Month: November 2012 (Page 3 of 4)

Simply put, I’d like to remind my friends of all persuasions that the government doesn’t create all jobs, consumers do, too. Hands down, jobs and economy were key issues for this election. Now we have about half the nation upset at the outlook for the next 4 years, whining and complaining that jobs and markets look bleak. 

So, I say it again, vote with your dollar. 

The powers-that-be maintain their status because we’re writing their checks. And we do it in the name of “cheaper and easier.” 

I have a friend who owns a store. It’s a beautiful store filled with products she adamantly believes in and uses at home. She won’t sell me something she wouldn’t use for her own kids. But her store contains niche products, not created for masses but for those who specifically seek them out. She can tell you the place in which each of her products are made, and probably even the first names of the product creators. She can explain advantages, disadvantages and proper uses. She’s filled with a wealth of wisdom that anyone seeking this niche lifestyle would come and sit at her feet for hours. 

And you know what happens? Customers come in and check it out. They listen to her advice and take copious notes. Then they buy it on Amazon. In the name of a few dollars. 

We like to bicker and complain about the dismal shape of the economy yet we’re not willing to keep a local storefront thriving because we like to save a few bucks. It happens in nearly any industry. But our unwillingness to direct our dollar towards the local people who provide product, leadership, commerce, not to mention jobs to our local community will be the death of our economy, not any political figurehead. 

I’ve heard – and used – the argument that such a lifestyle is simply too expensive. I buy $4 lettuce from my co-op when I can get it for under $2 (without a 40% off sticker) at Meijer. Sometimes local is expensive because it’s not afforded the luxury of mass production. (But increase the number of local buyers? Perhaps you’ll see prices begin to dip. The farmer can grow more, afford to hire a few hands, and compete with his prices while creating jobs.) 

Our challenge isn’t that we don’t have enough money to support our local merchants – the problem is that we don’t have enough money to have everything we want. Sometimes we have to make choices. For our household, it came down to Cheetos vs. local lettuce. (Okay, The high amount of crap in Cheetos did weigh in on that decision). We could afford to buy local designs if we didn’t feel the need to fill more than one closet with clothes. We would put the money out for a nearby photog if we didn’t believe that every month needed to be captured on film canvass. And don’t get me started on art. 

Sam Walton convinced us that we could have it all because it’s cheap enough. But when we buy in, we choose consumption instead of supporting our very neighbors – the people down our street, the parents of the kid on our son’s soccer team, the folks buying ads for our school programs. The tax-payers of our schools, which we complain need more help (enter: more jobs). 

For the past 12 months we’ve been inundated by the republican and democratic parties who spent billions trying to persuade us that their candidates were the only hopes for our future. According to an “official” site the grand total was $1,171,000,000. According to my “unofficial” FB poll, only 1 in 12 individuals contributed  “minimally” to the Presidential election*. If that stat translated, then he spent $59,906 (based on Census results). (BTW, friend, could I get a loan?) 

So, how did our mailboxes really get stuffed? Haggerty said, Follow the money trail. For instance: my Republican teacher friends ought to be awfully frustrated, as their NEA union spent their hard-earned salaries-turned-dues to the tune of $10,928,466 (Thanks David Guggenheim for pointing me to that relationship). Our biggest Democratic-minded businesses seem to be Google and Microsoft. For the Republicans, it’s Goldman-Sachs and and Bank of America (so, that’s where my late fee goes…) (source). These are just the super-big players. I completely avoided the research involved with PACs and SuperPACs. That just makes my head spin. 

Friends, can you imagine what politics would look like if we took away the power of the corporate dollar? 

Can you imagine the shape of our communities if we rerouted that influence to our downtown, to the people who actually know our names and faces and children and needs? 

Large organizations have their place; several corporations do a splendid job providing for their communities (Honda, Nationwide and Hobart come to mind). Not all big business is evil and we all find a place for it in our lives (I still shop at Meijer. I’m not a purist.)  But let’s be careful just how much their voice is heard over ours.  I’m not sure power is ever really stolen, but rather purchased. So, the next time you find yourself swiping the plastic, ask who will be speaking on your behalf. 

It’s voting day and I still don’t know which ballot I’ll cast. I’m being completely honest. I have no. freaking. idea. It’s kept me up from 5am. 

I wouldn’t count myself as an uninformed voter, or even an apathetic one. I do care; I’ve watched debates, read my Time magazine, and had fruitful discussions with family and friends. I can talk, at least a little, to most of the points of debate (except foreign policy, but my general view is a bit simplistic anyway. I think that when Jesus said, “love your enemy” he meant “don’t bomb them.”) So it’s not as if I don’t know or don’t care. It’s that I don’t see solutions in the rhetoric. 

