politics

Tonight I signed my absentee ballot. I was for Obama in 2008, but feel that the promise of hope and change simply wasn’t realized and the President isn’t on a path I can continue to support.

I am socially liberal and fiscally conservative. Frankly neither candidate is really inline with my ideals – and both candidates spew an incredible amount of double talk.

At the end of the day it all comes down to the national debt for me. It is the ultimate quantifiable index of our fiscal health as a nation. We are now $16.2 trillion in debt – up from $11.9 trillion just four years ago. The spending is out of control. There is no talk of serious cuts and even if there was the President’s actions over the past four years wouldn’t back up such rhetoric.

The reality is that our government is just too big, too slow and too bloated for the good of the citizens. Someone needs to come in and clean things up. We need a presidential “axe man” to kill the programs that Obama can’t or won’t. The government needs to cut back on all non-essential spending, just like our families and businesses have over the past few years. We are cutting back… but look at government spending. In 2008 we were spending $2,982B a year with a $458 annual deficit – we are now spending $3,795B a year with a $1,326B annual deficit.

Let’s be honest… nobody “likes” Romney.

I don’t – but I voted for him. He is a hard-ass, brass-tacks ball-buster with Frankenstein lightning bolts in his hair. I want him to come it, assess the situation, nuke the garbage and leave us with a lean, mean government so we can finally move forward. I don’t expect him to get re-elected, but I do expect him to balance the budget and invest our dollars wisely.

The axe man cometh. It is time for the U.S. Government to lose some weight.

Despite my efforts to shrug the protests off, I continue to be irked by the #occupy movement. The image below is seared into my mind and while not representative of every protester’s thoughts it underscores some of the core message of “corporate greed” and “oppression of the 99%”.

I would like to share a different point of view. I believe America’s ultra rich and successful are one of the greatest assets our country has. Contrary to popular belief only 20% of millionaires inherit their money, the remaining 80% are self-made millionaires. These are the people creating jobs. These are the people who build the things we can’t live without. I believe people like Gates, Buffet and the late Steve Jobs are more valuable than any oil field or gold reserve.

In the U.S. our rich (and aspiring rich) create wealth not only for themselves, but everyone they touch. They are a unique natural resource created by our capitalist society. I don’t want to eat the rich, I want meet them, learn from them, leverage their financial resources and become one of them.

America needs the rich.

Think about the companies that lead the world in innovation. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Intel, eBay. What do all these companies have in common? The entrepreneurs that created them were all backed by rich, successful people and the venture funds that they invest in. There is a tremendous trickle down effect that few people realize or acknowledge.

When I look at a company like eBay I am amazed by the magnitude of the trickle down effect. In 1997 eBay received $6.7million in venture capital from Benchmark Captial. At the time the company had $4.7million in revenue. No bank would have loaned them that much and raising that kind of money from family and friends would have been impossible. Without some smart, wealthy investors willing to place a very risky bet eBay would have never happened.

Who cares? Well… 17,700 employees care, not to mention the millions of users who will conduct over $10 billion in transactions this year. eBay has created a wealth of jobs both directly and indirectly and I for one am happy that the rich were there to fund it and help it grow.

The very tools that are funding the #occupy uprising are a direct result of investments made by the rich. Social platforms like Twitter and Facebook didn’t make a dime for years and would never have made it past their first couple of months without big money pouring in.

Yes, the rich get richer… but they take everyone else along for the ride.

I had a blast with Missy Ward and the whole Orlando gang that showed up for the inauguration party at IZEA today. Special thanks to Quaker for all the oatmeal, my stomach is still full from breakfast. I am so proud of our country and the historic election of our first African American President. Obama rocked the inauguration speech… and Aretha Franklin rocked the biggest bow ever affixed to a human head.

I have been pretty vocal about my lack of faith in both candidates this election. I ultimately made the decision to side with McCain, primarily over my fear of socialization of this country. With the election now over I want to congratulate Obama and his supporters on an extremely well run campaign. I had little doubt that Obama would be our next president, but I didn’t realize how decisive the vote would be.

My hope is that Obama leads this country forward in a fair and balanced way, understanding the needs and desires of all citizens. He has a tremendous opportunity to change this country, that change can be accomplished if he remains true to his word and governs as an American, not as a democrat. We need both parties on board working together to pull out of these difficult times.

I stand proud of our country and our new president. I look forward to the end of the war and economic prosperity.