K.eep I.t S.mall and S.imple

I design software systems. A thing I've learned in my years of experience is to keep things simple. I like to tell people, "if it's too difficult, you're doing it wrong".

In many situations, things that seem confusing don't pass the "logic test". These are things that go on behind the scenes in my brain to determine if something on the news make sense. It saves me a lot of time researching articles to see if they are true or false. With the enormous popularity of both Twitter and Facebook, my "logic test" gets a lot of work! I wish there's a way I could teach people the trick.

I'm convinced there are quite a number of people who post on Facebook just to piss other people off. It's like a game. There are quite a number of people who post increasingly outrageous stories hoping to get "flagged". It's like a challenge to get a post flagged by Facebook. There are quite a number of people who post increasingly risque pictures in an attempt to get thrown into Facebook jail. There are a large number of people who are staunch Democrats. There are a large number of people who are staunch Republicans. There are, of course, people who are combinations of the above. And, let's not forget the lurkers.

All of these people are my friends. There are only a few lines I have that you can't cross. One is talking about my family. One is being obviously racist. I say obviously because I've seen people be accidentally racist, but that's not what this is about.

 

President Trump did not do a bad job as president. He wasn't my favorite. In fact, after last week, I'd say he is my least favorite. But, he kept us out of wars. The economy was doing gang busters. My taxes went noticeably down (I'm not sure if that means I'm rich or not). He could have easily won the re-election if he could have done one "simple" thing: kept his mouth shut. I got so tired of the news blasting him that I started following him on Twitter. I was startled to discover that following him on Twitter is worse. He comes across as a pathetic, whiny, egotistical, six year old. It made no logical sense. 

When I first started following him, I thought, "he's doing this because he doesn't want to be president". I fully expected him to resign and let Pence take over. It was the only logical explanation. As I saw his angry mob grow and grow, and some of my friends even left Facebook, I questioned my logic. There must be something I don't fully understand. I tried to put myself in their shoes. Only thing I can think of is there are a large number of Americans who truly hate the government. Trump also hates the government. Since he continued to hate the government as President, he is now their hero.

Andrew Yang (one of the Democrats who somehow lost to Joe) said (and I might be paraphrasing), "We don't need to get rid of Trump, we need to fix what got Trump elected." Hatred of the government got Trump elected. I don't see Joe fixing this. I hope he does. But, I'm afraid it will be similar to hoping Obama fixed healthcare and instead making it worse (I'm not a fan of being forced to buy insurance when the insurance industry it likely largely what's wrong with healthcare). 

Simple solution to fixing millions of Americans hatred of the government? Remove the party system. Make it illegal. Let up to 10 people run for President. Heck, let up to 20 people run for President. Don't put a limit. Each state can vote for their candidate. The 10 candidates with the most votes have a run off. Do ranked voting (look it up). Don't do ranked voting. The states can still vote for their candidate, but not along party lines. Fix donations. Don't allow any more than $10 to be donated by any one tax id number. It's all simple.

As long as we have two sides there will be division in the government and people will hate the government. If you hate about half of something you still hate it.

 Remember what George Washington said so long ago in his farewell address:

"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion." 

President Washington, we almost got there this year. Wish us luck that we can fix it.

COVID, Politics and Me

Unlike Donald Trump, I'm not the smartest person ever.

Myers Briggs says I'm intuitive. It says I'm the most intuitive ever.

Our two party system is broken. Dangerously broken. Too many people are voting for X because they hate Y and vice versa.

It causes great amounts of dangerous conflict. People who grudgingly vote for X to defeat Y are doubly upset that X doesn't win. Instead of having someone in office they can tolerate they are stuck with someone that they hate. Then there are the people who actually love Y and are completely not empathetic (or intelligent) in their defense of Y because they love him like they do God and he's beyond reproach. He's perfect.

COVID has brought this to light in pandemic proportions. Y has completely mishandled the pandemic. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together can see that. Unfortunately, you still have the people who blindly love Y are staunch in their defense of Y. They love Y so much they blame the previous X for today's problems (which makes no sense).

Okay, I'm going to quit using X and Y. It has run its course.

The President should be able to control the media. Sometimes with diplomacy. Sometimes with manipulations made behind closed doors. Sometimes by being a respectable human being. I firmly believe that. If you allow the media/press to get under your skin, you should not be the President.

I believe America overreacted to this pandemic. I believe we could have handled it with some guidelines and safety measures, but without the shutting down. The fact the local governments shutdown businesses over a virus is a huge overreaction. This is America. You educate, you calm, you encourage, but you don't dictate.

The leadership of our country, the President of the USA, should have seen to this. He should have put guidelines in place before it was too late. He could have calmed the masses. He should have lead by example. He should not have bickered with the press. He should have put his pride aside and focused on the bigger picture.

No one is to blame except him.

And, before the lovers get upset, Trump agrees with me.

