"There's always something to cut"

Today we heard from two local Minnesota state legislators, Republican Pat Garofalo and Democrat Steve Simon.  Although from different parties, Pat and Steve continuously stressed the fact that they are good friends throughout the discussion.  An important idea which Pat and Steve also believe in is “Distrust is far more toxic than disagreement” and that “We’re always going to have disagreement.” Simon said both of these comments, which Pat agreed with, and they truly resonated with the people in that room as papers were heard shuffling and people scrawled down the first quote. For a substantial amount of time, Pat and Steve also talked about the transportation issue in Minnesota, especially in dealing with the new gas tax, bridges, and transit. Another good point which Pat and Steve brougt up is the misuse of the word “welfare” and when people say that they want to cut “welfare” that they are not specific enough because that word includes the blind kid who gets help in learning and those who abuse the system and sit at home collecting checks when perfectly capable to work for those same checks.Today was also about what makes a President great and the role of the President in our political system. Today’s discussion with Meena Bose and Mickey Edwards was more of a conversation with us than a lecture. There were more questions asked today than in the other days and I believe that is why today’s discussion was more productive than previous ones. Today’s discussion focused on a few things including the environment surrounding the President, the degree to which the President is the agenda-setter, the amount of vision a candidate should have, communication with his advisors and the party, and show evidence that a candidate is able to close the deal.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing while at the same time anticipating Obama’s acceptance speech, a speech which I believe went extremely well. I’ll be honest and admit that I indeed teared up during his speech because of how moving he was and how motivational he is. When discussing the qualities of a good president, I would argue that Franklin D. Roosevelt was the greatest President in the history of the United States. Two things which FDR did best were: 1. to give speeches that motivated people and 2. talk of big dreams and visions for America in order to give people a long-term goal which we can slowly work towards. As far as my personal analysis, Obama surely has these two qualities. The reason which I believe these to be such important qualities is because if a person is able to motivate a large population then they will get behind the grand dreams of the leader and this will promote change beyond anything any of us can begin to comprehend. Look at the social progress made between the 1930’s and today which, arguably, can be attributed to the social changes brought about during FDR’s presidency and World War II. FDR knew when and how to advance the social agenda in order to correct injustices he saw in the world around him, although he did not do it all at once. However, look at the snowball effect that occurred after his presidency into Truman’s and then to Kennedy’s and Johnson’s when equal civil rights were finally granted to the entire population of the United States. I firmly believe that without charismatic leaders who can motivate the populus of America in whom they trust their country, the people would not rally around the causes which it has throughout the course of American history. Without leaders who can provide a promising vision the people will not have a direction in which to go and therefore lack the bearing necessary to change anything.

Disagreement with me is welcome and appreciated, however if you now will no longer want to read my entries simply because of how I pose my views, then I guess you weren't really that necessary for me to know anyway. Remember, distrust is far more toxic than disagreement.

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