The Pattern

Can anyone guess what 2 things these women all have in common?

Chiefs and Indians

Search the word "leadership" on Amazon.com and you'll get 300,419 results for books that you can buy.

Search to word "Followership" and you'll get a sparse 2,294 results by comparison

It seems everybody wants to be, or thinks they are a leader.  The question is, how many leaders do you think we need?  Why don't we ever get good advice on how to be a good follower?  Ever notice that we have become completely distrusting, disinterested and disloyal to any leader, and hold that disenfranchisement up for high regard?  Unless of course the leader is you, then you expect a certain level of respect.  It's no wonder no one "good" ever wants to toss their name in the hat to lead.  Who'd want it with all the little chiefs running around sabotaging everything you try and do?

We were not all born to be great leaders.  Only a some can lead and fewer still lead well.  Maybe our level of contentment would raise if we learned to do our best in the position in which we find ourselves.  If we are all Chiefs, then we're really just all Indians.  Indians with enormous egos.  If you've ever watched Survivor you know that good leadership is important to any group.  What you may overlook though, is that the successful teams have good people willing to submit to the leader and do the work needed to achieve.  People today don't like that word "submit".  It causes the hairs to bristle and the defenses to raise.  Why, I wonder?  You expect your children to submit to your authority.  You expect the people at work to submit to your leadership.  Why would you not submit to someone as well?  Willingly and with respect.

Now I know someone will immediately want to run me to the extreme on this.  That's OK.  I don't think we can set our priorities, values and rules based on the extremes though.  It takes to parts to make a nation, company, organization or family work.  Leaders and followers.  Next time you're complaining about your leader, ask yourself how good of a follower you are.

Was There An Election?

If you don't know by now where I stood in regards to Obama's bid for the Presidency, then welcome to my blog 'cause this must be your first read.

Congratulations to  Mr. President Elect Obama.

I'm not going to dwell on the why and how.  At this point, it's all kind of moot anyway.  Who cares what McCain or Obama did right or wrong in their campaign's over the last 7 years (or however God awful long it was).  Today we look forward to a new chapter in American history.  I wish Mr. Obama all the luck in the world.  I pray that he serves his office with dignity and honor, that he seeks to be principled in truth and justice and that he works to better all Americans and not just certain Americans.

I've probably been asked a dozen times already what I thought about last night.  My answer is pretty simple and would be the same no matter the outcome.

"My happiness and contentment is not tied to who the President of the United States is."

If you sit at home today dreading the next 4 years, that's on you.  If you've been miserable for the last 8 years, that's on you.  If you've pinned all your hopes and dreams on the promise of an elected official, you will be most assuredly disappointed.  Primarily, I'm responsible for my own well being.  Ultimately, my fate is not resting in the hands of a King, a dictator or a President.  That doesn't mean I lay down and allow whatever policy that comes up to go unchallenged if I feel there's error in it.  But it does mean that I don't have to get caught up in name calling and character assassination in order to satisfy my feelings.  I will feel happy, sad, angry, hopeful and content no matter who wins this or any other election.  There's great peace in that.

Random Thoughts

For some reason I have a million different thoughts coursing through my brain this morning and I have no real idea how to formulate them into a coherent  blog.  I'll just post a few of them.  No particular order and they may even be contradictory.  Most probably won't make a ton of sense. Sorry.

- Go vote!

- People who don't vote often get criticized and told they have no right to bitch if they don't vote.  Personally, I think it's worse.  My opinion is that people who actively choose not to vote aren't fit to call themselves American.  You are the degenerate freeloaders of society.  Not only do you have no right to bitch about the President, but you have no right to bitch about anything in this society.  Ironically, I think it's these same folks who actually do the most bitching.

- If the Democrats win the Presidency and a super majority in the congress, will we hear the libs reminding us constantly about the tyranny of the majority?

- If the Dems win, what will Kieth Olbermann and the like do for a living since their only talent is to defame George Bush?

- Did I mention you should go vote?

- I really hope this doesn't happen but I fear it might.  Tomorrow Obama will or will not be our next President Elect.  Either way, race will be blamed.  He will win because blacks cast blind votes based on race alone or he'll lose because "Americans weren't ready to elect a black President".  Either argument is BS in my opinion.

- I'm assuming the race will be very close.  My message to either man who wins is to remember that you don't represent just your party anymore.  You represent the 40 whatever percent that voted against you as well and you should always keep that in mind.

