Get Politically Savvy

I use to think politics were for only smart people.  As I got more interested in it, I realized politics is about understanding and being involved in what is going on in government at the different levels be it city, state or the nation. As American citizens, we have a responsibility to be involved at some degree.

Voting is the main responsibility. However, how can you make an informed vote if you are not educated on the candidates? Simply watching an ad or listening to your friends is not a sound reason to vote for someone. Name recognition is not good logic either. Everyone has heard of the Sandman and yet if he appeared on a ballot, would you endorse him?

It does take abit of homework on a voter’s part. Research is easy, simply get on the internet and google the candidates and read up on their views. Compare and contrast each statement. Also, read their bios and see whom seems to be capable of best representing the people of your area and devoted to meeting the needs of your area. The issues you are struggling with are the needs that matter so definitely make those the priority.

If you feel strongly about an issue or a candidate, get outside your comfort zone and make some noise. Sitting at home complaining does no good. It does not encourage others to vote, to sound alarms or donate money to make a campaign for a good candidate successful. In my District, one man sat in the House Position for 24 years, Michael Bilirakis. His son Gus Michael Bilirakis has been in the seat ever since, 2007.  Consequently, the opponent, Mark Tager is finding it extremely hard to break through as the name recognition is so strong.  Tager has new ideas, fresh blood and creative solutions.

When a representative is in the same position for such a long period of time, it is easy for them to get credit for everything positive that happens whether or not they had anything to do with it. Look behind the photo ops and the media lines to determine, were they instrumental or not? Is their webpage merely tagging on to their party’s successes or are they standing on solid ground with accomplishments that have truly impacted their region?  If this is the case, it is time to vote them out and let someone you feel is competent step in.

Make certain you are pushing everyone to not only register to vote but show up on election day. This is a civic responsibility. There is no excuse not to take the time to pull a few levers. If you live here, you need to make the time just as surely as understanding who you are voting for and what they are standing for and against.  Your opinions matter as much as theirs do!

Changing Our Perception of Promoting Candidates

I love how at election time everyone becomes authorities on both sides of the parties,  what is right on issues  and what is wrong, which candidates are the best and who represents what our country needs.  Folks seem to be the all-knowing expert on who is telling the truth and who is lying, simply based on who they support.  So many are unwilling to even listen to opposing views so steadfast in the fact their view is the only correct view.  

This segment knows, or thinks they do,  which media channel is reporting the facts, which story they are reading from different sources is accurate, and which candidate is a "bad person" and not worthy of being in the Oval Office. 

Normal everyday citizens, even the meek,  begin pulling out boxing gloves, begin talking like sailors at sea, pulling out daggers and throwing out hateful words with no forethought.  It seems to be irregardless of which side of the line they are on and which candidate.   Their devotion for who they support and who they now despise is so deep-seated you would think they know these individuals intimately, attended grade-school with them! Somehow it becomes in vogue to bully too. 

Is it any wonder  God-loving, family oriented average men never run for President anymore?  Take Colin Powell, for example,  or some past Presidents that seem picture clean,  like  George Washington or Lincoln.  They would be bad-mouthed, thrown under the bus and patronized.  Any bad decisions that either of them had made that caused citizens to lose any jobs, military personnel to have died or be captured, hostages taken anywhere on the globe, any terrorist act,  any act demonstrating a sign of a lack of character or ability to protect all of the nation or any security of any of our citizens would make their ability to govern be called into question. Poor leadership would be their legacy!   

 Making errors happens, not every great leader has a history of winning popularity awards, Congress is not kind to everyone that serves, many in public service can be arrogant, have had affairs, etc.. All the charges levied on both sides are nothing, unfortunately out of the ordinary.  We have had old Presidents, young Presidents, actors, different religions, and we have survived, some better so than others.  

