The Electoral College Could Just Bring Balance To The Force

I believe that the Constitution is an inspired document. The Electoral College is definitely a part of the Constitution, but the wisdom of it has come into question on both sides of the isle as close elections are turned into an attempted to call a victory a mandate not by popular vote but by the perception of the electoral colleges vote percentages.

It is funny how now the elections are over we tend to look for a scapegoat to blame for our loss. A common scapegoat over the past several election cycles seems to be the Electoral College. I am not super familiar with the history of the Electoral College, but I understand that the founding fathers put it in the Constitution and I do believe that it was there for a purpose, though I believe that the way it is applied now is not what they intended.
After this last election I was thinking about how many on both sides feel cheated by the system. States that are dominated by democrats or republicans are easily ignored by both candidates while certain states are given more attention than they should get.
In the mean time, we all realize that there is something very wrong when the popular vote can be so different from the Electoral College vote count. It discourages many from voting because it looks like their vote doesn't even count.
I could not find anywhere in the Constitution where it says that states have to comply to the winner takes all tradition, and it seems to me that it would be in the states interest to change the winner takes all rules.
Just think for a moment if we made it so that states voted for the president along congressional boundaries. Candidates would have to appeal to more than just swing states and city dwellers. Then what if the 2 extra votes per state were appointed by the states themselves. They might be appointed based upon over all popular vote for the state, or by state appointment via the legislature?
State representation might actually force our candidates to focus on more than just social and or popular issues. With potentially 100 votes at stake it might actually require them to address states issues. This would follow the spirit of The Great Compromise and represent us not only as individuals, but as a state as well.
What if the smaller states could band together and create a regional block of votes? This might change the political system all together.
Hmmm...Just something to think about.

Think Radical, Act Moderate, And Educate Along The Way

Think radically, act moderately, and don't worry about who gets credit, then educate, and soon the ship will be turned around. You may choose to act like an iceberg and not moderate, but then you would be no better than the crew who thought the ship was unsinkable.

It is funny, I thought that this principle was a principle for politics, but the other day I got so angry with one of my boys because he throws a fit every time we ask him to do anything that takes him away from his Legos. In my anger I spanked him, and told him to pick up his Legos, and that he was grounded from them for 30 days so that he could learn to enjoy work. 

I was so mad I had to leave to get out of the situation. I felt terrible. I was upset all day. My son had forgiven me, but he was curious as to whether I was serious about the 30 days. I felt there is no way I can back down, but I also felt that I didn't want to follow through with the 30 days. I had a radical thought that I wanted to force him to learn about the importance of working with a good attitude. Now, I was stuck with the consequences myself. 

Through the day I was trying to come up with an idea that would satisfy the 30 days and yet would give them the incentive to change their behavior before they got discouraged and thinking they could never make it. Then the phrase "time off for good behavior" came to mind.  Then I thought to myself, a day without complaints about work was worth more to me than a normal day. So, I decided to make them earn 30 days but they could earn up to 2 days for a really good day. This allowed me to moderate my initial action and give them incentive to be better than just okay without compromising the end goal. 

So we set forth the rules as such:

1) if you get more than 2 warnings you lose a day.

2) if you get 2 or less warnings then you can mark 1 day

3) if you get no warnings and have a great attitude the whole day you can mark 2 days off the chart.

Now, that we have got them into the routine and they are making an effort we, as parents, can sit back and encourage, and educate them, help them to see what they can change so they don't have to lose a day. 

So far it seems to be working better than I thought. We are early on in this experiment, but I can already tell a difference in this approach over other approaches. I believe that it gives them more incentive to change than to stay the same. I can also tell that it is going to take a little more mental effort for one of my boys than it will be for the other. However, I still see a difference in his attitude as well. 

It wasn't until I had set up the rules and had my boy print out his chart that I realized that this program followed the principle of think radical, act moderate, and educate along the way. I am really excited to see the results at the end of this experiment. 