On the one hand, I tend to be a bit more liberal than my Christian counterparts on social issues – or at least, I’ve come to land there politically, even if my moral roots are planted more conservatively. I actually do differentiate my political and my moral beliefs about the big “hot topics” because I’m not sure that simply because I believe one way that all people should, let alone do, agree. My government is not my pastor, so if it wants to get rid of a maximum – or minimum – number of penises allowed in a loving, committed relationship, then the rights of others take precedent because my own haven’t been abridged. My government is also not my doctor, so I don’t believe it should be making decisions that could, essentially, force me to give birth. I’ve given birth a few times. I find it appalling that we want to force it on people, even when another option is heinous. There simply are no winners in that conversation, so perhaps we we should go about seeking out numerous ways to keep this from happening, other than simply making a law. Just an idea from an idealist. 

That being said, I’m not sure these are the issues upon which I should base my vote. Social issues are important, and the direction our government moves us will greatly influence our action. However, it’s not the sole focus of the government. So it can’t be the sole focus of my vote. 

But on the other side, I believe in small government. I believe in the power of local, including local economies, local governments and local people. This seems to be a very republican approach, and I dig it. I was a Ron Paul “power to the States” gal. I do believe that if Romney were to sweep, one of the ways in which he’d bring some balance is to eliminate the thick middle – because that’s what corporations do to trim down, and he’s a corporate thinker. I like the trimming. I have yet to interact with a state-run entity that offers a clean, efficient approach. (Strong anti-union gal here… they served a purpose for a time, and could again, but currently?….) And in the top ten of my pet peeves is blatant wastes of my time. Yet, I’ve worked for larger organizations. Inefficiencies still exist no matter how many people get fired; so, I don’t have my hopes too high.  

So while I think Romney will do economic work in the direction of my favor, I don’t believe he approaches the office with a love and desire to serve the American people. I see him as a man who wants to run a successful business. But people aren’t corporations and profitability cannot be our only guiding principle. I worked for a company that, for a time, was profitable but miserable. I don’t want the same for our country. To make it clear, I’m not sure Obama has much of a lead on this. 

I’ve narrowed it down to an imperfect system offering imperfect candidates with imperfect solutions to clean up an imperfect society. We need strong leadership, we really do. But neither candidate – or party – will do the work of creating a nation that is compassionate for one another or reciprocates blessing in a way that grows the greater good. 

Only I can do that. Or you. Or my neighborhood. Or my school. Or my church. Or my small group. Or my Co-op. My president can set an example, give a motivating speech and create a few tax breaks as incentive. But only the goodness in the common citizen will really bring about change. We want a government that will fix our problems with minimal work on our part; but that doesn’t exist. If we want our country to be different, we as a people need to do something different. 

My friend Bob, who might get a write-in today, put on his FB after a presidential debate: News flash America: a new president (or the existing one) isn’t going to save us. Turn off your television. Volunteer in your community. Have a meal with your neighbors. Reconcile a broken relationship.. Etc..

He’s right. I think of the ways people I know really are trying to change the world. My friend Angela fights abortion with the ways in which she promotes, encourages, empowers and supports adoption and it changed the life of the little boy down her hallway. My new friends here in Troy spend money and energy to make local goods available easily and support the good work of farmers who love producing healthy options for the community. My friend Allison believes that we should be able to purchase products for our kids and family that are healthy and free of harmful chemicals and spends precious hours away from her own kids providing them down the street. My friend Lindsay devotes herself to changing the relational atmosphere of numerous small kids in the area through mentoring and positive relationships. 

They’re all passionately behind their (opposing) candidate; but no matter who wins this evening (or after the recount), they’ll keep on doing the work. Because they believe in something much bigger than a man in an oval office. 

I told JJ I was struggling with my voting decision; he asked if I’d prayed about it. As I turned to scripture, I came upon several parables Jesus told about planting seed. One of them said, “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Jesus said this is what the kingdom of God is like. We don’t know how, but it grows among us. It can – and will – among any political landscape. (Truthfully, it was born amid one of the most oppressive, so surely we can’t worry too much). 

So, I’ll spend my few moments – hopefully no more than an hour? – at the polls. But then I must get back to the field. Because that’s where my work is rooted. My hope is that each of us, no matter if our man is declared the winner, will do even a little bit more to become the society that we dream it could be. Not just by voting, but by living out our values with and for one another. 

Getting back to basics