Month: May 2007

Categories
politics

Ron Paul

Outside of the three leading candidates from each of the two major parties I have heard more about Ron Paul in political discussions online than any other candidate. I have heard members of three distinct political parties interested in his candidacy. For that reason I have been very eager to learn more about him. Honestly, from all the discussion I only had a vague idea of what to expect.

I found a politician who is exceptionally principled with a long track record of sticking to his principles. Unfortunately I did not come away convinced that he would be willing/able to work with people who have varied viewpoints. Generally speaking I like the principles that he stands for, but if good principles stand in the way of actual progress then they are a stumbling block to the country. We have already seen for years the results of a president who does not feel the need to compromise. I don’t mean to suggest that Ron Paul would be like George W. Bush – they’re quite different – but he very well might be as insulated from outside influence as the current administration has been.

I struggled to come to grips with Congressman Paul but then I recognized what I was struggling with (lack of evidence that he could work effectively with the opposition) and realized that I could not endorse Ron Paul in 2008.

Categories
life

Use Your Privileges

Last night right after I got in bed, Laura and I have a fun little interchange:

Laura: Can I make one last Mother’s Day request?
David: Sure.
L: Can you go shut the window in the girls’ room?
D: Good thing you asked now. (as I get out of bed)
L: How many minutes do I have?
D: Nineteen.

After I was back in bed Laura got up. Soon I hear from the darkness:

L: How many minutes do I have?
D: Six.
L: Can you help me? . . .

Categories
life

Every Day Should Be Mother’s Day

I don’t really care about Mother’s Day as an excuse to celebrate. I think of all the comments I heard today about fathers and/or children making breakfast-in-bed for Mom and then I find myself standing at the sink doing the dishes thinking, “this would look like something I do on Mother’s Day as a treat for Laura.” The thing that bugs me is, it’s not. I’m doing the dishes on Mother’s Day because they need to be done, just like I do the dishes on a rather regular basis because it’s a courteous thing to do. I watch the kids on Mother’s Day so that Laura can have some time alone just like I do on other days because it’s nice for her to be relieved of the endless strain of taking care of the kids every second of the day.

So I begin to wonder why we have Mother’s Day, is it just a cheap excuse to fail to honor and appreciate mothers on the other 364 days they are working for us? I would be surprised if there was a mother anywhere who would honestly prefer to sleep in and have breakfast in bed twice a year to pamper her (Mother’s Day and her birthday) rather than have someone step in and help with the dishes, the kids, the laundry, and the cooking multiple times a week just because that’s what it means to be partners in family life.

The best purpose that Mother’s Day should serve is to have an outward celebration of motherhood that our children can recognize while they are too young to notice that Dad is always finding ways to help relieve the burden that Mom carries every day.

Categories
life

20 Miles

I have been looking toward this morning ever since I started training. This was the magic distance where I might hit “the wall” and really know what I was facing with my goal to run a marathon. I woke up at 5:30 full of adrenaline because I was in the middle of a dream about World War II. I got up and dressed and then drank 12 ounces of water before starting off.

I ran at a very consistent pace (25 1/2 to 26 minutes for each 3.1 mile loop) and finished the 20.6 miles in under 3 hours. If the first 20.6 miles of the marathon go like that I can run the last 5.6 miles at 10 minutes a mile and still finish in under 4 hours. Very encouraging.

Categories
politics

James McCall

James McCall has the desire, but not the preparation to be President. Many of the issues he identifies are not centrol, and sometimes not even on the radar of the average voter. He recognizes the discontent of the citizenry, but seems to lack the ability to inspire others to make the changes that our country must make. I also notice that his priorities do not appear to focus on the most important issues.

I can’t endorse James McCall.

Categories
culture life politics

Commercial Zones

I was pleased to see my view on city planning represented in yesterdays Transportation Watch. That view being the need to make space for commercial areas in order to lessen the need for commuting – that is the number one way to reduce traffic in the long term. That article also mentioned a good example of such planning in the land that is being developed by Kennecott. They call it the “poster child for doing it right.” Today I found an article on the groundbreaking of the first commercial areas in the Kennecott development.