Instead of Choosing Between Two Idiots

What if we had ten choices in the general election instead of the two idiots the party extremes placed before us?
What if we could then rank the choices from best to worst?
Based on a point system the best candidate would then get elected!
And, we could do away with the Democrat and Republican primaries which are a complete waste of time and resources!

I'm going to do an example. Please bear with me. This is a Presidential example, but it would work for everything.

In this election cycle there were only 3 Republicans running, but you probably didn't know that.
So, in the interest of fairness and to make my example less complicated, I'm going to go with 3 Democrats and 3 Republicans.

They shall be the Republicans: Tiny Hands Trump, Wild Bill Weld, and Mean Joe Walsh.
The Democrats: Crazy Bernie, Sleepy Joe and Amiable Yang.

Your ballot would be electronic and let you move the names around until they were in your preferred order (top to bottom).

My ballot, for example, would look something like this:

1. Amiable Yang
2. Wild Bill Weld
3. Mean Joe Walsh
4. Tiny Hands Trump
5. Crazy Bernie
6. Sleepy Joe

No hating allowed.

There's only gonna be 3 people voting this election cycle, lest my example gets completely out of control.

Person 2 is going to be a staunch Trumpster Republican who has the utmost ire for his perception of socialism. His ballot might look something like:

1. Tiny Hands Trump
2. Wild Bill Weld
3. Mean Joe Walsh
4. Amiable Yang
5. Sleepy Joe
6. Crazy Bernie

Person 3 might be a die hard stubborn Libertarian who doesn't recognize a good thing when it hits him in the face.

1. Wild Bill Weld
2. Tiny Hands Trump
3. Mean Joe Walsh
4. Sleepy Joe
5. Amiable Yang
6. Crazy Bernie

I've suddenly decided to add person 4 to make my example more exciting. He's going to be a happy go lucky big government, give me free shit, pay for my college, educated hippy.

1. Crazy Bernie
2. Amiable Yang
3. Sleepy Joe
4. Mean Joe Walsh
5. Wild Bill Weld
6. Tiny Hands Trump

I'm playing this by ear. How does ranked voting work? Do you eliminate people after they aren't the first choice? Then go to the second choice until someone is a clear winner? Or do you hand out points based on each ranking? Top person gets the number of candidates (6 in this example)? Bottom person gets 1 point? Let's try both ways. Each round at least one person is eliminated. Either the least votes or 0 votes. There could be more than 2 get eliminated!

If we do it by elimination: Amiable Yang, Tiny Hands Trump, Crazy Bernie and Wild Bill Weld are the only ones to move on to round 2. Round 2 is going to eliminate Crazy Bernie. Round 3 would eliminate everyone else so it doesn't count. Round 4 would make it between Amiable Yang and Tiny Hands Trump. Round 5 would make Amiable Yang the President. I like the result, but I'm not fond of the process. Let's try points.

Round 1: Amiable Yang 6, Tiny Hands Trump 6, Wild Bill Weld 6, Crazy Bernie 6.

In the following rounds we add 1 less point so round 2 gets 5, round 3 gets 4, etc.

Round 2: Amiable Yang 11, Tiny Hands Trump 11, Wild Bill Weld 16.

Wild Bill in the lead!

Round 3: Sleepy Joe 4, Mean Joe Walsh 12.

Wild Bill still in the lead!

Round 4: Mean Joe Walsh 15, Sleepy Joe 7, Amiable Yang 14, Tiny Hands Trump 14

Still Wild Bill with 16 points!

Round 5: Wild Bill Weld 18, Amiable Yang 16, Sleepy Joe 9, Crazy Bernie 8

Wild Bill is looking unstoppable! Now 18 points!

Round 6: Tiny Hands Trump 15, Crazy Bernie 10, Sleepy Joe 10

This would make Wild Bill Weld the President.

It takes a a bit to wrap your head around, but I'm not upset by it. No one disliked Wild Bill (in my example). It leads to more moderation. Millions of people can go around saying, "Well, he wasn't my first choice, but he is a lot better than the alternative." It would generate a calmer, less stressed out, America.

We may have to put more weight on the first choice. Maybe use a more logarithmic scale. Give the first place points equal to double the candidates, second place equal to the number of candidates * 1.5, third place equal to the number of candidates, etc.

I don't know, but it is doable. We also need to make voting as quick and easy as ordering toilet paper from Amazon as a Prime Member!

Blogging's Politicized Demise

I was once a voracious blogger. I'm not really sure why I quit, but I did.

Today, I read an article indicating that the idea of blogging may be going the way of all good things.

It made me think about why I started doing it in the first place.

It was mainly therapeutic. It helps to write out problems and how you feel about it.

At one point, I decided I might be able to make some money via advertising. My "account" was up to about $20 when Google decided my blog did not meet their guidelines on "family" standards.

