Perspective, Politics, and Understanding

I have been wanting to write for quite some time now...I had a 5-part series all laid out in my mind, dissecting the presidential candidates on merits of personality, experience, policy, running mates, etc. Alas I have run out of time for a post like that to be of any relevance and have had other more timely thoughts on my mind.

Presidential Race

Let me start by stating that I voted for McCain. I also was in favor of Proposition 8. I am also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). Many people upon reading that last line would probably say to themselves "Well that figures." I suppose in many circles I'm officially non-progressive, sheltered, bigoted, uninformed, unintelligent, just not willing to see the other side, unable to make rational decisions, a warmonger, brainwashed, a gay-basher, a homophobe, ill-informed on constitutional matters, or any mixture thereof.

You may be surprised to know that I think Rush Linbaugh and Sean Hannity are destructive extremists. You may be surprised to learn that I used to listen to progressive radio every morning before the only local progressive radio station in Rochester went bankrupt. You may be surprised to know that I actually really like Obama. You may be surprised to know that I have read "The Audacity of Hope." I have sought out all of his speeches and have read intently his "Blueprint for America"...and enjoyed it. He is eloquent, charismatic, captivating, intelligent, and he radiates a sincere desire to change the world around him for the better. I think we would all agree that these are great qualities we would desire in any leader.

Someone once said, after leaving the faith of their childhood, "I just don't see how one church can be the right one if so many other people out there feel just as passionately about their faith as I did. I just doesn't make sense." This is a key point. I've come to understand this person's statement much better over the past year as I've sincerely tried to understand why the McCain zealots think that Obama supporters are all left-wing self-absorbed amoral hippies and why Obamaites can't seem to understand why anyone would possibly ever in a million years see anything of worth in McCain.

No matter how passionately you feel about an issue and how well read and informed you are, there is undoubtedly someone on the other side of the table who has read all the same material and knows all the same information and feels just as passionately but in the opposite way. It is easy to be demeaning, belittling, and point fingers at those who don't agree with you. What is difficult, and what I'm coming to realize is the true mark of a 'progressive' or 'liberal' or 'conservative' or good human being, is to look at the person who disagrees with you so passionately and understand where they are coming from and how they can feel the way they do while still believing that they are a rational human being.

With that said, Barack Obama was not my pick but that's ok. Voting is the easy half of the democratic process. Supporting the victor, whomever that may be, is the more important part. I definitely like Obama better as a person than I do McCain. I'd love Barack to be my neighbor. I'd love our kids to hang out together and I'm sure we'd enjoy a barbecue. The positive effects of his charm and charisma are already being felt around the globe only a few days after being elected. His energy has seemingly electrified the country, bringing a sort of magical hope to millions of a better tomorrow...and hope is a powerful and increasingly rare commodity.

Let me tell you why I, a young and well-educated person in New York (3 major qualifications to be a democrat), voted for 'Gramps'. You've got to realize that religion and politics are arguably the two most hotly contested topics in modern conversation simply because neither one can be logically proven through undeniable logical syllogisms. The wild card, of course, in religion is that of personal revelation from a Supreme Being who does know ultimate truth.

We can debate until we're all blue in the face whose economic or healthcare policies will be better for the future of this country, but we will not reach a definitive conclusion. We do not know what the future holds and the fact of the matter is that we're all trying to make educated guesses of what will work best.

I believe that both candidates sincerely believe that their plans will work best for the country. I believe that both candidates want to help this country in the best way possible. Both candidates want the average American to succeed. Obama is as much as a Socialist as McCain is a continuation of Bush. Neither of those statements is factual, but you can see why they would be said if you're willing to look.

I believe that the policies of Obama have a significantly higher risk of irreversible and far-reaching damage. That's not to say that I believe that an Obama presidency would be cataclysmic, I just feel that we have a much greater potential to really hurt ourselves with his policies and with his positions. My reasoning is better left for another post.

I don't think McCain is a white knight who's undying patriotism will save us from all calamity and thrust us into a better world. His policies, especially those dealing with the economy and healthcare, are simply more in line with what I think is actually most beneficial for this country. Call me crazy, but I think our economy is pretty sound. Call me nuts, but I don't think the tax rate is what's currently killing the middle class. We're irresponsible with money - we over spend and we take too many risks, and that example was given to the American people by Uncle Sam himself. The solution for when someone takes a risk and it doesn't pan out categorically is not to bail them out, but to let them suffer in the short term so that they do not make the same mistake again...or at least understand that there are consequences associated with risk and debt. These bailouts and rounds of stimulus checks are, in my opinion, a waste and are setting us up for an apocalyptic disaster in the future. The real problem is that we resist accountability...and we are continuing to do so.