The thing that really interests me about this is that it is a rare thing when an existing city has the chance to implement this kind of strategic planning after the city has been well established. Luckily, I think that Lehi has that opportunity. Especially in conjunction with Saratoga Springs, we have enough land still undeveloped, and enough land which is ready for some revitalization, that we can still make a pretty god mix of commercial with our residential within Lehi specifically and the northwest part of Utah County in general. The key will be to start planning and acting now before this already small window of opportunity closes due to haphazard development.

Categories
politics

Candidate Catch-Up

For my latest installment of falling behind I will simply report that I have James McCall, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo, and Tommy Thompson left from last month. In addition we have Steve Adams, John Bowles, Jim Gilmore, David Koch, Raymond McKinney, and Donald Allen to consider.

I swear this thing gets longer all the time. (Actually this is the same number I had a month ago – I’m just 6 people farther down the growing list 😉 )

UPDATE 5/29/2007: I had not looked at Raymond McKinney before I listed him, it turns out he is running for VP so he should not have been on the list. Somehow I also managed to list Donald Allen as an addition although I had already posted on his candidacy.

Categories
culture technology

Looking to Europe

I do not look favorably on many of the traits common among many European countries (higher taxes to fund broader social programs, shorter workweeks, that kind of thing). However a brief mention of Europe in Transportation Watch reminded me that there is one area where we could learn from Europe. They have learned to make use of transit systems so much that many people have no need of cars. Admittedly their population density almost demands this, but our population density is not decreasing so we should be planning ahead.

California is looking at a high-speed rail line that would make lots of short-distance air travel obsolete between San Diego and Sacramento. Here in the States we love to fly everywhere. It’s so bad that Amtrack is almost useless because we are not willing to take the extra time to ride the train that is slightly cheaper. If California actually puts in the funding to build this high-speed rail line they will have a train that is cheaper than the planes and faster than airport security. If that could be done in a number of other travel corridors as well we would have fewer planes in the sky, less fuel being used, and faster travel through airports due to lower volumes of travelers when most air travel is for longer distances.

Similar benefits could be realized on a smaller scale by implementing good transit options in population centers so that we would not be so reliant on cars for all our local travel. At least on those we can look to some examples of good transit systems here in the States rather than wondering what the rest of the world knows that we have not figured out yet.

UPDATE 5/14/97: I stand corrected – as Hyrum points out, Amtrack is not slightly cheaper than the airlines on cross-country trips.

Categories
politics

John McCain

As with all of the major candidates, my evaluation of John McCain simmered in the back of my mind for a long time. The roller-coaster of my feelings about his candidacy was hardly unusual. I have long liked the fact that McCain seems to be functionally independent of his party affiliation. As the campaign season matured I was disappointed to see more positions which seemed calculated to appeal to the base rather than driven by independent common sense. I have come to the conclusion now that my disappointment was driven by personal disagreement with the positions.

I believe that McCain chooses his positions based on personal conviction even when they are unpopular. There is a consistency in his message between those things that appear to be party-driven and those things that appear more independent. I think that it is his party that has walked a crooked line while McCain was holding fast to his personal convictions.

Seeing that, it became easy for me to endorse John McCain for President.

Categories
politics

Balanced Government

I have long believed that Utah needs balanced government. I have made most of the same arguments on this issue as were raised in that article. Having a single party in power does not generally provide the give-and-take, compromise-and-entertain-new-ideas environment that is the strength of a democratic society. One of the problems that encourages the current dominant-party situation in this state is the blurring of the proper separation of state and federal government. (And you thought I was going to talk about church and state separation.) One of the major causes for this blurring is that the federal government has been given power in many areas that were once reserved to the states. The It’s-a-Small-World mentality means that we think everything is local and we have to make our local decisions based on national implications.

The Utah County Democratic Party tried to make some distinction between different spheres of government last year by adopting a platform that was less like the platform of the Democratic National Committee and more closely aligned to the mainstream voters of this very conservative region. Now they face some resistance from local democrats who are more in favor of the national platform. In a place where the other party has more than 10 times the number of members your party has the initial move makes sense, but what does that imply about the relationship between the national party and the county party? How far from the national platform can you go and still retain the party name?

I don’t know the answer, but I do know that the idea that there should be no correlation between the platforms is as useless as the idea that there should be no variation between them. I hope that the balance here can be found so that Utah will have two viable parties throughout the state and not a ruling party and an opposition party such as we now have.