Grandparents of America Awaken

As Independence Day approaches it is good to remember all that's good about America. Demand is the best indicator of the worth of a product and demand to come to America is as strong as ever. Lot's of foreigners and Americans are writing us off. History has shown we can come back from big problems. World wars, depressions, civil wars, and cold wars. If we look at the dollar as the best indicator of our global stock price, we have lots of short sellers right now.

As I reflect on recent threats to our country, September 11, 2001 jumps back into focus. Not only did we come together as a county but the rest of the world came to our side to offer their support. It was a sad, scary, but special time. The country was as unified as it's been for a long, long time.

Thinking about that time prompted me to do some checking to see where we are on replacing the twin towers. I recall the debate about whether to replace or not replace and the result was to replace. To do otherwise we said was to concede victory to the terrorists. That was seven years ago. The result is a hole in the ground in lower Manhattan. Meanwhile, the building across the street which is totally private has been completely rebuilt. It's 50 stories high and done. 

Since this date was the biggest threat to our independence for years, it makes one pause and ask, why can't we finish this project? Is this a symptom of our problem on so many fronts? Are we so bound up in our shorts that we can't so anything anymore? If so, how do we fix this?

I have a theory. Almost any project in America today has detractors. In the early years of my life, detractors were ignored. We didn't' ask the public if we should build the atom bomb. We built most of the interstate highway system in one president's term. We built O'hare Airport in one year. We put a man on the moon  in 6 years. We can't build two high rises in NY in 7 years. Why?

Detractors today want to win. They don't want to have their objections heard. They want to win. Leaders today can't abide detractors. They just can't face it. It makes me harken back to Sheriff Joe in Maricopa County Arizona. He has been beaten up day in and day out by the media over his enforcement of the law passed by the State of Arizona regarding illegal immigrants. He continues unabashed to enforce the law he didn't write or pass. His approval rating stays at 85% despite the endless barrage by the media, the governor, and the mayor of Phoenix. He does what the lawmakers asked him to do, he ignores the detractors, and he will be elected again by a higher margin because he is doing what the majority of the people want him to do. 

Are there no more Sheriff Joe's in politics today? People who listen to the detractors but do what the people want them to do and what is best for the people?

If we try to do everything today based on what everyone prefers, we will do nothing. I want freedom, but I don't accept that that means I get everything I want on every front. As the government at every level passes more and more laws to restrict my freedom, they accelerate the idea that everyone should get to input on every initiative. What the laws don't restrict the detractors stop. 

Here's my message for the Fourth of July. America is the land of free and the home of the brave. Let's have more free by eliminating hundreds of laws that restrict my freedom. Let's have more brave by listening to the detractors then saying, thanks we hear you, but we are going to put up these buildings. We are going to start today.

Dear Senator McCain:

I find myself writing to you far too often these days. I really want you to win the election in November. I believe you are a fine man and true to your country and principles. Perhaps, you will read my mail and take some of my advice. It is truly well intentioned. 

The Democratic party has a serious problem. They have had the support of the unions and working people for all of my lifetime. The democrats in office and running for office are not working people, they are very rich people who say the right things to the working people. Think Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Nancy Pelosi. All multi-millionaires. They have a brand that says we are for the working people. For the first time in my lifetime they have a serious disconnect. Their position on energy is inconsistent with their brand. The working people don't sit around and worry about global warming and the spotted owl. This is the work of the rabid environmentalists that the Democrats have courted. By aligning with this group the Democrats have made themselves vulnerable to the house brand Democrat.

So, Senator, here's the deal. You want to win the election, drop the trips to Columbia to highlight free trade, stop the challenges to Obama's patriotism, and get a focus. Focus on the tight connections between energy, jobs, and the economy. Tell the working man the democrats have sold them down the river for the environmental vote. Remind them of the cost to fill the tank, what they are facing this winter in heating bills, and electrical bills. Show how many jobs have been lost since the oil price rise. Tell them how many more will be lost if we follow the path the Democrats have set. Explain how many new jobs you will create by drilling offshore, in ANWR, with new nuclear power plants, new clean coal power plants, coal gasification, and shale and tar sand extraction. Label the Democrats as the "do nothing party". Don't drill, don't build anything that might give off a puff of smoke or disturb a little bird. Remind the voter that the Dems will raise prices with cap and trade, etc. 

