OK, OK.... so my blog has once again been ignored. I've been poked at by some friends for not posting anything recently. It's sad and pathetic.
I know several people who have blogs about their families, political views, culinary adventures, religion, cupcakes, favorite sports teams, etc. They make regular posts. The honest truth is, sometimes nothing is happening on the lot. Sometimes
nobody's on tour. Sometimes you just don't have time. Sometimes you just don't have anything to say.
Well I've got something to say. There is something happening on the lot. These days I'm following two things very closely: 1) The Presidential Race and 2) The Pennant Race. (I will watch the sausage race at the Milwaukee Brewers games too.)
In the Pennant Race, I'm clearly for the Chicago Cubs. With only a month left in the regular season, the Cubs have a great chance to take the best record in the National League into the post-season and make something special happen. As I have been doing all season long, I'll follow this team by watching and listening and I may comment about it here.
In the Presidential Race, I'm definitely in favorite of one candidate over the other. However, I want to hear everything they have to say. And I would love to hear it without the opposing views demonizing the other. I hear friends and family tell me things that they can't back up. I hear friends and family recite a part of a candidate's statement, but leave out the rest of the sentence.
I hear people say
Barack Obama is arrogant -- I think these people mistake confidence for arrogance. To me arrogance is defined as somebody who thinks more of themselves than any other being, person or cause. Part of arrogance is ignorance. Ignoring what
contrarians are saying, ignoring historical lessons, ignoring the facts and pressing on
toward's their own cause above all else. Our current president is arrogant. I think deep down, George W. Bush loves this country more than anybody else who visits the lot, but his arrogance has misguided him. I believe he is a good person, but he has not listened to the
contrarians, only his selfish family friends and advisers.
John McCain has consistently been labeled as a centrist during his 26 years in the Senate, a maverick, somebody willing to do things differently. But to win his nomination, he has been forced to abandon that centrist view to appease a very large voter base. This voter base puts social issues that are decided by one's own morals before
everyone's well-being. This voter base is unwilling to give out a hand-out to somebody who needs help. They don't want their hard-earned money to be used to benefit anybody but themselves. Yet they support the notion that if you feed the wealthy, the benefits will trickle down to the needy.
I have watched a few of the speeches from the Democratic National Convention and I will watch the keynote speeches from Minnesota next week. I am currently replaying the 1-on-1 interviews of the candidates with Mark Warner of the
Saddleback congregation on
Youtube. I plan to watch the debates. I plan to listen to the candidates and not the pundits. I plan to listen to the plans and not the propaganda. I plan to do some real listening and observing, lest I be labeled arrogant myself.
