It's Like I Always Say

Over the years, I've had quite a few sayings that I've become fond of repeating.  For the most part, outside of my spouse and children, no one would know these quotes.

Now that I've just had another birthday, I'm getting old enough that I want to put these in writing.  I do this below knowing it will be a working list, I expect to add to it:

* There’s nothing wrong in living your life with a quiet confidence in what you’re doing.  [Social media and reality TV have ruined this concept.]

* There are no bad kids, there are only bad parents.

* No one is completely useless, because even useless people can be used as a bad example.

* He who lives with the afflicted, also suffers.

* Sometimes the reason a person does things is the same reason a dog licks his balls -- because he can.

* When you blame yourself, you feel like no one else has the right to blame you.

* If you aren't going to have an opinion about things, why bother waking up in the morning?

* People who don't support medical marijuana don't believe in evolution.

Modern Convention

I’ve been trying to avoid writing about the current state of America's national political affairs.  I feel like I’ve done that; even though this is a general election year and there’s a lot of crazy going on, particularly in the Republican Party, I only made one entry six months ago, around Iowa caucus time.

However, now that both national party conventions just ended, I have to at least write something about them.

So much of what you see and hear in the primary and convention season is coming from the party goofballs.  By that I mean, local political activists on the fringes who attend obscure rallies, and who will always follow the party line, no matter how extreme it is.

While these particular Democrats and Republicans usually have opinions that are very black-and-white (along with skin color), electing a president isn't a strict matter of pro-gun versus pro-gun control, or pro-business versus pro-middle class, or pro-religion versus pro-scientific fact-secular.  It's important to keep that in perspective.

It's been a fact for a long time that to win a general election, a candidate must appeal to the more centrist general electorate.  This is where the more centrist party figures are, and they don't attend the national conventions.

The centrist electorate is also where the political independents have the power.  That's folks like me.  But independents aren't invited on the crazy-town major party national convention train, either.

And so, the conventions come and go with no one really caring about those who don't think as they do, and no one asking for the help they ultimately need.  It's an unfortunate and frankly dumb way to go about nominating a person for president.

It's too bad there isn't a bona fide independent party.  And no, Libertarian Party, you're still too 'out-there' to qualify as a party of independents, although by being fiscally conservative and socially liberal, you're closer than the others.