Tag Archives: inspiration

General Posts

Saturday Afternoon Ramblings

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Here’s an update on the farm.  The first hydroponic unit is doing pretty well.  All of our seeds but two came up, and so far, all of the plants are growing well, especially the cucumbers.  Assuming nothing goes awry, we should have our first harvest by the end of this month.  We’ve learned a lot on this initial run and have some plans for how to refine and improve the system.  Our next goal is to build a second system that is dedicated solely to one crop.  From there, we’ll work on building at least one unit for each specific plant.

Now that this system has proven itself, I have a question open to anyone.  Do you think it would be worth the effort to run a second Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the second unit?  The last campaign was a little disappointing, but now, with a functional unit in place, do you think more people would be willing to contribute?  After watching the efficiency of the system, I’m convinced now more than ever that this is the future of farming, and I’m more dedicated than ever to getting this project off the ground.  Please, share your thoughts and let me know your opinions.

General Posts

Wednesday Afternoon Ramblings

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I’ve stayed out of politics, mostly because I believe it’s become a shell game of mass distraction, but the comments about the 47% from you, Mitt Romney, struck a raw nerve with me.  You want to say that I and people like me expect the government to take care of us.  You say we see ourselves as victims.  You imply we do not take responsibility for our own lives.  Well, let me set you straight.

First and foremost, I wasn’t born the son of a governor with insider connections.  My father is a working man who, until he became disabled, held two and three jobs for most of my life.  He taught me the value of a dollar, the pride of honest labor, and respect for others.  He pushed me to get an education and make something of myself.  He taught me the importance of persistence and the necessity of pursuing dreams for finding inner contentment.  From the actions of your life and the rhetoric of your campaign, I can see your father didn’t teach you these same values, and for that, I’m deeply saddened for you.

You see, your warped perception that wealth is the measure of a person’s worth is simply wrong.  Yes, you’ve made a pile of money buying and dismantling companies, then shipping those jobs overseas.  I’m certain you are quite proud of yourself for all the money you’ve “earned” by doing so.  What you fail to see, what you and your crony capitalist pals fail to grasp, is that you are not following the rules of the free market.  These rules are not enforced by any government; they are not arbitrary; they are not negotiable.  Eventually, markets correct.  When you manipulate a market, as in moving a manufacturing company to a country that subsidizes labor, thereby undercutting the wages of your own consumers, eventually your own market will implode.  The invisible hand may move slowly, but it does move.  One day, you will wake up to find that you can no longer manipulate the market to your benefit.

When that day comes, and I acknowledge that it may or may not occur in your lifetime, you or your children will find that the working class people you so cynically mock as lazy and shiftless have something you and your family can never buy.  We have a deeply-rooted sense of loyalty to our families, our friends, our communities.  We know how to dig in our heels and fight harder because most of us have had to hold multiple jobs throughout our lives.  We don’t need others to cook our meals, drive our cars, keep our schedules, or manage our money.  We’ve had to juggle all of those aspects of our lives on our own because most of us can’t afford to pay someone else to do it for us.  Most of the working people I’ve known, the vast majority, have a deep sense of pride in the jobs they do, no matter how low that job may seem to you.

I may not have as much money as you do, and in every facet of my life I may not measure up to your definition of greatness, but at the end of my life, I’ll be able to look back and say that I gave something to my community, my state, and my country.  Teaching English may not be a glamorous job or lucrative or fun, but I know I’ve enriched other people’s lives.  You, sir, cannot say the same.  Your career, both in the private and public sectors, has been about destroying other people, either by dismantling their business or selling their job overseas.  All of your wealth, all of your power, all of your entitlements are selfish, empty vessels.  I pity your perverted sense of right and wrong.