But that's my opinion - maybe I'll be proven right; maybe I'll be proven wrong.


Proposition 8

It is extremely difficult to make laws from a completely objective and amoral viewpoint. I have read works of Immanuel Kant and J.S. Mill, a couple of the more widely recognized great philosophical minds. They spent their lives developing theories of how we should treat each other based only on logical reasoning. The result? A shaky framework of idioms to the effect of "Do that which results in the greatest good." Naturally, this is subject to one's interpretation of the word 'good'.

I have come to the conclusion that there has to be an outside source governing that which is acceptable practice and that which is not. To some, that may be a Supreme Being. To others that may be their own personal beliefs. There simply is no logical way to deem what practices are 'good'.

There seems to be a great disconnect between the gay and lesbian community and their sympathizers and those who support Proposition 8. I really do feel for those who have been fighting for gay 'rights' and feel like this is a major blow to their cause. I understand how unjust this must feel to many. I understand how this can be interpreted to sound as if we (the supporters of prop. 8) don't think of them as people or of the same value as everyone else. It's unfortunate that the idea of 'sexual preference' has been equated with race or gender, though I see why it has.

If a man from Africa or the Middle East has 3 wives (which is legal in many of those areas) and wants to come to America to marry a 4th, of course we would not allow that. If a lonely old lady loves her cat so much that she wants to show her affection by marrying it, she would be laughed out of city hall. Is there anything actually physically or logically wrong with either polygamy or bestiality? Although I don't endorse either, I would say no. But we as a people deem those practices to be immoral or damaging to society in such a way that we feel that they should be outlawed. A man can have a relationship with multiple women, but he may not call it marriage, regardless of how much he loves each woman. A woman can live forever with her dogs, but she cannot use the sacred title of marriage to describe her relationship.

It is not that we feel that this man or this woman are not equals with everybody else or that we feel they should be done some great harm or injustice. We do not hate gays or lesbians. We do not think they should be punnished or mistreated anymore than who has a different opinion than us should be. It is about defining a sacred title. The people have spoken and it seems (with the exclusion of the paper ballots) that they have spoken to make the title of 'marriage' available only to the union of man and woman.

Those on the other side of Prop. 8 like to use terms such as 'inalienable rights' to describe why marriage should apply to them. Someone has to determine what rights are inalienable. We can't turn to the Bible because we don't all believe in it and those who do interpret it so differently. We can't turn to any other universal source for similar reasons. And so we turn to ourselves and we have decided that marriage between man and man is, in fact, not an inalienable right...at least not yet.

The LDS Church and Prop. 8

The bold stance of the Church came as a surprise to many, and rightfully so. Over the years, the Church has time and time again stressed the importance of its members being politically active, but has itself almost always remained politically neutral. It may be difficult to see why the leaders of the Church picked now to become so actively involved in a political process. There is no doubt that the Church went out of its way to motivate its members to consecrate both their time and means to the cause. Just because we don't see or understand why the leaders of the Church have asked us to do something, doesn't mean there isn't a reason.

We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth. To cite a trite example, just because it wasn't raining at the time Noah was building an arc didn't make him any less of a prophet. I have faith in the Prophet and Apostles of the Church. I have received witnesses far too sacred to share in this media of the nature of their callings. It is my solemn belief that if they say that a cause is important for me to back, and it's important for me to get involved, then I believe them...without seeing the rain.

------------------------------------------------------------
I have purposefully disallowed comments for this post. It is what it is.
------------------------------------------------------------

My Baby!

Go to the family page for more pics and info.

By the way, yes that is a Phillies World Champions shirt that I am wearing.

In Case You Missed It

I don't really know what to do with myself at this point. I don't have anything to be frustrated about in the sports world all of a sudden...

!!!!!! WE WIN !!!!!

Philadelphia Freedom!!

2008 World Series Champs!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Flying

I recently had the opportunity to take a quick trip to San Diego and flew from Rochester to Atlanta to San Diego to Philadelphia and back to Rochester. Some thoughts and experiences:

Don't Drink and Fly

Touching down into San Diego, you could hear that the beverage cart in the back of the plane was making a lot of noise. I don't think any of us thought much about it...just sounded like the cans of soda and juice were rolling around in a large container. However, upon the wheels actually making contact with the asphalt, a loud noise accompanied a rush of 100s of full cans coming flying down the aisle - it was pretty awesome. They weren't coming fast enough to be a safety risk, it was just quite a sight. Although none of the cans I saw burst open, you couldn't help but feel badly for the flight attendants who had to clean all that up!