Take all of Obama's blue collar votes. Leave him with the minority vote, the welfare vote, and the environmental vote. Of course, he has the elitist vote sewn up.  

If you do this and do it well, you might even get a few right wingers back. You will have to change your position on ANWR and cap and trade. But, if you don't, you won't get my vote or most of the other Republicans I talk to.  

As it stands, your current strategy to run as a Blue Dog Democrat running against a Socialist, you have no chance as the polls show. Getting Hillary's supporters will cost you a like amount of Republican votes. 

Jump on this and stay on message between now and November. Obama has no response.   

He's an idea you haven't heard yet. The government, especially Obama and Reid think we should nationalize the oil industry. I would guess about 90% of the voting public think that's a very bad idea. 

Let's look at a different approach. Sell Amtak and sell it now. Sell it to a bidder who will make it a world class rail transportation company. The government has dumped $30 billon of your tax dollars into Amtrak since 1971. I have no idea what the company is worth since it hasn't run like a business since 1971. It has run like the post office. Now that demand is sky-rocketing Amtrak executives say they can't handle it. They say it will lose more money with higher demand. Please President Bush and Congress take this problem off their hands. 

Let a group of business people and shareholders take over. Give us back some of the $30 billion in tax dollars you have spend on inefficiency in the form of a dividend. A chit dividend that can only be used for future transportation on the new replacement for Amtrak. Rebranding will be necessary since no one wants to keep the Amtrak brand. 

Here's my bet. The private sector will make it a big success. There will be new modern high-speed trains that will be a pleasure to ride. Customer service and accessibility will be vastly improved. And, just in time to help us with our airline problem congress created with no energy policy.

So, congress you want to reduce demand, here's the first step. Give us a low-cost efficient alternative to driving or air and we will use it. You can't make it work, so let someone who can run a business do it. Sell it now while it's worth something. If you keep trying to run it you will make it harder to sell. 

Obama, you want to get out of Iraq. Here's something to get out of instead. 

Some of my retired and soon to be retired friends better wake up. You may be going back to work. Not as some high powered honcho like you once were but in some menial hourly job. If you can find one, that is. At your age you might not be able to outwork that illegal who applied. He's got a family to feed. With six kids and one on the way, he's more motivated. 

First your house. Then your car. Now that big IRA and portfolio you count on to pay for your standard of living. It's all going down like a broken elevator. You think you are OK, it will stop, it always does. But, prices are going in the opposite direction. Just as fast. Jobs are going away. 

You think you are bullet proof? Social security may keep paying, but for how long? When your investment portfolio is worth half what it was at the beginning of this year and everything costs twice as much can you keep up? How about another half and another twice as much?

If you think you can still make it work, how about your kids? Were they stretched to the max? How do they pay the bills. Will the job or jobs hold out?

This is not going to get better for a long, long time. The fundamentals are not good. More airlines are going to go down. You won't be able to fly anywhere for a reasonable price. Gas prices will be $7 a gallon soon. Utility bills will be double. Retailers will go broke in record numbers. The dollar will keep falling. Banks will go down. 

You've just seen the tip of the iceberg. It's the price of bad government and us buying into ideas that put us where we are. Wait until you get that first $800 natural gas bill this winter. Wait until you get that first $800 electrical bill.

If you haven't adjusted that portfolio for the future you better get with it. 

We have painted ourselves into  corner as a country and neither candidate for president can walk on paint. It's going to be a mess. You are starting to get discouraged and mad and the rest of the country is on the same page. Just prepare yourself to get more discouraged and madder as everything you worked so hard for goes in the wrong direction. Poof, the American Dream shrinks and teeters.

You can't afford to fly anywhere. Or, if you can you can't find an airline that flies where you want to go anymore. 

This is exactly what the environmentalists and the elitists had in mind for you all along. It's right on plan. Your lifestyle has become a piece of crap and that makes them happy.