Why must we do what the media are doing also, throw these candidates to the wolves as if we can do better in the role?  These candidates are human and are fallible, let's face that fact.  They are not the best the country has to offer, but they are the only ones willing to run for presidency. They will not get everything done they say they will, none ever do.  Like Obama, they will try, they will face obstacles and they may have secret agendas. Everyone does running, let's be real. Ever think maybe your expectation level is too high or maybe the focus is on the wrong things?  There are only so many things you can really know and also control. 

What originally made our country strong and a superpower was how we stood together unified, as in UNITED States.  We can't be strong tearing each other apart.  Targeting social media more on what we need and what the candidate you are supporting will bring to our country will help others know what they need to make an informed vote. That unites us and is a positive image for our country here and abroad. Repeatingly dogging candidates, saying they are worthless beings, our country will go to hell, is not positive messaging, is not helping undecided uninformed voters know who to vote for and certainly paints an unfavorable picture of someone who may be our future President to the world at large.  Let's think big picture here, our country is not an island, we are being watched by many.  Use your voice during the election process to educate not eradicate candidates. 

We have troops risking their lives daily overseas.  Imagine hearing and reading on social media all this negativity and how we think this candidate or that one is a loser, may land up being their Superior and may land up causing them to go to War and die?  Is that fair to those serving? Aren't they under enough stress?   Let's boost them up by talking about who the candidates are that will bring about the changes that will benefit our military the most!  Again, inform others why this candidate is our best military option!

 Negativity doesn't change the stalemate issues our government has been having bickering among each other.  Now we are seeing an inability to diffuse so much of the anger and hatred in America between voters.  With it building, we are becoming what we despise in other parts of the world.  Hatred towards candidates is not appropriate, these folks stopped their life to choose to run. 

 Your voice can change things.   Be sure you are registered and everyone you know is, including young people! First and foremost vote.  And secondly, if you are politically minded, get involved in some way, perhaps campaign for your candidate .  Tweet out information to the rest of us about a key issue that concerns you and the candidate that is supporting your stance on this issue so we better understand their plan to address it.   Let us know what are they going to do.   We don't want to hear why you don't think some other  person isn't  'worthy'  - that doesn't help someone make a choice.

A friend told me politics is dirty, it can't be cleaned up.  Well, I say change is possible. Our country use to be ruled by England and now we are free.  Change, though, starts with you, quit looking to others to make those changes.   You have the right to bitch, whine and point out everyone's faults, including mine. That is your freedom of speech.  But problems don't get solved by insulting each other.  We have seen that enough in Congress. It caused it to shut down. We have voices and let's use them to be positive, and share positive messages with each other about these candidates.  Whoever any of us vote for at the Presidential election, we need to get serious about making educated decisions about our leadership.  This vote must be for the individual we are convinced will bring the best to our  country in the four years they serve! Let's help each other to just that!  

God Bless America!

Children in a Safe House, Their World Should be One

When I was a kid things were just as bad is a line I use to hear often. Then when I was a parent, I am certain I said it myself. Well, times they are a changing, as I heard on old reruns many times growing up. In this day and age, it is true. I am not 100% sure history completely repeats itself.  We did not initially inhabit this country we live in now called the United States so we should not take our freedom and civil rights liberties for granted.

Children these days face many challenges none of us have ever had to deal with. The reality of violence in schools is more real than ever. We may have had our share of bullying.  We may have been talked about at a party, or over the phone.  This day, due to the advent of the internet, being picked on and ridiculed happens 24/7. It has become the new norm.  It is inescapable to its victims.

Studies have shown time and time again that words are very harmful, mentally and verbally.  The abuse these young people suffer can lead to feelings of anger, depression, lack of confidence, withdrawal of feelings, even mental illness in extreme cases.  In some instances, it can lead to drug abuse, shootings, runaways, rebellion, and delinquent behavior that parents can’t control.  We did not have to deal with having our classmates ruin our entire lives 24/7.

