Of governance

"That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves." -Thomas Jefferson

After I read this statement, I thought about how well our founding fathers knew to set up a government. How incredibly brilliant the foundations were that they laid and how far we have strayed from that. Of course, some change was necessary. Women needed to vote, blacks needed to be accepted not as slaves, but as fellow citizens. All were and are entitled to the pursuit of happiness that our founding fathers intended. I am in full support of such change. But, as I am certain Jefferson feared (as I'm sure many other founding fathers did) we have a government that has begun to govern much more than I believe was ever intended. When legislation can be made to tell a business that it cannot permit smoking...a business that I would hazard a guess that most of the public servants have not even seen, let alone set foot in. And yet their hands are in there snuffing out the clientele of a hardworking citizen who is just pursuing their own form of the American dream. We have a government that has been working for years to restrict citizen possession of arms. Not exactly a far cry from the events leading to the 1972 declaration of martial law by Marcos in the Philippines. Not long ago, we had a nation of people who were prosperous because, for the most part, we disciplined ourselves. There are certainly correctional facilities full of people that evidence the contrary, but, their numbers are few relative to the population as a whole. Now, we have government that is incredibly micro-managing. They haven't quite gotten into every corner of every home and business, but it doesn't take much more than a few stories on the news to see that they are trying. And with all of this happening, our economy is dragging, oil prices are rising, food prices are rising and we have a whole country full of people that continue to cry for the politicians to fix it. What we haven't gotten, though...is a politician who will smack some sense into the people who don't realize that they can do it themselves. Yes, we need the government. But, we don't need it for what it is trying to do. We need a government to correct error, not establish truth. Truth, as Jefferson also said, stands by itself. We don't need bio fuels, we don't need compact fluorescent bulbs and we sure as hell don't need our leaders sitting down to negotiate with terrorists! Sorry, this is becoming PG. Anyway...come November, we need to elect good people who will govern only what they are supposed to. I don't think either candidate that is currently awaiting nomination would.

In other rants. Lisa's work has been absolutely horrid. I'm not certain that they value the concept of families. Lately, Lisa has been scheduled to work some rather late hours. Yesterday, she worked until 7:45. Tomorrow, she works until 10. The former, I was ready for bed when she got home, the later, I will likely be asleep. Lisa has filled out a request for change of availability and has been duly rejected...twice. She went in today and spoke with the woman in charge of scheduling who told her that she needs to be available in the evenings. What would they do if Lisa had another job? Or night classes? It is simply ridiculous! It is infuriating that despite knowing why she wishes to change her availability they fail to see how reasonable her request is. Grr...it's enough to drive anyone bonkers!

Anyway...well, at WEAU where my schedule and personal life is respected...I've been directing! I do the cut ins just about every day. I've been doing the Today show and the Noon. Lately, I've also been doing the first hour of Sunrise. Not too long now and I will be directing the whole morning block. I still need to become a lot more familiar with the switcher...but, that will come in time. Right now, I have enough familiarity to do a fairly simple newscast. Once I have had a little more time to become natural with the lower third of the switcher (where most of the switching takes place, anyway) I will be able to branch out in to the more complicated intricacies of the switcher. It has been really fun.

Young Men's continues to go splendidly. Tonight there is a combined activity. They are playing kick ball. I don't believe I will be attending, as Lisa got off work at a reasonable time and I will actually be able to spend some time with her...plus I believe I am getting a bit of a cold. But, planning and organizing within the young men's organization has been a fun thing for me to do.

Despite feeling a little too governed and deprived of my wife...I am enjoying life. I hope that these problems will find a way to resolve themselves...because, at least at this point, I don't feel there is much I can do to stop a river by putting forth my puny arm. So, I will just let the river flow where it must go. Enjoy the ride, right? So long, until next time.