I Felt a Little Bit of Barf in My Mouth Just Then

It’s been way too long since I’ve written. So a fast update: marriage is good. I recommend it to anyone, and highly discourage (heh…must have meant encourage it when married to my ex) divorce as much as possible.

So I’ve wanted to address some of this Presidential (and geez, with this field I should probably write that with a lower-case “p”) race. I’m watching the second debate between McCain and the media’s big “O” right now. And it’s such a complete crock of nonsense. It’s makes a little bit of my dinner come up in my mouth. Dinners and debates are alike in that neither one is all that great when regurgitated.

What disturbs me…viscerally…is when politicians talk about “the American Dream”. I love the American Dream. I live and dream the American Dream. But not the bastardized version the political pimps are running around trying to whore out to the American people.

The American Dream is not about guaranteeing that everyone has a house, or health care, or a good job, or a high salary, or even the best food. It’s about guaranteeing that each of us has the opportunity to make those things happen for ourselves. That we have the freedom to take risks, rise to challenges, overcome obstacles, and live or die by our own decisions to do so.

I’m not a wealthy person. I do well, and have a good job. It wasn’t handed to me, and I didn’t have a rich set of parents to make it all happen. I grew up qualifying for free school lunches, but not taking advantage of them. I grew up learning how to work so I would have the skills to make my way through college, and paying the consequences for my own mistakes. I worked 45 hours a week while carrying a full-time college course load. That brought me to the point of having the qualifications to start on a good career path in which I have continued to work hard so that I can progress and rise in my field and sphere.

Also during my career I have known and heard people that didn’t want to work hard. Didn’t want to continue to learn and grow. Wanted to just coast through their careers, continue getting paid, and largely not have much expected of them. They didn’t think it was fair when they didn’t receive larger salaries because of an individual failing. They thought ill of those who were rewarded for their efforts.

I’ve worked to encourage and mentor several people in that second category. But it’s their choice, ultimately, whether or not to step up and take responsibility for their own success, failure, or mediocrity. And ultimately my own success is mine. We, as a country, need to come to a remembrance that the only thing that is supposed to be “fair” about our country is our ability to succeed or fail on our own.

This presidential race is only one to the bottom at this point. Thank goodness there’s at least a VP candidate that I think might actually believe in the real American Dream in the middle of a group of pandering, slavering idiots that only support the building of the whiniest society this country has ever known.