Money – It’s Not Just for Rich People

Posted on 2008-02-09 by David

Money - It’s Not Just for Rich People I have read a number of books on personal finance over the years because good money management is a key to happiness – it’s hard to really be happy when facing an endless mountain of debt. When I read Money – It’s Not Just for Rich People from Janine Bolon at SmartCents there were few really new concepts. Much of the financial advice is based on earlier works such as Your Money or Your Life, which I had read previously.

There was one major new principle though which goes beyond simple math and into the karma of financial decisions. That’s the 60/40 principle. I’ll leave the details to the book, but it was completely unique to find a book which acknowledged that financial success or failure is not exclusively tied to how much we earn and/or spend, but also to how we spend. Though she makes no reference to it, the sentiment is not unlike the invitation to:

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. (Ecclesiastes 11:1)

If you want a real path to financial independence – something more dependable than winning the lottery – I recommend picking up this book. It distills the principles into a memorable formula and tells the truth about financial independence – it requires discipline in your spending habits and an accurate understanding of the difference between needs and wants.

So what does a book about personal finance have to do with conservative politics? Aside from the fact that all conservatives are either rich business people, stupid enough to think they can get rich, or just plain old ignorant bigots (tongue firmly in cheek), not much except that the principles of personal financial success and the principles of sound government seem to be equally misunderstood by the public at large. Also, I agreed to do a review on this book and it’s been a long time in coming.

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Keeping the Race Alive

Posted on 2008-02-08 by David

Ever since Romney ended his bid for the Republican nomination I have seen much commentary on how Huckabee would need to end his bid soon to preserve his chances at being selected as the VP on the McCain ticket. I have seen one article suggesting the reverse. The logic is interesting and plausible:

How can a longer primary campaign good for Mr. McCain? So long as it’s civil, it keeps him in the news as a winner in Republican primaries, and provides a forum for Mr. McCain to continue traveling the country and spreading his message in a relaxed, unthreatening political environment. Think of it as the heavyweight boxing champion drawing TV coverage for workouts with his sparring partner. . .

And why would Mike Huckabee want to run such a friendly campaign? Because he knows all this, and would like to spend the next few weeks building the case for his selection as John McCain’s vice presidential nominee.

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Requirements for Voting

Posted on 2008-02-07 by David

After I wrote about the value of caucuses I found an interesting opinion on lowering the voting age.

We should hasten the enfranchisement of this generation, born between 1980 and 1995, by lowering the voting age to 16. . . 16-year-olds who want to start voting should be able to obtain an “early voting permit” from their high schools upon passing a simple civics course similar to the citizenship test. Besides increasing voter registration, this system would reinforce the notion of voting as a privilege and duty as well as a right — without imposing any across-the-board literacy tests for those over 18.

I have often contemplated what might happen if we were to require a test similar to the citizenship test to become a registered voter. Of course that will remind us of some of the Jim Crow voting laws that had to be repealed in the south. Even if nobody intended to discriminate any test would have some bias in it which makes it difficult to imagine passing such a law. I had also considered a system of preferential voting where some criteria – passing a test, or caucusing rather than simply voting – would add weight to the votes cast by those who met the criteria.

I’m wary of the idea of lowering the voting age, but I’m still interested in finding ways to increase personal investment in casting votes – to “reinforce the notion of voting as a privilege and duty as well as a right.”

There were some very enlightening responses on the topic that are also worth reading. My thoughts are definitely a work in progress – any insight or opinion is appreciated.

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Thoughts On Caucuses

Posted on 2008-02-06 by David

The following snippet from a comment this morning (thanks Scott) really got me thinking.

{Republican} Caucuses are the domain of grass roots Republicans. They are dominated by politically informed people that consider themselves conservatives. Primaries are far more open.

One of the things that I have long thought would improve our country was if people had to invest themselves more to participate in the political process. It’s a  tough balance to strike – even in my mind – because the process should be open to any who want to participate, but if the threshold for participation is too low voters will not take their participation seriously (less than 50% participation in most elections is evidence of that to me). Caucuses require a time commitment and therefore the people who participate in them don’t take their participation lightly.

