Uncivil War

Posted on 2007-04-12 by David

Today is the anniversary of the official surrender at Appomatox that ended the Civil War in 1865. That random tidbit struck home to me as I was reading The Passing of the Armies by Joshua Chamberlain (who officially received the arms and flags of the Confederate army in surrender). I had not realized until I was getting to that climax of the book that I was reading of the events on the day 142 years after this all happened. When I realized that, it really made me think about the results of that war and the example of humanity displayed during that surrender.

Now, a century and a half later, we are engaged in a war that is, in many ways less civil than that one. I am not talking about Iraq or Afghanistan – I am talking about America. Our political and social ideologies are every bit as divided as they were in the 1860’s. We have seen the same rancor and the same intensity of rhetoric for the last 13 years (or more) and it signals a deep rift in our nation. Like the war that brought about a rebirth in our nation, most of the citizens are able to live rather amicably with their neighbors, but our public discourse on ideas rages hotter and hotter when we feel free to express ourselves.

I ask myself, where is our Gettysburg, where the tide turns and we stop winding up our division and start winding down our conflict? Is it past? Or is it (more likely) yet to come? When we finally come to a resolution will we act with the dignity and honor displayed by the Union and Confederate soldiers? They honored each other with displays of respect and valued the courage displayed by their former enemies and forged again the bonds of national brotherhood even when they did not see eye to eye on some of the (semi)concluded issues.

Like the Civil War, I am confident that a resolution will come to the issues we face today which cause so much division among us. Will we be able to effect a better reconciliation than they did? We had to fight a second campaign after 100 years to bring further resolution to the questions of how all people should be treated and we still feel the effects of that divisive war.

Where is our President Lincoln or our General Lee who could fight so passionately and so honorably for the ideas they believed in and yet they held no malice for their opponent, only for the ideas they opposed?

What lies ahead for us? Is it possible that we can be passionate without being scurrilous?

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Buying Local

Posted on 2007-04-11 by David

There is nothing completely new in the premise of Scott’s Buying Local Saves? I’m fairly sure that I have heard stories almost exactly like this one:

. . . Kelly Cobb’s effort to make a suit of clothes using only resources available within a 100-mile radius of Philadelphia. ‘The suit took a team of 20 artisans [eighteen] months to produce — 500 man-hours of work in total.’

That should serve as conclusive evidence that you can prove almost anything with the right setup. Scott does a good job of illuminating some of the reasons that cause these kinds of results and calls into question the theory behind local-only shopping. The thing that held my interest is that I have preferences towards that kind of behavior, for some similar reasons to what he discusses.

There is a major difference though – I do not favor local products and services strictly for some moral good, and I don’t favor them in all cases. I think I would call my purchasing habits a pragmatic approach to buying local. I favor getting my hair cut at the local barbershop because I see no reason to pay my money to Great Clips or any other chain. I am especially pleased by the fact that the local barbershop is no more expensive, and I like the haircuts better than the chain stores. I also shop at the local grocery store rather than Walmart. I know some people who think Walmart is evil, but my reasons are much more mundane. I like the fact that the local grocer is not open on Sundays – I like to support businesses that don’t live in the 24/7 world of business. I also like the fact that the local grocery store is only one third the distance from my house as the nearest chain grocery store.

What it really comes down to is the fact that I have tried to divorce myself from the idea that saving a penny is always worth the cost. I save more in time, energy, and fuel by shopping local than I spend extra because their merchandise is 3 cents more expensive per item than Walmart. My favorite result of this new mindset is the freedom to look at things from more than just a checkbook perspective. It’s quite liberating.

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Endorsement Update

Posted on 2007-04-09 by David

It’s time for my monthly update on candidate endorsements. From my last list I still have Barak Obama and Mitt Romney to cover. I said that I thought that most of the candidates were in at that point – I was surprised to find that there are 8 more candidates to add to the list now. Being that far behind I give up on getting them in the right order. I’ll cover them alphabetically (when I get to this list):

  • Donald Allen
  • Bob Jackson
  • Mike Jingozian
  • John McCain
  • James Mccall
  • Ron Paul
  • Tom Tancredo
  • Tommy Thompson

In addition to the endorsements (if they ever end) I will be giving an update on the candidates I have endorsed and my take on the overall landscape of this election.

