the Proverbial Albatross

Voter turnout doesn't matter because it is always a bad indicator of progress. Universal suffrage is primarily to blame for the mess we currently find ourselves in today. Even Alexis de Tocqueville recognized that as soon as the electorate figures out that they can pay themselves from the coffers, the game is OVER!

The other primary cause for today's mess is the sad state of our compulsory education system which does nothing but create deferment to authority and intellectual dependency in our children. Anyone that has 'graduated' from this complete disaster called the public school system is unknowingly programmed to do nothing more than regurgitate pre-thought thoughts and do as they are told by their political/party masters.

Bottom line, neither issue will get fixed, therefore any reasonable person would do better spending their time preparing for the financial and political collapse of the American Empire rather than continue to whine about what IS and won't CHANGE.

One can tell much about society from their choice in food. There's an old saying, "You are what you eat".

The smallest daily risk-and-reward decisions reveal a lot about an individual. Those who avoid the smallest risks rarely achieve much. In the investment world, you won’t get rich investing in T-bills. In daily life, you won’t get far avoiding all risk either.

Even daily food choices can reveal one’s risk preferences. Whether trying a new restaurant or an entirely new cuisine, the chance of being unsatisfied is always present. However, the return is high. Finding the perfect restaurant or a favorite dish can be a life-changing experience.

But success and food? Where’s the connection? Exotic foods seem to attract the risk takers and movers in society. For example, walk into the average Indian restaurant or Vietnamese pho joint, and the demographic will be completely different from the average Burger King or Applebee’s restaurant. Usually, the crowd will be educated young professionals on the move. These are the types of people building careers and planning for the future. The price range doesn’t keep others out. An Indian buffet can go as low as 6 to 8 dollars. A sink-sized bowl of Vietnamese pho soup is nearly the same price. Yet suburbia is filled with a wasteland of chain restaurants and fast food.

We shouldn’t be surprised at all by these chains. The modern American abhors risk of any sort. Just look at locations such as New York’s Times Square. Tourists crowd into the square and then dine at the local TGIF chain. This is an insane concept to me that one would travel hours and hours to see a new location only to eat at a chain restaurant. But most Americans would rather eat microwaved garbage than face disappointment and uncertainty. The whole chain restaurant industry operates around risk-averse eaters rather than quality food.

Another risk crutch for many is geographic location. America’s poor are particularly scared to death of leaving their places of origin. The majority don’t need more programs to better their condition. They just need to move to the countryside. The benefits of being poor in the countryside compared to the inner city are immeasurable, ranging from better schools and less crime to lower rent.

My solution isn’t for everyone to get a college degree. It’s far simpler. If your career goals amount to being a fry cook at McDonald’s, then maybe it’s best to live in the country rather than the city, especially for a family with kids. In my book, raising children on the drug-filled streets of Baltimore or Detroit is right next to child abuse.

When a person becomes completely risk averse, there’s no amount of prodding, pushing, or government benefits to save them. But it hasn’t always been this way. In fact, it was the complete opposite. Previously, the poor sailed oceans to reach America, they crossed a continent for the California gold rush, and left the family farm for city factories. Now, people refuse to leave modern urban hellholes for the reward of a better life.

Can we get back to the old ways? Who knows. We’ll have to see a lot more adversity until the entrepreneurial risk spirit returns. Maybe the Greater Depression could offer such an unfortunate opportunity. The saddest thing, at least for me, is the fact that a supposedly 'progressive liberal' blog such as BlueNC is generally filled with posts that are neither 'progressive nor liberal', but instead filled with the same old tired, complacent, risk-averse regressive pre-thought thoughts that have been tried time and time again in numerous countries around the world and always result in the predictable failure they are.

We’re willing to trade quality for safety. It’s no wonder that our national policies exhibit the same trends. With the new airport scanners in place, Americans are literally allowing their wives and daughters to be strip searched by TSA goons – just for the thought of being a little safer on an airplane. We’re willing to let the government take over health care – just for the thought of a slightly better safety net. We’ve become obsessed with security and safety rather the elements that made us great in the first place, risk and opportunity.

If we truly are what we eat, then who are we? Looking at our food choices, I would say scared, closed-minded, risk averse, and safety obsessed. We've become a nation full of metrosexuals that are waiting for papa and mamma to put food on our plates-pitiful!

Let's hope that the only people that vote are those that ought to be voting and not those scared, close-minded, sheeple living off of the gov't coffers.

Turn out in a primary: I believe that most people did not know there is a primary, what a primary is, who the candidates are, or which candidate would best serve them.

Among the people who did vote: they did want to vote for the senate candidate who could best beat Burr, but hardly anyone knew who to select. There was a great deal of division among those who voted.

If few read newspapers or watch any real news, how would you know who to support? And even if you do follow the news, it is a difficult decision to make.

One theory put forward recently purports that folks are not as scared as they were under Bush. Once our candidate for President is elected, most people who support him feel more comfortable and do not understand that he/she needs to support them by voting in the senate race, school board race, etc.

The Democrats are getting activated, as they should. Those of us on BlueNc have a calling to activate, on the streets, in the precincts, set examples. We get the democracy we work for. Move on, stand up, shout, canvass, phone, register voters, persuade, show up...