tjc blog

Mitt Romney is a pragmatist (a pragmatist: someone willing to compromise his beliefs to achieve a goal; the end justifies the means).  Thus, in the end,  he stands for very little.  That's one (only one) reason why his campaign has floundered.

Obama is a pragmatist too, however has appeared, conveniently, at a time when his ideology coincides with an important fact about taxation:

In the USA today, in round numbers, the number of people receiving services (for free)  is finally greater than the number of people paying for those services. This is a tipping point in a democracy, because pandering to the 'receivers' generally wins.

Consequently, i expected Obama to win (so do the UK odds-makers who are allowed to pursue this commercially).

With the selection of Ryan, the Republican ticket has someone aboard who has a view of government that differs at a fundamental level (it's proper purpose) with the Democrats and Republicans. 

The optimistist in me hopes that this will result in a national debate on what the proper role of government should be, and how it should be funded.

Prior to the Ryan selection, this would have been another ho-hum Dem/Repub, you pick-um because they are the same, both wanting a huge social-democracy and only arguing about how much to spend and on which favorite program.

Now at least, there is a chance, perhaps a small chance, that someone will bring the debate back to fundamentals.  

[Risk alert! that this will become a debate about budgets-only, as Ryan is the 'budget guy'; in which case, the country will lose an important opportunity to discuss what it wants to be and how.  And in this respect, Romney as pragmatist may be his own undoing. ].

I accept that the USA is far from the Republic envisioned by the forefathers.  Operating as a Democracy, the people have the right to vote for any path they choose.  

If that choice is a European-like Social Democracy, so be it.  I'd just like the debate to take place. Can Ryan's selection help that happen?   What do you think? 

LRP 081906 spu big bend

here's a link to page of data files that result from my early use of the Race Technology data acquisition system in my SRF race car, and 2 pics of my data analyst ;)
LINK HERE

2006 bahamas - atlantis vj + dolphins from tcirillo on Vimeo.

day 0 - dijon
day 1&2 - cote de nuits, stayed in Chambolle-Musigny @ Chateau Ziltener
day 3&4 - cote de beaune, stayed at Le Cep in Beaune
day 5 - cote de chablis, stayed at M.Meneau's L'Esperance *** in St. Pere
day 6 - Vezelay and on to Paris

too many town's, restaurants, wineries/vineyards for email. I made a real effort in Photoshop to 'improve the weather' LOL which was quite poor. the trip, though, was great, with about 200+ km covered, and untold calories consumed.

Pics are here> http://tcirillo.zoto.com/galleries/burgundy2005/?p=e1301b6a3aec1385c97de3eb1aa94913
LINK HERE