Hillary & Donald at Al Smith Event

Al Smith Just Rolled Over in His Grave

The View from the Middle

The purpose of the Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is to honor the memory of Al Smith, the first Catholic to run for President, and of course to raise money for needy children.  It is famous for the speakers’ use of self-deprecating humor to entertain the star-studded audience in that effort.  But, in the spirit of this year’s vicious Presidential campaign, Hillary and The Donald decided to continue the assault on each other and the sensibilities of the American people last night.

Neither of these two (insert your own expletive descriptor here) could find the “high road” with a GPS device and a searchlight signaling the entrance.  They each turned a few minutes of decency into vicious attacks on each other.   Both gave stumbling performances as they delivered insults vaguely disguised as jokes to an audience that actually responded properly with jeers and or silence.

The Donald received more catcalls than Hillary, but that was only because this was a friendlier crowd for her.  She slammed America’s Mayor in his own town, and you could tell neither the crowd nor Rudy Giuliani were amused.  She said the Donald sees a “4” when he looks at the Statue of Liberty, and no one understood what she was talking about, until she explained that he might give her a “5” if she changed her hair.  This helped explain the joke, but it didn’t make it any funnier.

The Donald was no better, suggesting that Hillary was just “pretending” to like Catholics during last evening’s event.  Both should have watched a video of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney as they successfully walked the line of self-deprecation and humorous jabs last year.

To me, this was the final evidence that neither one of these so-called candidates deserve our votes for the highest office in the land.  Mercifully, this manure-throwing contest disguised as a campaign will soon be over.  The only problem is, one of these two idiots will actually be the President of the United States.  Our only hope for the future is that the American people can be more mature and patriotic than either of these nominees and unite despite Washington’s attempts to divide us.

Seriously, we need to stop falling for the divisive rhetoric.  As you walk through the mall today or go to a ball game tomorrow or go to church this Sunday, realize that Washington wants you to hate half of the people you see.  There is much more that unites us than divides us like liberty and justice and equal opportunity.  Remember this and maybe our collective love for each other can overcome our corrupt, incompetent, divisive government.

Final Debate Prep

And You Thought It Couldn’t Get Any Worse!

The View from the Middle

I wanted everyone to know that I am planning NOT to watch the debate tonight.  I’m literally sick of slimy, gutter tactics being used by both sides.  If it isn’t Trump’s 3^rd grade bully tactics, it’s Hillary’s lying, hypocritical rhetoric.  It sickens me that one of these two people is going to the President of the United States.  I wish I had a “reset” button and we could deliver two different candidates out of the primaries, but that’s just wishful thinking.  No matter who wins, the country’s biggest challenge will be unity, and that is something that neither of these two seem to be able to deliver.

There are a couple of things that favor Trump tonight in the debate, if he can stay out of the gutter and on message.  First, he stands for change and most of this country is sick of Washington and it’s corrupt, inept, duplicitous, dysfunctional ways.  84% of Americans disapprove of Congress, so if The Donald can come across as the change agent, he will appeal to the vast majority of voters.  Second, Trump has just embraced and related issue that gets a “thumbs up” from 75% of Americans and 79% of Independent voters, and that issue is “Congressional Term Limits”.  Even 65% of Democrats favor term limits, so if Trump is seen as the champion of this concept he will definitely get the support of much of the public.  This has been a recent development and you might even call it a “brilliant” move.  Maybe it was Kellyanne Conway’s idea.

Finally, I have to comment on President Obama’s recent “off prompter” comments that should confirm that there is no shame, honesty or even common sense left in Washington.  First, the President suggested that Trump’s complaints about voter fraud were un-American and threatened to undermine our entire election process.  I guess he forgot about Al Gore’s complaints of the exact same thing in 2000.  How soon we forget!

But the piece de resistance of hypocrisy occurred when he said, “If, whenever things are going badly for you…you start blaming somebody else, then you don’t have what it takes to be in this job.”  This, from the man that blamed George Bush for every problem he had for at least six years, and only recently shifted to blaming Congress for everything, because the “blame Bush” strategy was just not believable any more.  Gag me, please.

For anyone who thinks government is the answer to anything, I say, “take a hard look at what government (Washington) does right now.”  And let’s not forget that we are fast approaching $20 trillion in debt that we will pass on to our kids.  Great job D.C.  You are destroying the lives of our children before they are even born.  Or should I say, “IF they are even born”.

