Good morning everyone. I hope you enjoyed the brief interlude into the adventures of L. Andrew C, gentlemen philosopher and adventurer. I hope to be able to continue his adventures at a later date. So any feedback as to interest or enjoyment or even if you felt it was a waste of time please feel free to comment.
I hope that the absurdity of the writing was a nice break for people from all the stress in the news with the health care debate and Iran playing around with nukes and General Macrystal (sp?) calling for more troops in Afghanistan. I really am truly glad to be back on the train and able to blog again. While last week was a good one and beneficial in terms of getting work done and for the future of VOTE Oregon (Protecting the Electorate since 2009), as well as a shorter commute. I really missed the time I have on the train to sit and write and share my thoughts with my readers.
I know some of you read this everyday and I am thankful for that. Those of you who read me every few days I am thankful for that as well. I just had some thoughts about last week. I would say that I was in the minority in the room. Not in terms of race or religion but in terms of politics. You see this was a predominately conservative group of people. The room demographics seemed to break down like this. The majority of volunteers being both Seniors and Republicans. Then there was one or two, at most, senior Democrats followed by some middle-aged Republicans and then some younger college age Republicans. Now where does that leave me? Well I am an registered Oregon Independent Party member. So I found most of the discussions pretty interesting.
But I want to step away from the political positions of the people and just take a look at the people in the room. What we had was a very diverse group of people who took the time to volunteer in this effort. There were ex-military men, School teachers, farmers, housewives, small business folks as well as college students. What tied all of these people together was their belief in the Oregon System. In Oregon the referendum system is often the only way that the minority can be heard in Government. Some would argue that the system is to messy and results in laws that are not needed and often wasteful.
I would counter that the nature of Democracy is such that it is messy and sometimes wasteful but to me that is the beauty of it as well. We live in a country and state that lives and sometimes thrives under a system that allows for consistent periodic change. I like that. I like that eight years ago for many liberals America was being destroyed before their very eyes. Then the two terms of President Bush ended and now President Obama is in charge and for many conservatives America is being destroyed before their eyes.
Now I am not saying that there are not problems in today's government. Because we all know that there are. But what I am saying is that, for me at least, there is always hope. Because change is always coming around the bend. I look at the makeup of Congress today and remember that several years ago it looked entirely different and after a certain amount of time people grew fed up with it. The grew tired of the actions of Congress and they voted them out. Sure, the pundits on TV said it was a new mandate. I think it was a mandate but it was a mandate for new people and hopefully new behavior in office. Now today's Congress seems to have missed the message and people seem to be getting fed up again. I think soon there will be another change coming. I hope this change wakes some politicians up and makes them realize that this isn't about party politics but about ethical behavior and a responsibility to make America a better nation.
Because for the citizens of this land the only real option for us is to continue to vote out the politicians we do not agree with and vote in those we hope will do a better job. So just remember people when it seems darkest, when it seems like the future of our country is at stake, when it feels like you have no voice. there is change coming. There is change built into the system and by believing in the change and allowing for it to work we can make America a better place. So just hang in there folks.
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