This was in stark contrast to the flight leaving San Diego where my conversation with the attendant went like this:

Attendant: "Anything to drink, Sir?"
Me: Orange juice please.
A: That'll be $2.
Me: Um, nevermind.

Really, you can't get a non-alcoholic drink on an airplane for free anymore(On US Air at least)? Crazy.

Speak English...No the Other English

As I was approaching my seat on my flight out of San Diego, I saw the attendant explaining the emergency exit rules and responsibilities to the patrons who were sitting in those seats. She was having an animated conversation with one man who apparently wasn't understanding what she was saying. San Diego is very close to the Mexican border, so they're used to having Spanish speaking people on the plane. She was trying to explain to the guy that he had to move because you need to understand and speak English to sit in that row. I noticed that as she kept asking him if he spoke English or understood what she was saying that he kept pointing from his ear to his mouth.

I suppose that looks a lot like someone just scratching the side of their head. Having taken some of the American Sign Language (ASL) classes with Lisa, I knew that was the sign for "deaf". As I walked by the attendant, who was getting a bit flustered, I turned to her and said "He's deaf...that's why he doesn't understand you." I then put my stuff down and explained (signed) to the guy what the attendant was saying any why he couldn't sit there.

I felt like a winner for being able to resolve the situation, and I made a friend out of it :) He was a nice kid...actually from Mexico, learning ASL, but traveling to Spain to learn how to be a chef. I thought that was impressive!

What Recession?

Philadelphia International Airport used to be a real hole in the wall. For those of you familiar with Veteran's Stadium, it was kinda like that. All cement, all seedy, all function without aesthetics. I used to say that there should be signs in the jetways saying "Welcome to Philadelphia - it's ok, pee anywhere." My how times have changed.



I couldn't tell if I was in the airport or the Cherry Hill Mall. There's an entire wing of the airport called "Philadelphia Marketplace", which is the most awesome time-killing mechanism I have ever seen in an airport. Many major restaruants and shops are in there including: TGI Fridays, Brookstone, Sharper Image, Au Bon Pain, Lids, Borders, Auntie Annes, Bose, Brooks Brothers, and many other main stream mall-type stores. There is also a food court with your typical Burger King and all those types of places with a large eating area with a few dozen large screens giving updated flight information. I tip my hat to whomever designed that wing. As you can probably tell, I was totally blown away. Hands down the most enjoyable experience I have had during a layover.

America the Beautiful



I was fortunate enough to see a birds-eye view of more than 1/2 of the country within a 2-day period in the fall season. Whether it was the San Diego skyline at night, the simple beauty of the plains, the view of the Philadelphia sports complex and accompanying skyline, or the endless fall foliage of the East Coast I couldn't help but think to myself how gorgeous of a land it is in which we live.

Time Dynamics and the Economy

I've come to realize this week that the United States economy is in many ways like my time.

I know at any given time exactly what I need to do and how much time I have to do it. I can anticipate my homework and project deadlines and plan accordingly. I know how fast I can work and I always know exactly how far ahead I will be 'next week' if I keep working at my peak efficiency.

However, without fail, some unexpected and pertinent time-sucker comes up every week. Sometimes it's an assignment that takes 2 or 3x as long as expected. Sometimes it's a surprise project given at the last minute by a professor. Sometimes its a lab-related project that needs to get done. Whatever the cause, I'm never ahead and just barely treading water to stay up on what was originally supposed to be easy baseline deadlines.

Every year we hear more about the national debt and the need to balance the budget. Every year we hear from our political leaders that they project that the budget will be balanced in a few years and we'll start making that money back. Every year we hear about some unexpected but pertinent expense that needed attention in the past year that prevented us from balancing the budget on time the first time around. Every year is the same thing.

When I was in my undergraduate education, I thought I was managing my time well and making appropriate sacrifices. Then I got married and had to re-evaluate priorities and cut back on certain activities like climbing and hockey. Then I had a son and had to again re-evaluate and cut back on how closely I follow sports and other leisure activities. Then I entered grad school and had to cut out pretty much everything except what was necessary to keep my family and education intact. After all that, I (like everyone else I know in my same position) am still trying to find the right balance between school, church, and family obligations and priorities.

I'm not sure if our national finances are in the undergrad, marriage, child bearing, or grad stage but I think it might be time to re-evaluate and just cut out everything but the bare necessities.

There are always going to be matters that are worthy and great uses of my time that I just simply cannot attend and will have to be cut out. There will always be a continuous stream of applications for causes worthy of our tax-dollar funding. Someone has to start taking on the responsibility of judging what needs to be cut out.

YES

I'm excited...very very excited.