The Role Of The Sentinel

The role of the Sentinel is not to appease and calm your fears. His is to illuminate you to the potential of danger, to heighten your sense of urgency. The sentinel is placed outside of town in a small fortress or a watch tower and their job is to keep their eyes open for the encroaching enemy. They are the key to our being prepared when the enemy enters. These soldiers are not set to tell you everything is okay, they are there to communicate the great dangers that are coming our way.

There was a day when the media use to be this sentinel they would expose corruption and show us where it was emanating from. They would hold people responsible for their actions. They were professional and competent. They asked the hard questions and demand the answers. They were for the most part unbiased, in that if they saw corruption they didn't ask which side it came from, at least that was what their stated goal was.

Somewhere along the way we lost our sentinels, the media lost its ability to stay neutral and our watch towers have been over run by the enemy. There are very few watch towers left, but there are a few. Those who remain are doing everything they can to get your attention, which sometimes can come across as annoying, and obnoxious, and in some cases arrogant, but they have to get our attention so they do what they can, because the enemy is has just passed their towers and is approaching the city parameters.

The job of the media to ask hard questions and to investigate corruption has been taken over by such organizations as The Drudge Report, Breitbart, The Blaze, and other such organizations. These organizations have seen the enemy coming and have tried to warn us. The problem as been that most of us have been taught to watch the towers that have been taken over. We see these others and we feel something is not right, but because of what we are taught we suppose that it is those who are trying to get our attention that are wrong, because our trusted sources are not giving us any reason to suspect anything is wrong. Our sources tell us all is well, all is well...

We cant afford to ignore those who are warning us. Get out of Debt, Get a Food Storage, and Get yourself right with God, because we are about to find out what it means to be in bondage if we don't. If we are prepared we have no reason to fear, but if we are not then fear will do us no good.

Watch for the sentinels signals, and if your watchtower is telling you all is well, then you better take a closer look. I do not like doomsayers, but that is what the sentinels job is they are our first line of defense.

There is a calling for others to calm our nerves as we prepare for battle, but we can not overlook the role of the sentinel without grave consequences. 

Marriage Is About Being Partners Not Parents

A marriage with two parents disciplining each other will never last, but a marriage of two partners helping each other become disciplined will last for time and all eternity...

The real trick to a marriage is learning how to change how we fight. Most of us never get past the idea that marriage is hard work. And once we do get married and the honeymoon finally winds down and we have our first "discussion" suddenly we think not only is it hard work, but it hurts as well. Our interpretation of this is that we are now at war. Now this is not an all out war, but a subtle war which is even worse, because we know we have to live with the enemy. We begin to make truces, but we are constantly checking to make sure that the truce is still being honored. Every time the truce is broken we feel picked on and we naturally seek out the weaknesses of our opponents defense system. Instead of til death do us part, we are in an MMM cage fight to the death. Okay a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. Suddenly we start seeing our spouse as our parent and we start feeling like a teenager, or even worse we feel like the parent and we see our spouse as the teenager. This marriage is headed over a cliff.

Marriage is a battle, and there is a very real war being fought. However, once we begin to realize that we are on the same team, and that we are partners in this battle, tied to each others success, then and only then will we truly be capable of becoming a real married couple. Until then we are merely two people contracted to each other. Once we are on the same page nothing can beat us. Together we become synergistic making us more than twice as powerful together than we ever could be individually. This does not mean that we no longer have problems. The point of getting on the same team is not that we are guaranteed no opposition, but that we can have confidence that we have a partner as we face that opposition. Sometimes it will be your weaknesses, sometimes it will be your spouses weaknesses that need to be addressed. 

Once you are on the same team you can stop taking offense when your spouse offers you help in seeing a change that you may need to make, and you can be assured that they are there to help you overcome. Once you are on the same team you will not allow yourself to react emotionally when your spouse shows their weaknesses and shortcomings. We will not belittle our spouse for being weak, but we will help them find the help they need and support them in their battle. This kind of marriage doesn't mean that both parties are 100% all of the time. It means that when one is not doing well the other picks up the slack and both communicate their needs. This kind of team is in the zone. That kind of marriage can not be conquered no matter how big the obstacles so long as it remains a two person team.