Disney.gov

Disney.gov

The View from the Middle

Last week, Brenda and I took a vacation with our two daughters, their husbands and our five grandchildren.  There were many benefits to this time off.  First, we got back to enjoying our family as we took a break from this year’s Presidential campaign, which seems to sink to new depths every week.  It has left me and most Americans feeling dirty, infuriated and even depressed. 

I was able to watch my grandchildren play with kids of every race and creed without a shred of prejudice.  This reminded me that we are not the racist bigots that our politicians would like us to believe.  As I watched these youngsters interact I was able to envision a colorblind future and that gives me hope that the decency of the average American can conquer the corrupt, dysfunctional politicians in Washington.

The final benefit for me was that we got to spend some time in one of my favorite places in the world, Walt Disney World.  I’m sure that part of my affection for Disney is driven by the inner child that I refuse to release, but some of it has to do with the quality of the experience we get there.

Brenda and I were both at Disney World when it was just The Magic Kingdom, which was launched in 1971.  But Disney was driven to innovate as it competed with theme parks around the country.  Not only has it added whole new sections to The Magic Kingdom, but established Epcot Center in 1982, Hollywood Studios in 1989 and the Animal Kingdom in 1998.  During that time they have added multiple water parks, hotels and shopping areas in it’s almost 30,000-acre area.  It really is a shining example of capitalism.

In addition to the innovation, they astonish you with the park experience.  All of the parks are unbelievably clean.  We were there one day after the hurricane passed through central Florida, and there wasn’t a twig on the ground, let alone a branch, and there wasn’t a flower out of place.  It was unbelievable.  And the quality of service is awe-inspiring.  Today, Disney World employees over 71,000 people at this single site who they call “cast members”.  I’m not sure how they do it, but all 71,000 seem to be hell bent on making your visit a memorable event.  From the greeters to the Jungle Cruise ship captains to restaurateurs, these cast members have been thoroughly trained and they deliver every hour of every day.

These are all the reasons why I love Disney.  It is the creativity, the innovation and the service that keep me coming back.  After a couple of days at the park this year I began to ask myself, what would Disney World look like if it was run by the government?  Let’s take a realistic view of that.

What is the first thing the government does when it takes over anything?  It makes it a monopoly.  When it came to Disney World, the government would quickly use legislation, regulation or subsidies to eliminate the competition.  Now, they would say that is a good thing, but let’s think hard about the implications of this cozy, non-threatened environment.

If Disney World had no competition, what are its incentives to be innovative, efficient or even deliver a quality product?  If you have no competition, why innovate?  You are the only option.  If people don’t like what you have, tough.  There’s no other place to go.  Why should they work hard to deliver quality service?  Again, there is no other place to go.  “Take it or leave it,” they would say.  We are the only option.  What is their incentive to be efficient?  They don’t have to deliver a profit.  The government has deep pockets (they actually don’t – the government has no money.  All they spend comes from taxpayers like you and me).  “We don’t have to be efficient,” they would say.  In fact, government programs get rewarded for inefficiencies by getting their budgets increased.  Then they can say that they are “investing” in Disney or whatever program they happen to running.

In no time, Disney would be a dirty, dilapidated, overpriced facility whose employees just punched the clock and couldn’t care less about providing good service.  After all, there really is no incentive to do your work well as witnessed by the VA, the DMV or the IRS (and the list could go on and on).  No one can get fired and actual good work is ignored or even punished (ask the whistle blowers).

So why should you go down the dream / nightmare scenario about Disney.  The government does the same thing to everything it touches.  Just look at the Department of Education, the VA or the Social Security (lock box) trust fund.  OK, you say, but how many more industries / areas does the government have its eye on?  Think about what our health care system would like if it indeed became a one-payer system.  Obamacare is already a mess, which many would argue was the plan in the first place.  It will take just a tiny shove for us to have a no competition, high priced, low service health care industry controlled by the Gov.

Then, look out for the energy industry.  In the name of global warming, or climate control (or whatever they call it these days) we can have an energy industry where President Obama’s promise of skyrocketing electricity costs with poor service and no innovation can become a reality. 

And finally, look out for a Department of Communications (free speech) where safe zones are the norm and micro-aggressions like “America is a melting pot” can land you in jail.  Free speech will still be allowed, of course, as long as you say anything that the government approves.  In this scenario, conservatives will become a terrorist group.  Oops, I think that’s already the case. 

You can either read 1984 by George Orwell or live it with our Big Brother government tomorrow.