- My great hope for the next four years is that no matter who wins, let's agree to just treat the next President with more civility and respect.  The last two Presidents have been unjustly vilified beyond the scope of just their respective policies.  The personal attacks and demonization seems to get worse and worse with every passing year.  I'm tired of it quite frankly.  It is tiresome to me.  I wouldn't expect everyone to agree with everything the next guy wants to do.  However, there is a difference between opposing a policy and attacking someone personally.  There's lots of people on this very site that I don't agree with on many political points.  I still like them though.  We still get along, play together, hang out and share a common respect for each other as fellow Americans and human beings.  If it can be done in a simple gaming forum why can't we at least be respectful to our President as well?

- It looks like voter turnout is starting out pretty high.  That's good but it needs to be higher.

- Go vote.

- God Bless America

Exploring the Candidates - Iraq

Last one today, I promise.

Iraq

Obama:
- “Since the surge began, more than 1,000 American troops have died, and despite the improved security situation, the Iraqi government has not stepped forward to lead the Iraqi people and to reach the genuine political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge.”
- The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months.
- Under the Obama-Biden plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel.
- Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that America has both a moral obligation and a responsibility for security that demands we confront Iraq’s humanitarian crisis. He will provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find sanctuary.

McCain:

- “Thanks to the success of the surge, Iraq's political order is evolving in positive and hopeful ways. Four out of the six laws cited as benchmarks by the U.S. have been passed by the Iraqi legislature.”
- “I do not want to keep our troops in Iraq a minute longer than necessary to secure our interests there. Our goal is an Iraq that can stand on its own as a democratic ally and a responsible force for peace in its neighborhood. Our goal is an Iraq that no longer needs American troops.”
- To move young men away from the attractions of well-funded extremists, we need a vibrant, growing Iraqi economy. The Iraqi government can jump-start this process by using a portion of its budget surplus to employ Iraqis in infrastructure projects and in restoring basic services.

My Opinion:

This one is obviously ripe with venom from both sides of the debate (not necessarily from the actual candidates mind you) but this is an area where I do feel one candidate is clearly better than the other.

Both candidates want troops to come home. The difference is one is pushing for a specific date (summer of 2010) and one isn’t. I know it’s appealing to say we’ll be home on June 5, 2010, or whatever day it is, but it’s not practical. You don’t tell your enemies what your actions are going to be. We need to be there as long as it take to ensure basic safety and stability in that country. If that’s 1 more year or 5 more years, then that will be the time it takes. Don’t give the enemy a chance to sit back and wait you out. Eliminate as many as you can, then leave.

Obama as spent a lot of time harping on the 92 billion dollar surplus that Iraq has when talking about our economy, yet he wants to spend 2 billion of our money to help expand services in Iraq? What sense does that make? If they have money, let them spend it on themselves.

As I read through the Obama page on Iraq I couldn’t help but be dismayed by the constant rhetoric about how Bush did this or that. Nearly the entire position on Iraq is based on Bush hate. I know that probably plays well to his constituency, but Bush isn’t running for President. How we got here isn’t going to be as important as were we go now. That’s not to say it’s not unimportant, but dwelling on the past won’t lead anyone into the future.

On this issue I give a +1 to McCain. It should probably be more because in my opinion this is the one area that is of most importance when voting for a President. He can push all the domestic issues he wants but he is at the mercy of Congress when it comes to getting his plans passed. As President though we are electing a Commander in Chief, this is the most important function the President serves.

Final Thought:

At this point, given my options, I prefer McCain to Obama.  Those who know me probably aren't that suprised in my preference.  The point of this excersice though wasn't to try to introduce some new nugget of wisdom to the masses.  It honestly was for my own personal benefit.  I wanted to be able to look at both candidates and judge them based on their words and not those of Rush Limbaugh or John Stewart etc.  At least now when I go to the polls I will be confident that I am one of the few who actually did some reading from the candidates.

There's a ton of other issues that could have been looked at.  I only chose the ones that were most important to me.  I don't really care if Obama once sat at a Denny's with Charles Manson or whatever.  The radio hosts blow that way out of proportion in my opinion.  I don't think McCain made a very smart pick in Palin.  Of course, any criticism I have of her could equally be applied to Obama, so who knows.  Those were the issues I cared about though and that's what will guide my hand at the poll.  If you care more about abortion rights, gun control, welfare reform, or free government cheese on Tuesdays then please go to the official candidates sites and do a little reading yourself.  Don't take some pinheads word for it.