voices are raspy whispers, but without our help, they won’t accomplish anything.

But it does help, when confronting a mountain of problems, to have a smart organizer around. Someone who can clearly explain what the problem is, intelligently explore possible solutions, attract and consult with the best available advisors, and come up with a plan. It doesn’t guarantee success, but it sure beats blind guesses. And if we, the people, are going to work together and sacrifice together, we need a President who can explain the plan so that every man, woman, and child understands what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it. And we need a President who is willing, even eager, to listen to people who don’t agree with him, a President who can understand and appreciate strongly held opinions which don’t echo his, and forge a consensus.

So we voted for Barack.

PS I hope every voter in America will vote this year. Regardless of who wins, voting is the first step toward reminding our representatives at the state level and in Washington that WE are the people they serve. Voting en masse is a clear way of telling our reps that we are watching them, listening to them, and that we care about what they do with our money and our country. We’re easier to ignore when half or less than half of the voters bother to vote. When we all vote, the collective voice is a powerful voice, and reps who ignore it risk a short career in politics.

PPS I finally realized today why the Joe the Plumber stuff irritated me so much. Here’s a guy who owes back taxes and claims to be a plumber although he’s missing a license, and he’s been transformed—through the magic of the media—into an odd sort of celebrity. And then I remembered Rosie the Riveter.

If we’re going to give our children a decent future, Rosie should be our role model, not Joe.

Election Day

On election day I’ll be volunteering at one of Portland’s polls as a Deputy Registrar, helping to register new voters. I signed up to do the entire day, 6:45am till the polls close at 8pm. Should be fun! Time permitting, I’ll share the experience that evening or the next day.

A Favorite Blog

No time to write this evening as I am helping clean house in preparation for a pumpkin themed party this weekend. But I wanted to recommend my favorite blog/podcast from NPR: Planet Money. If you’d like some plain English answers to your questions about the great financial meltdown, this is the place to go.

Taxes Part 1

I am reminded, as we grind our way towards election day, of how often we don’t discuss really important stuff but instead let ourselves be distracted by highly charged but meaningless phrases.

Take, for example, the argument about whether it is better to raise or lower taxes. Seems at first blush like this is an easy one. If taxes go up, we have less money to spend on things we want or need. If taxes go down, we keep more of our money. A seeming no-brainer.

But it’s not that simple. Start at the local level. I live in Portland, Maine. I pay state sales tax, property taxes, state income taxes, and federal income taxes. In addition there are restaurant taxes in Maine, beverage taxes, tolls on the interstate, lodging taxes, etc. I’m sure there are plenty of other fees and taxes (vehicle registration, drivers license fees, etc.) but you get the idea.

So let’s pretend, for fun, that tomorrow all these taxes were abolished. I’d get to keep a substantial amount of money that I currently give away. Nice!

But what would I lose? Offhand I can think of quite a few things. At the local level we’d have:

No police or fire department
No road maintenance or snow removal in the winter
No trash removal
No public schools
No summer rec programs for kids
No public library
No building inspections, workplace safety requirements, health department, public works dept., etc. (Eating out might get pretty dicey. All the traffic lights being red, or green, or out could make driving across town more challenging. No auto insurance requirements would make accidents a lot more complicated to sort out...)

Moving up to the county and state level:

No highway patrol so speed limits would be gone
Again no road, bridge, or highway maintenance or snow removal. (In Maine, that would pretty much shut down the state during the winter so no food coming in to our markets.)
All state programs would cease: child protective services, mental health programs, prisons, etc. etc.
No water treatment or sewage removal.

I could go on to the national level but you get the picture. I’ll just mention a couple that could make life way more adventuresome:

No air traffic control or required aircraft maintenance and safety inspections.
No military
No more regulation of food or drug safety, workplace safety, vehicle safety, etc.
No bank regulation—no wait, we tried that one recently...

I can’t speak for others, but I personally do not mind paying taxes so that I can get the benefits of these services. I have no desire to live in a town with no police or fire department. I don’t wish to drive on pot-holed roads and highways with no speed limits. I don’t want to fly in airplanes which are never inspected, in airspace where anyone can fly at whatever speed and altitude regardless of how many other aircraft are in the same part of the sky. I like my public library, and the parks. I like safe drinking water and flush toilets. I don’t want to eat contaminated food. The world is not a safe place and not everyone on the planet wishes us well, so having a well-trained and well-equipped military is prudent.

Higher vs. lower taxes is not the same as a discussion of good vs. evil, although one might think it was from the tone of campaign rhetoric. For me, however, the important question is what I get for the taxes I pay. Are my tax dollars being spent wisely or foolishly? Invested so that I get benefits, or wasted?

So let’s take one concrete example: drinking water. (For some history, here’s a link.) Waterborne illnesses are often fatal and in developing countries—as well as in some poor corners of the USA—these diseases cause “an estimated 4 billion episodes of diarrhea resulting in an estimated 2 million deaths, mostly among children. Waterborne bacterial infections may account for as many as half of these episodes and deaths.” (CDC)

So I personally am okay with having some of my tax dollars go to providing safe clean drinking water for me, my neighbors, and you and your neighbors. Seems much better than dysentery (I got dysentery a couple of times when I was in the Peace Corps in Senegal. Take my word for it—a fever of almost 105 is not something you forget or wish to repeat), or cholera, or E coli.


To be continued...

Politics & Hubris

This is ridiculous. How can anyone believe that Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice president and quite possibly president? Have we so completely blurred the line between the ‘reality’ that appears on television and the reality we live in that people no longer know the difference? If so, then I guess I can quit my day job, buy some scrubs and a lab coat, go down to the hospital and start doing brain surgery. The pay will be a lot better and probably the hours too. Not qualified? Heck, I’ll get better with practice and some coaching. I’m a quick study.

She can’t answer questions like “What newspapers or magazines do you read?” C’mon folks. This is not “gotcha” journalism. This is not a trick question dreamed up by Katie to make Sarah Palin look stupid. We have the right and obligation to know about anyone running for high office. But apparently in the case of Sarah Palin, unscripted interviews are too dangerous so there won’t be any more. Just have to trust that she’s ready to take care of anything that might come up.

Sorry, Senator McCain. Your claim to be looking out for America went right out the window and off the planet when you picked Sarah. But give her credit: she may not be qualified to be vice president, but she’s plainly ambitious enough to want a higher office. Why else would she refer to the “Palin/McCain” ticket?

Good grief.

And a final thought. One sign of intelligence is to know when to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Which is what most people would say if offered a job for which they were totally unqualified. But not Sarah Palin. I believe she “didn’t even blink” when offered the chance.

Clear case of hubris. Seems like we’ve seen this play before and it didn’t turn out so well.