John Edwards, Super Tuesday and the Mortage Crisis

Moments ago John Edwards announced that he was officially suspending his bid for the Presidency. Frankly, I must admit that I am not surprised. However, I am feeling a bit melancholy, as he was my candidate of choice. When the Hillary staffers stole the Edwards sign from our yard on the eve of the Iowa Caucus, I was not only angry, but disgusted with the level to which politics in America seem to have sunk.

 

As our nation, and in fact, the world, looks to Super Tuesday; and the political pundits jockey for face time, I am left pondering things that seem to be obvious opposites. We are a country seemingly obsessed with “havingness,” yet so many people have so little. I believe the quote on CNN a little while ago was that 37 MILLION people are living below the poverty line. Millions more don’t have health insurance, food to eat, or heat, and many are homeless or on the verge of homelessness due to the exponential mortgage crisis.

 

I was at an economic symposium a few years ago, where I learned some hard truths. As one of our party was an honored presenter, we had reserved seats, so we were told not to bother standing in line to enter the auditorium. You see, President Bush had decided about to week prior to the event that he was going to attend, throwing everything into turmoil. (Let me tell you, nothing gets you out of the soccer-Mom carpool mentality quicker than Secret Service with bomb sniffing dogs verifying your credentials.) My group was suddenly told to hurry and get in line, as President Bush had given away our seats. He’s the President, so I suppose that kind of thing happens pretty frequently when he decides to attend something fairly last minute.

 

As I was wondering who had been given our seats, I saw the Secret Service enter escorting a family with young children; one of whom had some type of visible health equipment. As President Bush took the podium, he introduced the family, that he had just happened to meet on his way in from the airport. Yeah, uh-huh. Anyway, the family then told their story. How life had been a daily struggle with medical bills, an old car that was constantly breaking down, etc. They then went on to tell the crowd how the recent economic incentive President Bush had approved had made a true difference in their lives. You see, with all these financial strains, they had put the money to good use…by going on vacation. Excuse me?! Anyway, it was at that moment that I very nearly lost all respect for the political process.

 

However, while I was mingling in the lobby I ran into Rob Borsellino, a writer for the Des Moines Register. He was not the kind to mindlessly shoot the breeze, and we discussed politics, and his wife Reka’s passion for helping others, whether here or abroad. His eyes lit up when he spoke about her, and I had a bit of an epiphany. No matter how big a mess the political system is in…we can overcome it as long as individuals continue to have hope and genuinely care about others. What can one person do? Well, people who really care are rarely alone in their desire to make the world a better place.

 

That is why, as we head into Super Tuesday, I would like to think that we can put our political differences aside, and agree that it is time to take responsibility for ourselves and each other. It is not about equal gifts, but equal sacrifice. I have known people behind on their house payment offer their last few dollars until payday to help someone who they view to be worse off. These are not the magnificent, publicly applauded gestures that come with a plaque and build community centers. These are instead, the acts that build communities.

 

With the mortgage companies and banks in trouble, and the government trying to come up with ways to stimulate spending, maybe they should instead, be thinking about ways to stimulate saving…Saving people from eviction, saving children from going to school hungry, saving people in America, the land of milk and honey (as long as you have money), from being forced to play what seems to be a never-ending game of catch-up. How about giving the mortgage companies a tax credit for allowing those behind on their payments to tack them on to the end of their loan, and adjust interest rates to an affordable fixed rate. Perhaps people could then afford heat, medicine and food, and be able to make their payments. The mortgage companies would begin receiving payments, fewer houses would be on the market at a loss, and things could take an upswing all around.

 

We also need to invest in our small towns and make life everywhere (rural and urban) more sustainable. I encourage the good-old boys to take a genuine interest in their local mechanics, welders, stay-at-home moms and factory workers. Hire everything possible that you need to have done from within your own community. The people there have a vested interest in the community and won’t use the town as a stepping stone to a bigger paycheck someplace else. Prove that you value them, and not just the money they spend at your store or deposit in your bank. That mechanic down the block, the one who never went to college, just may have been tinkering in his shop and have an idea for an alternative engine that could run on vegetable oil and get 100 mpg to boot. That stay-at-home mom may just be the next Mrs. Fields or an inventor, and could wind up creating jobs and breathing new life into your sagging economy. Those factory workers, you know the ones working at the plant that everyone knows is coming up on the chopping block; perhaps a group of them have some ideas about how to build something that could revolutionize the way things work.

