With Presidential Thoughts

With Presidential Thoughts

This week’s Think Write Thursday topic is to write about 3 things I would do if I were the President of the United States. (Carole adds this bit of confidence to the topic: “I’m very certain that any one of us could do a fantastic job!”)

Well…. that certainly inspires some monumental thoughts! And, ones that I have never considered before. Me as President?!

Yeah, that would never in a million years happen.

However, perhaps I could offer some arm-chair coaching that could be entirely useful as well as incredibly helpful.

One of my favorite shows was Borgen – which was all about the government process in Denmark. And, while I realize this is far from reality – there are some things that I think are an excellent take away that could prove useful to improving our system here in the United States.

  1. Cabinet selection – rather than selecting donors who gave significantly, or your friends, or – god forbid, your family as those who advise you during your presidency. I think it would move this country in a much better direction and decrease the current state of gridlock that exists to sit down and negotiate with the political parties about their representation in the cabinet. This way everyone has a voice. Everyone is part of the process. And, I mean all parties – The Green Party, The Libertarian Party, Republicans and Democrats – both moderates and conservatives, and, yes, even the Tea Party. Perhaps, if everyone has a seat at the table – there would be incentive to govern and do so in a manner that represents all the people!
  2. While in my heart of hearts, I would love an extremely liberal court – I know that balance is the key to the courts success. And I think that a court that reflects our diverse nation is a very good thing. So, I would encourage the President (whoever they are) to improve that diversity with justices that reflect that.
  3. Finally, I would like America to make education important – as important as it should be. We are a nation that somehow has fallen far behind on the value of education. Educated citizens make informed decisions, they are not afraid of diversity, they are not fearful of differing opinions, and they understand what compromise is. They are also less likely to be influenced by the phenomenon of “fake news” and fear mongering. Healthy debate is crucial to democracy and an educated nation would not fear reasoned and informed debate – they would welcome it! And let’s remember, compromise is not losing – it is forging a way forward, creating something that everyone feels good about – something that everyone had input in creating.

There is my tiny bit of advice for anyone desiring to be President.

Tomorrow brings the close to what has been, in my opinion, a practically perfect presidency. Did he get everything right? Of course, he didn’t but his measured and thoughtful leadership have given this nation something they can be very proud of. I will close with some encouragement President Obama gave us to hold on to and inspire us in the coming days:

“Democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity – the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one…I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change – but in yours.”

If you would like to join Carole and me in our Think Write Thursday journey, you can sign up here.

Standing Room Only

Standing Room Only

It was a full weekend here. Very full.

There was a lovely ushering in of the weekend on Friday, including the new edition to the Happiness Hour – the “Pig Out” Pig plate.

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But, the best part of the weekend was the excitement and wonder of seeing Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine on Saturday when they made a campaign stop in Pittsburgh. While it was a LONG day. We got down to the Convention Center just before noon on Saturday and waited in line for about 2 hours before the doors opened so we could stand in another line. In all we waited, standing, for about 6 hours along with about 5000 others (and almost 2000 outside who did not get in). Wall to wall people and everyone was pleasant, polite, and cheerful. The.Entire.Time. It was nice seeing so many young people there, and even nicer to hear some of these young people speak! There was a nice “pre-game” show for Hillary – I got to hear some of the local politicians. And, Mark Cuban was there to announce his support for Hillary – he got the honor of introducing her to us.

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It was so incredible to see her, and to be lucky enough to be about 15′ away from the podium so we could get some great photos.

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It was a long day, but hearing her speak was worth every single minute of waiting.

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Sunday was a bit quieter, I taught a friend how to knit a heel flap and gusset on her first pair of socks! (Thanks, Carole for your fantastic pattern which makes it so simple to teach! I just needed to do a bit of math to adjust to the number of stitches she cast on.) I hope a new sock knitter has been born. She is not a very confident knitter, and I am not quite sure how to foster this in her. She has knit a few top down sweaters (I know… how can she have no confidence??) but she struggles with many aspects of knitting. Anyway, I am hoping that she will gain some confidence in this project.

And, before I knew it, Sunday was over and with it the month of July. I am left wanting to put the brakes on summer and savor the days that seem to be racing by!

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How was your weekend?

Are you smarter than an 10th grader??

Are you smarter than an 10th grader??

Apparently, if you are a member of congress, you are probably not – especially if the Tea Party voted you in.

Great correlation there, if you ask me – idiots voting in idiots?

What spurs this topic is something I heard on NPR while getting ready for work this morning. You can listen to the entire story here, if you missed it.

The NPR Graphic shows the decline clearly

As America continues its “Dumb down Spiral,” stay tuned gentle reader, as it is bound to get more interesting as the election nears.

I am off to do a bit of reading, so I can continue to stay ahead of the pack…

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