The violence that is happening all over our country in schools is nothing less than unacceptable. Having teachers concerned when hateful students that are full of animosity threaten them is making it harder to recruit good teachers and students to be concentrating on what they are there for, to learn.  Worse yet, the elusive student who is aloof and seems disturbed and is being picked on can be the child that can turn on his classmates on a dime.  How do you safeguard your child from the possibility of this happening in school?  You can’t obviously so then what is the best way to instruct them what to do if it what seems utterly insane to me occurs, a mass shooting in their school, a place that should be safe?  Being a grandparent, I simply shake my head in shock that such a conversation would have to occur at all ever happen in America.

Watching my grandchildren this past weekend, I was even more so affected by hearing the news in Paris than I would have been sitting in my own home.  Something about this particular situation really hit a nerve in me. Here I was, in my son’s home, with darling innocent 5, 6 and 7 year old children that could be representative of children anywhere in the country.  They thrive on living, playing and learning.  They love smiling, laughing and living each and every day.

They had gone in the other room to play in their rooms abit and their grandpa turns on CNN to get the world news.  What we are met with is shocking images of Paris violence.  This is in sharp contract to the beautiful mantel below the tv screen all decked out for the holiday season, complete with angels in gold.  We are both spellbound watching the news and reading the tickertape line at the bottom of the screen. Then we snap into reality and flip the channel and within minutes the youngest grandson walks in the room with his armful of boxcars for his beloved train.  While are worrying about the safety of the world, he is gathering his train pieces so he can put his train together in the family room and begin his long journey around the countryside. 

Literally a minute later, in walks my grandson with an armload of trains in his hand, lining them up on the floor in front of the fireplace by his hand-made Santa to pretend he is the conductor.  His innocence of his face, his smile and his simple play in sharp contrast to the horror of the images that had just played out on the large screen television over his head just minutes before.  I had an urge to pick him up and wrap him in my arms to protect him from anyone evil out there hurting him.  I wanted to pick up the phone and call my son, his daddy, and say I love you quickly lest anything happen to him. 

I can only imagine how his parents must feel inside with all this violence in the world, balancing the need to protect your child with the knowledge that there is only so much you can do.  And so you pray, you vote and you stand up and make your voice count. And you live, live without living in fear for we all deserve that. 

One thing for certain there is to learn from all this chaos going on in the world that is truly inhumane and crossing borders of all countries, take time to love on those worth loving.  Recognize our world can be harsh and don’t be so quick to say we had it just as bad; we did not have some of these things hanging over our heads children have to deal with.  Older children have a sense of the world’s conditions too. How unfair to be raised in this environment for them.

 These images being shown of violence domestically and internationally are atrocious.  We never know, when we turn on television sets to local channels, what images we will be confronted with next and where it will be taking place.   But we know we can’t live our lives in fear, nor can or should our children.  They must and deserve a future, one full of hope, promise and not flooded with nothing but evil images of mankind. 

My grandsons love trains like all little boys.  My granddaughter loves dressing up like most little girl.  All children deserve adults fighting for a safer world for them to play in, learn and grow up so they can take over and be the parents and grandparents one day.   

This holiday season, let’s make a point of changing channels in our home and not feed the propaganda wagon.  Why create  additional PR for bad news bandits. I still believe in good over evil. I know everyone enjoys hearing happy-ever-after stories as it instills faith.  And yes, I still believe my grandchildren, and yours, will prevail and make a more peaceful beautiful future for our world.  Click Here

Ordinary Extraordinary Man, James R. Green III

Years ago, I had a very dear friend. We went to the same high school, Walter E. Stebbins in Dayton, Ohio. He was in marching bank and I was on a marching/ dancing drill team. I can’t even remember where we met or how we developed our relationship to be so close, but it was special. When I think back to that time in my life, those teenage days, the ‘challenging years’, never do I reflect on them and not think of him, my dear friend James. I think we found in each other soul mates.