It may be that point where blogging lost its allure to me.

But enough about all that. This post is actually about politics.

I think I've blogged before that I don't like Trump. It's nothing new. I haven't liked him since the first time I saw him on television. He seemed (and still seems) like an egotistical asshole.

He's actually not doing a bad job as president. If he'd just keep his mouth shut.

Why would you ridicule a 16 year old girl? Is your ego so fragile that you have to take jabs at 16 year old's? You are the President of the USA for God's sake. If your ego needs any more stroking talk to your wife. Don't ridicule kids.

And for the love of all that's normal in the human race, quit calling people names. That is childish and not befitting adults, much less Presidents.

Be more like Andrew Yang. He seems like an intelligent man who refuses to get drawn into unnecessary drama. It would be such a welcoming change of scenery if he could win the Presidency next year. I've never wanted anyone so cool, calm and collected to be elected President. I blame you.

Rising to Your Station

I became a father when I saw 25. I'm now 50 and my eldest is 25.

Having children was an honor. I did my best to be a good father.

Part of that involved some fundamental changes in the way I lived my life.

I didn't cuss around my kids. I wasn't naive enough to think they'd never cuss, but I didn't want them learning it from their dad.

I didn't drink around my kids. I knew that alcohol relieved my social anxiety and likely made me a more approachable person, but I didn't want my children seeing me intoxicated.

I did this for 14+ years. I did this because it was the mature adult thing to do. It was natural. I don't know how anyone could do anything differently.

Before I get into politics, let me set a few things straight. I don't know any "famous" people personally. They may be completely different in person rather than how they are presented to us on the boob tube (or Facebook as the case may be).

In all my life, I've never liked Hillary Clinton and I've never liked Donald Trump. The fact that one won the presidency over the other is like a subtle nightmare come true. I'm so extremely moderate, I believe anyone not in favor of moderation and compromise should be castrated.

The biggest problem I have with Donald Trump is him making a mockery of the Presidency. It's a prestigious station and the station should be honored (much like fatherhood). His twitter account makes him sound like a defensive spoiled brat looking for confirmation on how good looking he is. It's embarrassing.

Now, I know that anti-politics-as-usual is what got him elected. But, once you are elected, you rise to your station. Save your secret inhibitions for the privacy of your boudoir.

Walk a Mile in Their Caravan(s)

I've been told people miss my blog. I suspect this is not the case. I quit blogging because of Facebook. The sheer amount of indignant, spiteful vitriol you see on Facebook is alarming. I'm not sure I want to put anything on the Internet that may be construed the wrong way (which I'm sure it will). No one seems to have a shred of empathy. More often than not, intelligence is also a rare resource. Yet, here I am.

We're a country of too many rules.

I've always been a "pick your battles" kind of person. Even with my children, I have a very limited set of rules. I've discovered if you have too many rules, they all tend to get broken. Let's limit our rules. Make the rules easier and fewer and they'll be easier to enforce and more people will follow them.

What the f*ck is the title of this blog? Why in he hell does the right hate the left and the left hate the right? It's a closed minded lack of empathy. No one bothers to look at the proclaimed "enemy" and wonder, "why do they think that way?" Have I experienced their life? Or perhaps they do mull it over and chalk it up to stupidity, hypocrisy, narcissism, socialism, or your random creative insult of the day. It gets old. It's also why I quit blogging regularly.

I'll give you my latest example. There's apparently a caravan of people from Central America heading to the USA. Several of my "friends" on Facebook have posted this meme:

 

Maybe they are really curious. But, here's likely the reality: The people who post stuff like this were born in the comfort of a modern hospital in the good old USA while drooling on a proverbial silver spoon stuck in their future vitriol spewing orifice of ignorance.

I've met plenty of illegal aliens in my life and never once has one "demanded charity". I've also never been born in a third world country where I had to fight to survive. You seriously think it's easier to overthrow the government than travel a few thousand miles to "The Land of Opportunity"? Are you that proud of where you were born that you have to hate everyone else who was born with less? Really?

And that's why I quit blogging.

PS: If politicians have to explain their stance using religion, I do not vote for them. Pence and Cruz both scare me.

PPS: That's also why I quit blogging.

And Just When You Thought it was Safe to Read the Blogger

I was looking at my blog page and realized it has been two years since I last blogged.

I realized that over a month ago.

I quickly started coming up with new blogging ideas.

Should I write a political blog? Should I write a funny blog? Should I write a "final" blog? There's this interesting thing going around Facebook currently about your "ten most influential albums". Perhaps that would make a good blog?

After four weeks of contemplation, I decided to just start writing and see what happened.

I figure after 2 years of not practicing my grammar and vocabulary skills would be in very weak display.

Before I lose even the most patient readers that happen to read up to this point, I should point out that my lovely daughter has started a blog of her own. It's wonderful. Read it HERE and then check back every day! Really!