When I read that February's topic for NaBloPoMo was going to be ties my mind automatically went to politics. For those of you that know me, that's not a far stretch by any means. And being from Chicago, my mind ultimately goes straight to Mayor Daley. So today I want to talk about the ties the politicians hold around us.
When people talk about Illinois or Chicago they almost always stop at politics. They mention how corrupt our government is and how everything is tied to "Chicago style politics." Chicago style politics are, according to most, inherently corrupt and inept. My view is that it is not inherent but that they are made that way by the voters. The voters of Illinois like to keep things the way they even though they may complain about how bad it is. It seems that as soon as they are familiar with a candidate or politician they are ready to keep voting for them no matter what. If most of the population thinks Daley is corrupt and has only his best interests in heart, why is he still in office?
My only solution other than getting people to change, which is damn near impossible, is to impose term limits. Daley's been in office for 20 years now and can "buy" every election. Now I'm not saying he pays for votes or is doing anything illegal but he has so much money for campaigns he can probably run and win for another 20 years.
This opens up the issue of "career politicians." After 20 years in any position you begin to amass a ton of favors done and favors owed. We see this is trading votes in congress and we saw it with President Obama's seat with Blagojevich. If the political landscape continues to change we greatly diminish these issues as the "favors" become useless as the politicians leave office. Think of yourself in your own private life and all the people that you have done favors for and people that "owe you one." Now imagine if those people went away after 8 years. People would be more reluctant to do you a favor as they might not see their return. They would start doing things based on their own principles rather than what they could get in return for swaying slightly from them.
Just a few thoughts on our ties with "The Machine." Happy primary voting to all my fellow Illinoisans.
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So I just submitted myself to
NaBloPoMo for the month of February. The theme for this month is "Ties." Neck ties, your ties with the world, knot ties and I'm pretty sure Alex P. Keaton can even be a topic...
This is a stretch for me and I'm not really sure I can make it. I've been pretty down lately and I don't know if I can find enough to blog about let alone a theme. Ah well I'm gonna try my best and if I can make this one it would be an accomplishment seeing as I've never finished a NaBloPoMo yet. Wish me luck and I'll see you tomorrow with my first post on Ties!
I can't wait for things to move forward. I feel like I've been standing in quick sand barely holding my head above. I hope things move forward, and I know they will. It's just how long will it take? Will V's crazy family ever give up? Will I ever finish my degree and move ahead further than being low level lacky? Will this damned economy turn so my friends and family can get back to work and get on with their lives? I'm just worried that as the outcome remains bleak so will my attitude, and I hate wasting emotion on being worried, sad or upset when I could be using it to enjoy life.
A lot has changed since my last update. I am working for a new company; worse hours, less pay but 100% more respect. My current position is only temporary as I am holding on for the new year and a huge promotion from soldier to commander. Just waiting on the current commander to step down and to get trained. It's an honest company with a lot of potential that just needs a swift kick in the right direction. I hope to provide a leg for said kick. So for now I just need to grin and bear it.
V is looking for a position with a firm and although I can see it gets overwhelming for her sometimes I know she is strong enough to come out on top. She is smart and resilient and I'm positive she will do just fine.
As soon as V gets in somewhere we are going to start looking for a home. That is super exciting for me because I've always wanted to own a home and it will provide V and I with a place to grow a family. I've seen the struggle my parents went through to get their home and how long it took them to get it and I feel lucky to be even thinking about it at this point in my life.
Well I hope everyone out there is doing fantastic and I hope to be more active in my blog and the blogging community as this new gig gives me a lot of time to sit and stare at the walls aka blog/blackberry time.
"If I'm not evolving, I'm going to become extinct."
I've tried to always live by that since I realized I believed in evolution. I realized that evolution doesn't only happen over millions of years to an entire species but happens individually in our daily lives of who we become through our choices.
I got winded walking stairs at work that I normally have no problem with and I thought to myself maybe I'm getting sick. So the next day after not feeling any symptoms at all I patrolled the same area and got winded again. At this point I couldn't figure it out. How could I have become this out of shape in the two weeks I was off so I decided to weigh myself. I had gained a substantial amount of weight on my honeymoon and was disgusted. This little ordeal got me thinking about what I had been doing and if I was moving backwards rather than continuing to evolve.
I thought about all the changes I had made in the past year to my lifestyle both personally and to my environment. I thought about all the progress I had made and was disappointed in myself for allowing this to happen.
So I've sworn off the elevator, greasy fast food, decided to use public transport 3 of my 5 work days, made an attack plan for gym, and decided to purchase as much of my weekly groceries at the farmers market as possible. Let's see how long I can make this last. I have V's support so that will help a lot.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
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