James was a Christian, and proud of it. He was different in so many ways than other young men his age. He had principles and integrity, even at that tender age. I knew he was destined to be something bigger and better than many of the other boys I knew from school. He was honest, compassionate and a great listener. I can’t even guess how many times we spent outside the driveway of his house, just a stone’s throw away from Spinning Road, or outside my house chatting…about life, about religion, about hypocrisy and yep, even about love interests we each had. Those love interests were never for each other, mind you, that never entered the picture as the friendship was too precious to us to ever want to risk ruining it. Once we crossed that bridge, there would have been no turning back. Some friends are just too priceless to risk losing.

I lived in what was referred to the rich kids’ neighborhood at the time, Saville Estates. James grew up in the meager neighborhood with a small house with lots of siblings to feed. He held a job, in addition to his school activities. Most of us that did school functions did not work but he did and never once complained about it. I remember seeing him at Krogers any day school was not in session and there was nothing going on with school functions, there he was, working. He even seemed to enjoy it!


When I moved away, my senior year, we lost touch. I thought about him often, wondering what bridges he was building in the world and what ones needed tore down he was trying to destroy. He was a man who cared too much about his fellow men to sit idly by and not be a vocal piece for change and provide the leg work, if needed.

I got connected to facebook and through a high school friend, found out where James lived and worked. We began to recently communicate again. It truly was no surprise to me to learn he was an attorney in Dayton, Ohio and made a career out of injustices.

James always did represent the hard working man, the man that went to church on Sunday and provided for his wife and kids Monday through Friday (Saturdays if needed). He went on to law school and eventually made a career out of representing the ‘everybodys’ in our towns that nobody wanted or cared about, regular people that need to work. Some of his clients are the ones that companies foolishly throw by the wayside, without a second thought, not honoring their rights as an employee when they either dismiss them or discriminate against them. He is concerned with the law and with everyone’s entitled legal rights.

In years gone by, James was behind a new law in Ohio that had to do with cracking down on ‘crack houses’ as he wanted the community to be a better place for our young people to live. James eventually opened his own legal practice, all the while, supporting a family and dealing with health issues of his own. It did not matter what James was faced with, be it the death of his beloved mother, the cut backs of a company forcing him to lose his job, being flat on his back with health matters, he remained true to the young man I remember, a man with a fierce spirit and a strong powerful faith in God.

My parents still live in the town where James lives, to this day, and I grew up in, Dayton, Ohio. This town has been affected, as every town in the US has, by a downward economy. Without the multitude of choices a big city offers, Dayton relies even more heavily on the success of its business partners. They too are being affected by the economy. It is discerning that there is a pervasive feeling in this city by many ordinary folks that the city truly does need a change. Much as Washington DC needed one and it passed like wild flower through our country, this same ‘fever’ and need for change is felt in Dayton, Ohio.

It was with happiness, but not great surprise that I recently learned my dear friend has chosen to run for Mayor of Dayton. He has many folks that know him and can vouch for his sincerity and his record towards improvement and instituting changes. James represents a working man’s son, the eldest of many siblings that grew up poor in bank funds and rich in love and spirit. He grew up and stay inspired towards common good for mankind. I feel the city is blessed to have an opportunity to put him on the ballot, that James R. Greene III. (Click on title to link to his blog page)

James represents the American Dream, reaching down deep, having a hard work ethic and pushing to be all that you can be. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth and asked for no hand outs. James did not ask for sympathy for any set back that has befallen him in life, he just met them each, one at a time, head on. He is that rare breed that we do not have the opportunity to vote for often in political elections, a genuine man with integrity. I pray he makes it in to office as, not only will this do great things for my home town of Dayton, but once the word gets out, it may help pave the way for a new breed of politicians. Is this not long overdue? He is one of us, as he would say. But I personally feel he is more than most!

I am so inspired to learn of his political aspirations. I ask all of you that read this, please offer him your praise and prayer. He can do so much good for the city, if given the chance. Dayton needs a change; we all do in our cities. What he is trying to do in his town is something we all hunger for. Ordinary people can rise above and impact policy! If a man like James can make it into office, there is hope alive and well in the world; God surely must be smiling!

Signed,

Dear everlasting friend