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Rudy Giuliani

Posted on 2007-04-05 by David

Another surprise in the endorsements. Before doing my homework I did not expect to find Rudy Giuliani to have good potential as a president. I knew that there were some positions he held which were not consistent with my own views though I do not expect to endorse only candidates whose views fully parallel mine. If I did, I would have to endorse nobody unless I was running – which I can’t quite yet and don’t dream of even when I can.

I found that Giuliani’s views are generally pragmatic which matches the mood of most voters despite any ideological views being espoused by some vocal people. He certainly has the experience of governing and facing tough problems. In short, I endorse Rudy Giuliani.

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Political Prognostication

Posted on 2007-04-04 by David

A random train of thought today brought me to a very interesting destination. Let me preface this by saying that I am not among the ranks of those who would have anyone but Hillary for President although I have no intention of voting for her at this time. For all those in the anyone-but-Hillary camp here’s a hopeful prediction. This is the one and only real chance that Hillary will have to become President of the United States. If she is not elected in 2008 she would be facing an incumbent in 2012. Beating an incumbent president would be much harder than winning what is essentially an open seat in 2008 – unless the next Republican president was as unpopular as George W. Bush has become.

If she were to lose the Democratic nomination and the Democratic nominee were elected she would not even have a chance in 2012 (unless she were to become a Republican -which will never happen) and by 2016 she is unlikely to have the kind of support that she has enjoyed during the last decade. Also by 2016 she will be 68 years old which is older than nearly all the presidents we have ever had. So in reality this is her only real shot at moving back into the White House.

The other side to this story is that if Hillary were to be elected in 2008 she would be a very safe bet to serve two terms because she is smart enough politically to avoid any mistakes which would make her particularly vulnerable as an incumbent.

So my prediction is that Hillary will be President from 2008 – 2016 or else she will never be President.

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Hillary Clinton

Posted on 2007-03-30 by David

Hillary Clinton is one of the most recognizable figures in American politics today. From a campaign standpoint that is generally a good thing. Hillary’s problem is that she is also one of the most divisive figures in American politics. She has worked hard to soften her image in preparation for this run, but whether she is sincere or not is immaterial in the face of the fact that so many people will not trust anything she says. Even if Hillary were becoming honestly less liberal than she used to be she could never gain the trust of a large section of American voters.

I do not mean to suggest that she could not become president, but I am very sure that if she did her presidency would be constantly hampered by attacks from those who oppose her. If she made even a tiny misstep her problems would grow even larger. While there are many candidates who would do little to unite our country (which it needs), there are few, if any, who could cause the division to grow more than Hillary would.

It is no wonder that Hillary does not have a section on her website that outlines her positions. They are irrelevant to her candidacy. Her name is her biggest asset as well as her fatal liability. I could never endorse a candidate who would have no chance of being effective – therefore I cannot endorse Hillary Clinton.

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The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

Posted on 2007-03-29 by David

I enjoyed reading Scott’s It’s Worse, but It’s Also Better and then I was surprised to hear on NPR a piece on how our society is Going Ghetto. It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that our culture is going downhill fast which is why it was so refreshing to read Scott’s take that there are some very positive things happening if we will look for them. I think that Amazing Grace is a good example of that.

On the other hand there is much that we accept and even promote which should be decried. That is what the Ghetto Nation is all about. I found it interesting that some people commented on the slightly racist connotations of the word ghetto as a failing of the argument being made. It is unfortunate if that charge of racism serves to dilute the power of the message being sent. Personally I would have used the word grunge – my grandma would have said “slouchy” – but regardless of the term being used, the argument is sound. We are shamelessly promoting some things which we should be rejecting or improving. When we would speak out against them we are told things like:

It seems to me that this demonization of everything ‘ghetto’ is representative of an underlying societal racism, equal to the way jazz and blues were demonized throughout the first half of the 20th century. (Comment by Katherine Ogilvie on the Blog of the Nation post)

While societal racism has no rightful place among us, I think she’s wrong (about ghetto, not about jazz and blues). It is not racist to speak out against something that is bad even if that something is often associated with a particular race. The arguments against all things ghetto are fairly applied regardless of race. The argument and the term are about a mindset which is unhealthy at the least and downright destructive at the worst.