This is turnaround management at it's best and there are no turnaround experts in Washington. Those of us who are close to the energy business have seen this coming for 30 years. It's always been the blame game and illogical spinning to the public. Now, it's the speculators and big oil. Someone always has to take the fall. Not the spinners.

Get yourself grounded to the idea that we are going to live with this for a long time. Until we get new leaders who care about fixing our problems they won't get fixed. Few are on the horizon.

As a retired marketing executive I recognize perception is reality.

Example, Global Warming. If we knew the billions of dollars in free advertising the media has given the idea, it would be thousands of times more than the biggest advertising budget of the largest media buyer. We have been inundated with messages telling us the planet is in peril. For the life of me, I can't remember one message that questions global warming. Hence, it is reality. We have been told time and time again that it is reality. Never a balanced story, just the ice peeling off that computer generated glacier Gore used. 

Another example. ANWR is always portrayed as the last bastion of pristine wilderness in the United States. Here's a piece of reality you will never see on network TV. Go to: http://navlog.org/anwr_truth.pdf . 

Example, Obama stands for change. He says it over and over. He never defines it, just says it. Truth, he stands for nothing. He has never voted on any delicate issue in the Illinois house nor the senate. He did vote against the Iraq war. So, he just stands for change. That's it, change. Keep the message simple and people will remember the message. 

Example, the Iraq war is going badly. That was the message night after night on the prime time news. You knew it was a mistake and it was one man's mistake, Bush. Bush's war, Bush's war going badly. When it stopped going badly, no news. No news about the good news. No news about Bush's success in Iraq. No kudos to Gates or Petreaus for fixing it.

I saw a network special on a Holocaust hero. Great story, but all that happened a long, long time ago. How about a story on an Iraq hero? I recognize the media is predominantly Jewish, but I'm not. I believe the Holocaust happened. I'm just a little tired of having it rehashed every day as if it were current news. Of all the groups in the US in an approval rating, the military and the troops rank first. All that without any media help.

The U.S. media is a big marketing machine. They want you to want Obama for president. They want it so badly they will give him 75% of the air time between now and November and his will be positive and McCain's will be more negative. Yesterday they were both courting the Hispanic vote. Omaba was shown speaking Spanish. McCain was shown being heckled. How's that for fair and balanced? Obama will raise $500 million and spend most of that selling us on him. This will be a big edge over McCain. Then the media will leverage that advantage by giving him 5-10 minutes more  every day. Another $500 million if you had to buy it.  

The media wants to shape our reality. They know exactly how to do it. They have been doing it for years. Say it, say it again, and tomorrow say it again. Like erosion, over time it works. It wears away our ability to question things like global warming. Try it. At the next cocktail party just say:" global warming is a bunch of baloney." See what kind of response you get. It still hasn't cost enough yet to be challenged. In Europe where they have been facing the economic impact of global warming overkill it's different. At a cocktail party there the one who is defending global warming will be in the minority. Until enough airlines go broke, enough of your neighbors are out of work, enough plants close, enough financial institutions go bust, enough pain is inflicted on enough Americans, it will be reality. As soon as the reality creators see it's a lost cause, they will go on to a new reality they want to sell us. They won't be around to bury the idea. They never are.

As I write, the network is creating reality for us about gun laws. The Supreme Court struck down gun restrictions. The media is mad. Really mad. They are interviewing 3 people in Chicago who have lost family members. They are upset that Daley's gun ban in Chicago is going to be overturned. Daley is really ranting and raving. Of course, there is no mention of the increasing violence in Chicago since the gun ban. The police have a swat team trying to keep peace in the neighborhoods. Do any stories point out the truth? No, all the stories are to make us believe the deaths by gun will increase in Chicago because of the Supreme Court. That's the out Daley has been looking for. He's got a problem he can't fix and now it's the Supreme Courts problem and the media will help him sell that every day.

It's no different than a beer commercial. If you drink a certain brand of beer you will be hanging out on a beach playing volleyball with young beautiful people. Perception is reality. Remember that next time you watch the evening news.