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Name: RedStateJD
Location: Rochester, NY
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Tolstoy Said It Best...

Posted by RedStateJD on Saturday, May 23, 2009 6:03:11 PM
"When in doubt, my dear fellow, do nothing."  
-Leo Tolstoy, Novelist, War and Peace

I have only recently come to realize just how profound a quote that is.  Think about it!  You have arrived at a crossroads in your life, and there is some huge decision that must be made.  No great decision should ever be made in haste.  When one does not have time to sort out their views or make their decisions properly, a mistake can be made.  You might not have time to consider other options that might not have come to you originally.  You could be under influence, being pushed or forced to make a decision one way, and pressure, second thoughts and more doubts can creep in along the way.  

In my life I have had to make choices that I knew would impact the rest of what was to come, just like everyone has.  Recently I had decided to finally answer doubts I had had for over a year about where my life was going.  There has been pressure on a side to choose a certain way, and I have decided that the above Tolstoy quote, given to me recently by my father, was the best piece of wisdom to fit the circumstances.  I did not want to back down from what I wanted, but I did not want to give in to the pressure or anger of other parties.  I had to do what was best for me. 
If people were to be angry with me, despite my flaws or failure to act earlier, at least I was glad knowing that they could be angry towards me for being honest, and not deceitful.  It's all about doing nothing, and letting the solution present itself.  Sometimes things need to be let go of, and sometimes they need to be allowed to crash.

It is a deep shame, that some people never learned this lesson.

Our newly minted president comes to mind.  I have to believe that when he walked into the Oval office the first day on the job, his mind was full of doubts.  I have to believe it only because I think that any human being would be filled with doubts.  This is of course, the biggest job in the world!  Who could come into it with a clear-cut plan, and no second thoughts at all?

I believe that many people had had times of doubt over the past year when it came to a lot of things in this beautiful country we live in, the economy, the state of government.  It was the question on everyone's mind:  Are we doing the right thing?

Recessions have happened before, and often before hand there is a large stock market drop.  However, one fact many people are not aware of is that in about half of the declines of 10% or more in the stock markets had not been followed by a recession. (Jerry Seigel, Stocks From The Long Run)  In other cases, the stock market plunged after the recession was well underway.

The banks crashed in large part due to decades of government interference.  Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton both signed laws that allowed more and more lending to be forced out to lower incomes of people, even if the bank believed they people were not capable of paying the loans back. When the republicans and President Bush tried to warn about Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac back in 2002 and 2005, the democrats in congress blocked any real solutions.  People inside the companies like Freddie Mac knew that they were headed for the floor because they had been forced to make so many risk-laden loans.  David Andrukonis, the former Chief Risk Officer wrote a memo to former CEO Richard F. Syron in 2003 about such a collapse, saying it could do tremendous damage to the reputation and financial aspects of the company and country. It was also written later by several people inside the company that the CEO simply decided to ignore the warnings.  (At  Freddie Mac, Chief Discarded Warning Signs, Charles Duhigg, The New York Times, August 5, 2008)

There have been other housing bubbles in the US and around the world before this most recent one.  There had been other recessions.  People have found that when you look back, and we had meddled the least, the problems corrected themselves the quickest.  Harsh and hasty interference with a capitalist system usually turns out to be the proverbial 'wrench in the gears.'  It's too bad some people never do nothing, and let a new solution present itself.  War and Peace may be a lengthy read, but there are some valuable lessons to learn about patience.
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Greetings!

Posted by RedStateJD on Friday, May 22, 2009 2:46:44 AM
Greetings everyone and welcome to my first political blog!  

Well, I should correct that and say this is my first political blog on Townhall.com!  I am grateful to be here,
and have been reading many other blogs by some gifted writers.  (Two favorites of mine would be Mary
Katherine Ham and Ashley Herzog!)

On election night I was saddened when it became apparent that the McCain / Palin ticket was not moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
I was originally a Governor Romney man, and when he suspended his campaign I transferred over to Senator McCain.
I did not always see eye to eye on with him, but respected him and stood behind the party's champion.

When he picked up Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, I was proudly saying 'I told you so' to many people I knew.
I had called her being the VP nominee a few months before hand, after I had seen her interview on Glenn Beck's show.
I looked her up and found an extremely popular governor with strong conservative credentials who had become a politician
the old fashioned way:  She had earned it.  Moving up the ladder from one notch to the next, taking on members of oil companies 
and even her own party!  I liked what I saw.  She was an eloquent speaker, and had all the positions I desired in a candidate.  

Well, we all know how that turned out.  I firmly believe it was the tanking economy that sank the republican ticket.  I also will
go out on a limb and say that it was Governor Palin who kept the ticket going at all.   Thousands of people flocked to see her
speak at the rallies, it was awe-inspiring to watch.  I was also simultaneously appalled at how she was treated.  The media 
butchered her.  For all the mockery they had done to President Bush in 8 years, they did to her in three months.  People
who never bothered to research her for themselves ate it up, taking her interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric
as gospel-like example of her.  I would blame her handlers more, knowing that they should have prepared her better, and been
a tad more choosy who they let introduce her to the world.  

When I hear her talk, I hear a speaker and conservative like Ronald Reagan.  I can think of no compliment more flattering to 
give to the Governor.  When I see her speak and compare that to what we have now in the oval office I am deeply saddened.
I am not one of these bloggers who believes Barack Obama to be an evil man.  I do believe that he believes that he has the correct
world view.  I hear him and his party blaming the 'failed Bush policies,' which is slightly Ironic to me.

Such a socialist-like mentality for which many of his ideals are born, reminds me of many failed policies of the past also.

-The failed policies of the old Soviet Union, which helped lead to it's eventual collapse.  
-The failed policies of China which in recent years have lead to them moving more and more in a capitalist direction.  
-The failed policies of nationalized healthcare, which is bankrupting much of Europe.  
-The failed policies of appeasement, which let Adolf Hitler to come to power and slaughter millions.
-The failed policies of religious suppression and restrictions of speech, which lead to the worst kind of oppressions we have
ever seen in the world.

I could go on and on...

It is hard to pray for someone you disagree with so much, but I do.  I will continue to do so daily in hopes that one day
we may return to a path of economic, social, and personal freedom.

Till next time!
-JD


 
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