 

Value these people. That does not mean talking to them, turning them down for a loan, and then using their idea to make yourself money. We are truly a global community, and as we have learned, our neighbors problems can directly impact our own lives. The good news is, that when you reach out to your neighbors, their good fortune becomes your own.

 

WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL…IOWA CAUCUS-PALOOZA, GALLUP EXIT POLLS AND PIE

Well, it’s T-minus 11 hours until the Iowa Caucus and our phone was still ringing at nearly 10:00 p.m. last night. I would say, that on average, we have had 12-15 calls per day regarding the rapidly approaching Caucuspalooza. We have received inquiries asking us if we like George W. Bush (I’m not sure why that is relevant), if we are over 50 (NO), and who our number two choice is. It has been an education in political polling to be sure.

I have read stories to the effect that many people outside of Iowa claim that we should no longer have our ‘first in the nation’ status due to our lack of diversity and the fact that we do not represent a large enough number of the nation’s population. I am willing to acknowledge these concerns. It’s true, we don’t have a movie-star ‘governator,’ a high concentration of a variety of ethnicities, or even an Oprah or Martha-esque font of all things popular (although Oprah is our neighbor to the east.)

However, I would like to point out that we also are not the overall-wearing hayseeds the rest of the country seems to think we are…even though the political commercials focus on mainly farmers and the elderly for photo ops, I assure you we know what authentic Mexican and Chinese food taste like, and we know where Washington D.C. is and why this election is so important. We are the birthplace of pollster George Gallup (some of you may have heard of him), a large number of our farmers have attended college and know how to use GPS to track their crop productivity, and many of us have experienced life elsewhere and chosen to come to Iowa get away from the everyday rat race lunacy so many people seem to think is the good life. Oh, and by the way, we do NOT grow potatoes! (Except in our gardens…)

I actually have my suspicions that the politicians prefer coming to Iowa (and I’m guessing New Hampshire as well) as their initial testing ground for a couple of simple reasons:
1.) We have the ability to detect crap and send it packing. While we may not be the most populated, or celebrity-infested, we do know what hard work is, and we appreciate the simple things in life. Don’t try to sell us any mumbo-jumbo, sling mud, and don’t try to avoid the issues. In this land where manufacturing and many large employers have moved on for cheaper labor, the basics confront and concern us on a daily basis, and we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps more than most…It’s as simple as that.

2.) People in Iowa are nicer than most. Okay, that is my personal opinion, but then this is my blog…Just this afternoon, I had a visit from some lovely Clinton staffers who were looking for our neighbors. They felt free to come all the way up our lane to ask for directions despite the sign out by the road declaring our allegiance to another candidate. They said they needed a break and figured we’d be as nice as everyone else they’d met.

While most of the politicians do the majority of their Caucus stumping in small towns with Mom & Pop diners that don’t serve Starbucks, we do have great hot roast beef sandwiches, pie, and even organic menus. However, perhaps the best thing about Iowa is that it is one of the few places left on the planet where a handshake promise is as good as getting it in writing. (Not that we are entirely without our self-serving ladder climbers…we have those too. But, as I said, we Iowegians possess a finely-tuned BS detection system, and the resident posers are easily identified.)

While the rest of the country can complain that Iowa doesn’t accurately represent the country, we should instead be thanked for being a filter for the rest of America. By separating the wheat from the chaff, we are saving the rest of you from fielding hundreds of phone calls and unexpected door-to-door visits. We have watched as many hours of political commercials on television as actual programming, and have received dozens upon dozens of political mailings.

After our oldest son counted 8 political commercials during one programming break on Caucus Eve, he opted to shut the television off to avoid them. When the phone rang at nearly 10:00 p.m. waking him up, he wanted to know if everything was all right since the phone was ringing so late (our alarm goes off around 4:00 a.m. so please don’t call after 9:00). When I told him it was someone calling to thank us for our support for Thursday’s Caucus, he commented “Well, I wish they had called a little earlier, but that is really nice of them. If I were old enough to caucus, I think I’d pick them too.”

While we all know that nice is not enough to get the job done; here’s to people who are as good as their word, hard work and hope, and a willingness to pull together to get the things done America desperately needs. My son suggested that everyone should recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the caucus to remind us that we are all responsible for each other. Here’s hoping when his turn rolls around in a few years, he will still have the chance to partake in the caucus to support the candidate he thinks will do the best job not only for him, but for his ‘neighbors’ around rest of the country. “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all…”

Good luck New Hampshire…you’re next!