Political thoughts

I generally do not express political views on my blog. I keep my soap box for my religious views, because in the end I think those views can do more good for the human family than who I'd vote for or why. But, today I was listening to the Dianne Reem show on NPR. Several analysts and experts were talking about why the dollar is weak and what the long view will be for our country's finances. It was disconcerting. It was uncomfortable to hear. I'd just like to throw out these two little ideas.

1. A lame president (which I feel we have had these past few years) does not decide if you or I will borrow too much money to buy a house. A political machine does not decide if we will borrow through credit card debt in order to go on vacations, purchase large ticket items or remodel our homes. Those choices belong to us, the average American consumer. And while all the big guys out there have made stupid mistakes and gambled on economic situations that have not been fortuitous-you and I have been pretty stupid too, to believe that in the end it was o.k. to borrow money we didn't have. And to think that we really would be "o.k. in the long run" if we bought now and paid later. That has never worked-not for any economy no matter how large or small. Hasn't worked for large governments running national economies, and not for small businessmen or heads of households. While we can blame our governments for the large scale stuff, its probably time that we take a little responsibility for the purchases we've made that didn't jive with that "live within your means" mantra we heard from our grandparents and parents. It is high time we put our own financial houses in order and look back to the days when you bought things only if you had the cash on hand to pay for them. The only exception I can see to that "old fashioned" way of thinking is a home or an education. And-as we see in the housing crisis that is so painfully affecting all of us-we shouldn't buy more house than we can afford, nor should we buy a house at all if we cannot financially bear the long term responsibility for that purchase. Its high time we accept that some of these huge economic nightmares came about because of the small choices of you and me. They've grown-one choice at a time-into a monster of a problem that we are trying to blame on banks and administrations. Those were our names we signed on the dotted lines to ballooning mortgages and credit purchase that accrued exponential interest while we put off "paying later". Now, it is time to pay.

2. Moving forward, whichever candidates we choose in large and small scale political races this fall, it would do us well to ask the question of infrastructure; will they lend their political clout to develop a future that can physically not rely so heavily on us purchasing oil and gasoline to get goods and people from point a to point b? Because that price in oil-it ain't droppin' folks. We can pour our paychecks into our gas tanks and drive them to soccer practice, to the grocery store and to the school-or we can learn to develop more localized ways of doing business and using resources. Soccer teams that are assigned according to your neighborhood, with practices at the local school where kids and parents can walk to practice. Goods that don't have to been driven cross country to be purchased by you and me, but instead local goods that are less expensive just because they didn't have to be driven on a diesel fuel truck to get to the store for us to buy. roads that have safe bike lanes, so we can get out of our cars to run our errands. A general active attitude where we safely teach our children to walk and ride bikes to school, in neighborhood groups if possible. An attitude of consolidating resources among us as neighbors; I pick up milk and bread for my neighbor on one side of the neighborhood and she picks up the dry cleaning on the other side of the neighborhood for me. digging up some of that common green space to become a neighborhood garden, where people come together and grow fresh produce to avoid having to run to the grocery store-in the car-to pick up that tomato you need for tonight's dinner. Working together to help one another on micro and macro levels in our neighborhoods, schools, communities and cities in order to minimize the use of resources.

I know that #2 is a very different approach to our American way of life. It is not something that would happen easily or quickly-and with our stubborn desire for independence and consumption it may not happen at all-but it is just something to think about when considering the politics that are the talk of the season. I don't know which candidates I'll endorse personally on a national or local scale. But I can say that now, more than ever before, I'll look into their commitments to-on a national level- a country that is self sufficient and economically stable with national budgets and deficits that reflect our need to show restraint. And a candidate who has a realistic view of how we move from an oil based economy to one that is better supported by realistic alternative fuel sources. And on local levels I'll look for candidates who are interested in developing infrastructure that can support a more localized, pedestrian society in our neighborhoods and towns and who are encouraging of incentives for neighborhoods to become more self reliant.

just my naive, stay at home mom views, but I thought I'd throw them to you for your thought and consideration. Happy candidate hunting everyone, and may the best man (I totally say that as a figure of speech Hilary lovers) win.