I’m not declaring that all our voting should be through a caucusing process, but I am wondering if we might learn something from this to help find a way to raise the threshold for participation (especially in primaries) enough to make people take their role seriously while keeping it low enough that anyone can participate who is so inclined.

Thoughts?

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Polls Are Open

Posted on 2008-02-05 by David

“I Voted”

If you are registered and you haven’t yet – do. If you have already – encourage others to vote as well.

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The Real Standings

Posted on 2008-02-04 by David

I can’t stand the way that the media has been talking up the Republican race is if it’s McCain’s to lose. The facts point to a race that is far from decided and less favorable to McCain than the news lets on. The current delegate counts are 97 for McCain and 92 for Romney with 1191 needed to win the nomination. It’s also rather pitiful to read the professions of the Huckabee campaign that they are in a close race with the front runners – they have 29 delegates.

Of the 8 nominating contests so far the results for each of the 4 remaining candidates are:

  • McCain
    • 3 wins
    • two 2nd place finishes
    • one each of 3rd, 4th, and 6th place
    • delegates from 5 of the states
  • Romney
    • 4 wins
    • three 2nd place finishes
    • one 4th place
    • delegates from 6 of the states
  • Huckabee
    • 1 win
    • one 2nd place finish
    • two 3rds, three 4ths, and one 5th place finish
    • delegates from 5 of the states
  • Paul
    • one each of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th place
    • four 5th place finishes
    • delegates from 2 of the states

Don’t be fooled by the message of the media – Romney has every bit as good a chance at the nomination as McCain if not better. And don’t be fooled by the bravado of Huckabee – his best opportunity is to be a spoiler for Romney (those who still support him are unlikely to support McCain).

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Round Peg, Square Hole

Posted on 2008-02-04 by David

I could never have been called an enthusiastic supporter of John McCain, but the more I read about him the less I would like to see him as president. Everything about his life and his time in office shows him to be the embodiment of a Washington insider who feels that he is above being questioned by the unwashed masses. The funny thing about this is that I was planning to write about what I had come to believe today. Before I got to it however, I got an email with a link to an article by Mark Levin which expressed my thoughts on McCain much better.

Let’s get the largely unspoken part of this out the way first. McCain is an intemperate, stubborn individual, much like Hillary Clinton. These are not good qualities to have in a president. . . To the best of my knowledge, Romney’s ads have not been personal. He has not even mentioned the Keating-Five to counter McCain’s cheap shots. But the same cannot be said of McCain’s comments about Romney. Last night McCain, who is the putative frontrunner, resorted to a barrage of personal assaults on Romney that reflect more on the man making them than the target of the attacks.

Not only that, but Levin also reminded me of what is so dangerous about voting for the “most electable” candidate this early in the race. It goes much deeper than the fact that polls this far in advance are virtually worthless.

Of course, it’s one thing to overlook one or two issues where a candidate seeking the Republican nomination as a conservative might depart from conservative orthodoxy. But in McCain’s case, adherence is the exception to the rule . . . Are we to overlook this record when selecting a Republican nominee to carry our message in the general election?

Political parties are (or should be) about a platform even more than about winning. Winning is a way to enact the platform, but to abandon the platform for the sake of winning is a sure sign of a party without character. The candidate must be more than a vocal advocate of the platform – they must also represent the platform. This is where McCain is a total loss for the conservative platform of the Republican party. Aside from the undeniable military background – this man does not match the message he would be expected to promote. Even where he agrees with the Republican party it is from the perspective of him being right, not from the perspective that the principles are correct.

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Confusing Parties and Family Values

Posted on 2008-02-04 by David

I have long thought it rather incongruous that the party of the "values voter" (the GOP) was offering all the candidates with horrendous personal histories related to family values while the party favored by those who seem intent on eliminating any traditional definition of family offered candidates with relatively clean personal lives in the family values department. I decided to do some research to see if this was a matter of gut-reaction, media coverage, or just plain reality.