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The Beltway

Posted on 2007-03-29 by David

I heard a story on Talk of the Nation today about the firing of federal prosecutors (Blog of the Nation post). The thing that caught my attention was that they were going to discuss how different the coverage on this story was "outside the beltway." If anyone is unfamiliar with the term – "inside the beltway" is Washington D.C. (specifically the politicians) and "outside the beltway" is the rest of us. Unsurprisingly the conclusion was that this story was getting much less coverage from the rest of us. As I heard that I think I know why that is. I believe that most people outside the beltway hear about these kinds of stories and think "oh boy, another stupid move by a politician – why am I not surprised."

I then wondered why this should be so newsworthy inside the beltway. Surely they are even more aware of the constant stream of questionable decisions by politicians. My best guess is that they find it newsworthy not because they are surprised by the news, but because they enjoy the circus they live in. They do not care about the latest poor decision so much as they care about how the whole political establishment will react and what the outcome will be. They just want to know whose job is on the line and who will benefit politically from the mess.

Perhaps I’m cynical, but if I’m right it’s no wonder nothing really serious can get done in Washington D.C. for the right reasons anymore.

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All for the Love of Money

Posted on 2007-03-22 by David

I remember being alarmed last year to learn about the number of people using negative amortization to finance their homes. In some areas it was over half of all home loans and the highest rates of negative amortization loans were nearly 2/3. Negative amortization comes in the form of an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) where the payments during the first years, before the rate is fixed, do not even cover the full interest on the loan so that after the three or five years when the rate gets fixed, the payments balloon and you owe more on the house than when you bought it. The bet for the borrower is that the house will appreciate more than the loan so that you can refinance.

At the time I thought of how that was a sad way to get in to more house than you could actually afford. Today I found an article on foreclosures in the New York Times. The cause of these foreclosures is not necessarily negatively amortized loans, but it is because of sub-prime lending and a combination of careless borrowers and greedy/predatory lenders. Lest anyone think I am heartless, I think that the bulk of the blame – especially in the cases covered in this article – lies with the lenders.

I could rant about how disgusted I am about lenders who would capitalize on those who are least knowledgeable and least able to protect themselves or afford the losses that they face. Instead I would like to point to the root cause of this plague. It is greed – the love of money.

When I purchased my home I dealt with a mortgage broker who had my needs and values central to his decision making process. When I estimated what I could afford in monthly payments he cautioned me against estimating too generously. After pre-approving me for a certain level of mortgage he suggested that it might be to my benefit not to try to find the most house I could fit under the limit. The end result was that my payments are lower than I thought I could afford. I pay what I estimated that I could afford and I am paying off the house faster because of it. This is not the attitude displayed by the broker who would exaggerate your income to look larger to get you into a larger loan so that he can get a larger commission.

It’s too bad that we have so many people (not just in the real-estate business) who claim to provide a service but who only service their own pocketbook. The fact is that the broker has nothing to lose if you default on the loan. Generally speaking, the lender can recoup their costs between the payments you make and the money they get from the foreclosed property. The loss is almost entirely the borrowers loss, and in the case of most of these loans, the borrower does not know enough to protect themselves when dealing with greedy and knowledgeable brokers.

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Duncan Hunter

Posted on 2007-03-22 by David

Duncan Hunter would make a very credible president for our country. He has years of experience in government and the military. He seems to be very principled in his positions and I like his perspective on how to make our federal government smaller. Representative Hunter may find that those who oppose him can more easily portray him as having extreme views than some of the other candidates, but to see his actual positions is to see that his views are not extreme so much as unwavering. Everything about him as a candidate suggests that I should endorse him, but something holds me back. For some reason I suspect that he can be more effective where he is, in the House of Representatives, than in the Oval Office. We need more men like him serving as strong representatives for their constituents across the country.

For that reason I choose not to endorse Duncan Hunter though I could not fault anyone who did endorse him.

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