Entry

I have made my decision to run for elected office in 2010 which therefore explains the title of my blog. This blog will serve not only as a reminder for me to maintain momentum and focus for my aspiration but will also provide a curious way of sharing my experiences and adventures for those folks who might want to know what would make a relatively sensible individual decide to run for federal office in this day and age.

I look at this blog as being a tool in helping potential voters to understand my motivations and subsequent platform stances, which...at the outset, I should discuss. Over the course of this blog biography (as it were), I will review my perspectives on numerous foreign and domestic issues. As a former Democrat and present Independent, my political and social beliefs can run from ultra-right to ultra-left depending upon the subject material at hand. My frustration with the present two party system is that there is very little leeway in having alternative views that match productive points of view of both parties. I suppose I would consider myself more of a proverbial "centrist" overall but, as I noted before, my various positions will become more apparent as time moves on.

The hallmark of my path to DC is the development of an educated voter base. I think the mainstream media and our present system of government has produced a highly uneducated class of constituency in which the average American's knowledge of domestic and world affairs is the end product of what I call "minimalist news". The world is a much more complicated place and really can not be explained in an occasional flurry of 30 second news pieces on TV or a few paragraphs in print. An educated and informed public is quintessential in the formation and evolution of a savvy voter base---a group that should be able to have easily accessible and perhaps contrarian opinions.

This blog will hopefully provide a quality forum of educational opportunities for Delawareans and other interested individuals to understand not only my foci of political dynamics but with the aid of various links to issues to develop a greater understanding of the world at large.

Speaking of links, maybe we should start with a general discussion of what is called the middle class and I'd like to introduce the following link as reading material on this particular topic. I think this represents some interesting reading on the nature of both the definition of the middle class but also I can appreciate the conclusions this author offers as it does correlate with my concerns as to how official government statistics could be manipulated for party-related gain. And while this link details one small component of understanding within the entire scope of US economic thought, the specific concerns and observations did change my perspectives on the nature of middle class valuation and I gratefully appreciate this work by Mr Fitzgerald.

http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/08-09/income.pdf