Political Potpourri and Other Miscellany




Short shots, quick hits and rants from the cheap seats:

Labor Day has historically been when voters begin paying attention to the fall’s political races. As much as the pols would like our antennae up year-round, it just doesn’t happen. Life tends to get in the way. When kids are out of school, families tend to focus on ball games, amusement parks and lakeshore cabins, not issue-oriented attack ads. Only when the sweatshirts come out of the closet and we begin to cocoon in front of the big-screen do we begin listening to the back-and-forth blathering of elective wannabes. If politicians were smarter with their campaign bucks, they’d quit spending so much time and money in the “preseason” and save it til it really counted. Campaigns would be shorter, they wouldn’t cost as much and voters would give the communication more credence.

Are there any other conservative Republicans (like myself) out there who are growing a bit tired of this “we’re at war” talk from the Bush Administration? Admittedly, after a quarter-century of involvement in the political process, I’m probably more skeptical and cynical than I should be. But it strikes me that our nation’s leaders are cloaking themselves in the flag more for political expediency than realistic expectation of victory against an invisible enemy. The president and his allies are shrewd. They know that the American public rallies around their leaders during troubles, that they give their leaders the benefit of the doubt when times are bad. Anyone who thinks that the United States is going to eradicate evil in the world is hallucinating. There have been fanatics throughout the ages; people willing to die for whatever cause they’ve concocted. I’m no isolationist, but if America decides to step up its role as the conscience and policeman of the world, proactively launching military strikes against potential threats across the globe, we are going to lose much of the good will and support we enjoy from other nations. For more than two centuries, America has stood as a beacon of justice, believing in liberty, equality and individual self-determination, opposing bullies and those who would subjectively enforce their will against a weaker foe. I’d hate to see the U.S. be seen as the bully, as the aggressor, simply because an administration wants another four years.

The Justice Department and other law enforcement authorities better be careful as they attempt to prosecute some of these corporate CEOs for alleged wrongdoing. Anyone who “cooked the books” deserves to go to jail. But my reading of the situation is that much of the criticism is coming from people who would like to substitute their after-the-fact judgment for that of the corporation’s board of directors. That’s not the way the system should work. What we need is a return to the strong boards of the past, boards populated with experienced business executives who aren’t afraid to hold management’s feet to the fire. Filling board positions with friends and cronies in an “I’ll-scratch-your-back, you-scratch-mine” method of subterfuge, accomplishes nothing for the long-term good of the organization. In my opinion, the lack of leadership evinced in Oval Office anteroom antics during the 1990s created a toxic atmosphere that led some corporations to go beyond accepted moral and legal boundaries. In their quest to push for ever-greater valuations, corporate leaders asked the wrong question, asking whether they “can” do something rather than whether they “should” do it. My guess is, sending a half-dozen criminals to jail will usher in a new round of corporate responsibility, and restore much-needed integrity to corporate America.

I’m ready to launch a one-man campaign against what passes for “entertainment” in America these days – specifically sports and music. Professional baseball players, whose average annual salary is $3 million, came within hours of walking out on strike. Come on, these guys get paid to play games. The owners aren’t any better, holding communities hostage, squeezing taxpayers for hundreds of millions of dollars for new stadiums. There’s an entitlement mentality that badly needs an attitude adjustment. When it comes down to it, sports teams are just another business, and I’m ready to help pull the plug on the whole shebang. I’m at the point where I’d like to just implode the system and start over. Rock concerts have fallen victim to the same greed mentality. Paul McCartney came to down the other day and was charging $250 a ticket; The Eagles reunion tour charged $150; The Who (so old that two of their four members are dead) charged $135. It’s all market-driven. If nobody showed up for the concerts, or watched the games on TV, revenues would dry up and prices would return to reality. I’ve decided to do my part by cutting down on my attending and viewing; I encourage you to do the same.

If you think things look bleak in the stock market right now, wait 10 or 15 years. Right now, demographics have created an automatic escalator effect; there is significantly more money being invested each week than is being withdrawn. What’s left of the 79 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 have reached their prime earning years, and their nest egg has to be stashed someplace other than the bedroom mattress. But beware: as the leading edge of those Baby Boomers begins retiring, as they begin pulling their life savings out of the market for monthly living expenses, the weekly surplus being invested in the market will slow down and eventually reverse itself. When too few dollars are pursuing too many stocks, the price is going to drop – big time. A good alternative? Real estate. Last time I checked, they weren’t making any more land.

College isn’t all it’s cracked up to be anymore. When I was a kid, it was assumed that the only way you were going to have a chance to succeed in life was to have a four-year sheepskin from an accredited university. These days, the degree doesn’t mean as much as real-world experiences. There are plenty of 20-somethings working minimum wage service jobs; they learned how to play the education game, but weren’t very good at playing the game of life. Two of my three kids are forgoing college, and to be honest, I’m not a bit disappointed. After postponing adulthood and responsibility for two years at a community college, my son has decided he’d like to control how many hours he works and how much money he makes, so he’s following in his father’s footsteps and has taken a job in sales, working on commission. My youngest daughter is attending a trade school to earn a cosmetology degree, with the intention of opening her own business. Smart moves.


Previous Articles

Determine Your Beliefs
Personal Experience
Half a Loaf
Compromising on Strong Opinions
Trust the Marketplace to Determine Housing Affordability

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About the Author;
Vic Ellison, Apple Valley, Minnesota, is the father of three and the grandfather of two, and has been married for 25 years. Vic is an independent businessman with extensive backgrounds in politics and writing. He can be reached at Vic@boomerjournals.com