Before you speak of working class people again, perhaps you should live for a time in our shoes.  One week should suffice.  One week of worry about buying groceries or paying the electric bill would teach you a valuable lesson you’ve never experienced.  One week of ironing your own clothes, buying your own groceries, running your own errands, and toiling for a boss who undervalues your contribution to their organization would do wonders for your outlook on life and family and labor.  Your distorted concepts of working people, men and women who get out of bed each and every morning and work themselves into an early grave for substandard wages just to fulfill obligations to their children and families, is disturbingly arrogant and self-centered.  Your ignorance of humanity is alarming.  For an educated man, you are shockingly stupid.

You are correct about one thing.  I will not be voting for you, but not for the reasons you believe.  It’s not that I want the government to take care of me.  It’s that I cannot and will not offer support to a human being who looks upon the working class with such disdain and contempt.  Hopefully, enough of my fellow working class people will see that as well, and you will lose the election, becoming all you deserve to be, an insignificant footnote to history.

General Posts

Thursday Morning Ramblings

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I want to believe in the American Dream.  I want to believe in the United States as the land of opportunity.  However, throughout my nearly 40 years in this country, I’ve seen little proof that these notions still remain relevant for the majority of our citizens.  There are exceptions, of course.  Professional athletes still have rags to riches stories.  So do pop musicians.  And drug dealers.  Outside of those three sectors of the economy, I see few opportunities for people like me, ordinary folk not born of wealth and privilege, to break through the ever solidifying socioeconomic class system in our society.  I see virtually no upward mobility anymore, but ample downward cascading.

At the birth of our nation, two differing views of democracy vied for power.  On one side, the Hamiltonians believed that only landed gentry should have the right to vote and hold elected office.  Their rationale was that the working classes were too uncivilized and barbaric to self-govern.  They needed a strong ruling class to make decisions for them and keep them productive members of society.  If left to their own faculties, the Hamiltonians argued, the working classes would drink away their salaries, squander their resources, and create a shiftless nation of non-productive derelicts.  One can argue that there is some wisdom to this notion, for we all know plenty of people today who fit quite nicely into this vision of America the Hamiltonians feared.

Fortunately for most of us, however, there was another vision, fostered by Thomas Jefferson.  He and his followers believed that if we as a country cultivated leadership from every sector of society, providing education and opportunity for any ambitious enough to strive to better themselves, then our fledgling democratic-republic would break free from the old, feudalistic systems of Europe and create a new kind of society.  In this society, individual citizens from all backgrounds would have the right to self-govern, and furthermore, these citizens would be given the tools through public education to make better decisions for themselves and their families.  At the time, this notion was so new and so radical that even those it purported to elevate from second-class citizenship often derided it as the stuff of fairy tales.

When Jefferson was elected as our third president, his vision became the direction in which our country moved.  Throughout our history, however, this battle between the Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians has continued.  It has changed and morphed and evolved over the last 200+ years, but at its core, the central debate has remained the same.  Some believe that we need a wealthy elite to rule and lead, and others believe that even “commoners” have the ability to self-govern if given the proper tools.  There are countless shades of gray between these two poles, with countless visions and variations on how to arrive at each end.

Today, it feels as if the Hamiltonians have won.  Both of our major political parties seem to believe that the average person is incapable of self-governance.  Throughout my lifetime, self-sufficiency has been attacked and eroded from each end of the spectrum.  Now, the debate seems to be more about who should control the masses, big government or big business.  In my experience, neither has proven to have my best interests at heart.  In America today, I feel disenfranchised, powerless, and at the mercy of those in charge, which goes against everything I was taught about the foundation of our Constitution.  In this upcoming election, neither candidate puts forth a vision of America that I believe in, and the election itself seems more like a circus sideshow than a real public discourse on the direction of our society.

I want my country back.  I want a nation in which I feel in charge of my own destiny.  I want the opportunity to ply my trades without overbearing regulations from the government and competition squelching nonsense from the corporations.  I want a country that embraces innovation and technology again.  I want a country that allows for religious freedom for all.  I want a country in which a person can sink or swim based on their abilities and persistence, not on how much money they have to throw at a problem.  I want a country that embraces education and free thought and encourages individual expression.  I want the America I was promised as a child.