Action plan

Since the election, I have been giving some thought to what I can be doing to further educate myself about our government... how it works, what are it's shortcomings, where we go from here. To that end, I have joined with a friend here who is very well-educated in politics and conservatism, and we are going to be forming a Conservative studies group after the new year, and hopefully will be joined with other like-minded folk who want to become better educated in these areas. I am also looking into sources of information, mainly about our Federal government budget... where our tax dollars are going. I am very interested in what we can do to cut spending, stop waste and corruption, and I keep coming back to the need for vigilance on the part of the voters. This requires better understanding of the government... this means doing our homework. I will be posting links, book titles, and other information here as I find it, in the hopes I can help others to become familiar with our government. I am pretty sure that the government we have today, while it resembles the one originally formed by our founding fathers, is far more complex than the original one, and with complexity comes too much room for inefficiency and corruption. Is there a way to simplify it? Are there better checks, balances, and reporting methods that can be put in place to ensure that our government is doing what it was designed to do? Can we EVER pay down the deficit and get back to living within our means? Fiscally speaking, these are disturbing times... I hope that we can return to a way of life that includes living within our means, both personally and as a nation. Life is so much easier when we are not being crushed under a mountain of debt! I think the coming year(s) will bring much change, and I'm hoping it is positive, not negative change for us all.
One item of conversation lately has been about ear-marks: whether to ban them, call a moritorium on them for a period of time, or leave them as is. The argument against banning them is that they represent a very small percent of our overall federal budget. I agree that banning them won't wipe out our deficit, but principally speaking, we need to return to a fundamental honesty that says we don't go behind each others' backs or sneak things into bills in the middle of the night. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing in the light of day, with full disclosure. Politicians will tell you that things can't get done without deal-making and 'you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours'. I think that way of doing things is what has brought us to the brink of financial ruin, and even though a lot of bills wouldn't get passed without that mind-set, I think we would be better off right now if Congress did less, not more of the same, and maybe did a little soul-searching about how they should conduct the people's business going forward. This may be a little old-fashioned, but I would really like to see this country return to the mind-set that believed that a man's word was his bond, when deals were made with a handshake, and teams of lawyers weren't needed to flood us with hyperbole and double-speak in order to protect everyone's rights! Is that naive? Maybe, but we've tried the other way, and look at the state of the world today! Not the same place our grandparents lived, or our parents! Let's do a little thinking over the next month or so, and see what we want to do about our dilemma... more of the same? Or should we get back to basics, and think about what we really value in life! Then let's remind our elected officials what we put them in office to do... clean house!

View the Budget process

I just posted a link on the right side to a video of Arizona's Secretary of State, Ken Bennett, explaining the legislature's budget process. It runs 58 minutes, which is a long time, but it is very revealing and worth the view, I think. It clarified for me what I think is a basic flaw in their process, and I imagine that this mindset is not just limited to Arizona. Check it out...

Interesting website

I have been getting periodic e-mails from a source that apparently got my name by mistake... the name of the organization is truemajority.org. I was going to reprint some info from their website, but it's available if you want to see it. What struck me is how well they are diseminating their message. One thing I think we conservatives could use more of is well-worded messages.

Today, my hubby and I attended the monthly luncheon meeting of the Flagstaff Republican Women. We always have a speaker, and this time it was our newly appointed Secretary of State, Ken Bennett. Ken was the former leader of the State Senate until he reached his term limits. Ken put on a visual and informative presentation today explaining our state's budget, and how we went from having a 'Rainy Day' fund and ending balance to being heavily in debt and being faced with having to increase taxes and take out loans to meet our financial obligations. Absoloutely amazing how a body of 'legislators' -- and I use the term facetiously -- can project revenue, discover we came in short of projections, then turn around and project revenue increases for the next two budget years, AND increase spending! How did they balance the budget? Robbed several other funds to cover their asses... if this doesn't get the voters out, I don't know what will! But it won't, sadly... we had 30 people at the luncheon... a miniscule fraction of the registered Republicans in our community. And therein, I think, lies the problem. How to get the message out to the people who can do something about it! Well, my hubby videotaped the presentation, and as soon as he has it formatted, I will put it here for anyone who wants to spend an hour listening to a very well-done presentation. Even if you don't live in Flagstaff, you might be interested in the budget process used. I'm sure it's not too different from the process used in other states or at the federal level. And it's atrocious! So stay tuned...

Gratitude list

As we trudge through our global financial upheaval, I find myself mentally listing things I can be grateful for:
1) The last time I had a new car to pay for was 1983, and I probably won't own one again
2) I have never found it necessary to own an SUV
3) I don't have a cell phone - just a prepaid phone for emergencies; no one has my number
4) I haven't found it necessary to own an ipod, a big-screen TV, name brand clothing
5) Ever since I was a child, I have been interested in making things out of discarded items
6) I dislike shopping
7) I prefer home cooking to fast foods
8) I prefer to stay home rather than travel
9) I don't like to carry large credit card balances
10) I am an optimist, so I tend to believe that things will improve with time

Does all this make me 'odd'? Well, others may think so, but over the years I came to recognize that 'things' don't make me happy. I also found that I sleep a whole lot better when I'm not tossing and turning, trying to figure out how to get out from under a mountain of debt.
My brother died back in 1987, and left my sister-in-law with over $11k in credit card debt. Funny thing, he really didn't know what all he had purchased to add up to that much. That gave me a wake-up call, and I began to pay more attention to my expenditures. My main reason for having a credit card is to handle emergency expenses, like car repairs or items purchased that are more money than I have available at the time to pay for it. But I also make large payments to pay off the balance as quickly as possible.
My hope is that the parents of today's children will teach them how to manage their money, how to budget, and how to get through life without having to buy everything they see advertised! We are a nation of consumers who have totally lost control, and it's time we all came to our senses and started saying 'no' to endless buying! Washington might not think that's the best idea, but I sure do...