Among the Republicans it has been fairly well covered that Giuliani was on his third marriage after a variety of extra-marital affairs, that Thompson was quite publicly a philanderer between his two marriages, and that Gingrich (who narrowly decided not to run) was having an affair that would end the second of his three marriages while he was prosecuting Bill Clinton for an affair that failed to end his marriage. Virtually nothing has been said about the extra-marital activities of McCain that ended his first marriage.

Among the Democrats I vaguely recalled that Biden was on his second marriage after his first wife died in a car crash. So a second marriage with a sterling personal history. I also remembered that Kucinich was married to a wife half his age – turns out this is his third marriage. To be fair to all the candidates I looked at those who I had no indication of having any reputation for familial instability and discovered that Dodd is in his second marriage. While Clinton seems to have a sound record personally on marriage there is always the specter of her husband to scare away any expectation of a scandal free term in the white house on those grounds.

This is not intended to malign any of the candidates – it was really a fact check against the gut reaction. Like most other people I believe each person has the ability to change their habits and lives but it was disturbing that so many of the Republican candidates had rocky marital histories while so few of the democrats did. It was also disturbing to see how much more was made of the personal failings of those Republican candidates when nothing was said of similar situations for democratic candidates (Dodd and Thompson have eerily similar marital histories but only Thompson’s history was ever mentioned that I can recall.)

If GOP voters really believe in family values it would be hard to tell based on many of the leaders that are coming forward for the party.

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Crunch Time

Posted on 2008-02-01 by David

January was a very nice month for me as I was able to write every single day. Plenty of things have been happening in politics as the presidential primaries have twisted and turned on the path to next Tuesday. I’ve also had final opportunities to comment on the Mountain View Corridor and the opening of the 2008 legislative session to keep my mind occupied.

Having things to write about was obviously not a problem, but having time to write was surprising. things have been building up at work towards a new product launch. I have spent this last week working 12+ hour days in preparation for that event. It’s now crunch time in our product launch, at the same time as political crunch time for people to get serious about making a choice about where our nation should be headed politically. The primaries are the best time to make an impact in the voting booth – after that your options are much more limited.

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Primary Season

Posted on 2008-01-31 by David

The New York Times has a prime example of voters approaching elections the wrong way:

Senator John McCain has long aroused almost unanimous opposition from the leaders of the right. Accusing him of crimes against conservative orthodoxy like voting against a big tax cut and opposing a federal ban on same-sex marriage, conservative activists have agitated for months to thwart his Republican presidential primary campaign.

That, however, was before he emerged this week as the party’s front-runner.

Since his victory in the Florida primary, the growing possibility that Mr. McCain may carry the Republican banner in November is causing anguish to the right. Some, including James C. Dobson and Rush Limbaugh, say it is far too late for forgiveness.

But others, faced with the prospect of either a Democrat sitting in the White House or a Republican elected without them, are beginning to look at Mr. McCain’s record in a new light.

Once the parties have chosen their nominees (meaning not yet) it is important for voters who lean toward one party or another to look at the candidate for their chosen party and decided if that candidate represents them enough to earn their vote. The problem in the above example is that this should not be happening before the nominee is chosen. During the primary elections is the nest time to go vote your conscience. That is the time to speak up and cast your vote for someone you can support. If the eventual nominee was not someone you could support in the primaries then it is time to take another look and decide if they might be “good enough.”

Settling for good enough too early is what leads to elections where 60% of voters feel like they are choosing the lesser of two evils when they go to the ballot box.

I don’t have to hate John McCain (and I don’t) to oppose him in the primary election. He does not represent me close enough to earn my primary vote. That does not mean that I could not vote for him in November if he is the nominee (that depends on who his opponent is) but my vote is wasted if I give up now. If I vote for the front runner in the primary contest when only 10% of the delegates have been awarded merely because they are the front runner then I am guilty of letting other people choose how I will vote. If I am not going to choose how I vote then I have no business participating in the political process.

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