By the People, For the People?

For the past 7-8 years, my grandfather has been waiting for the day when I would finally reach that point of “maturity” (in his words) and switch to a more politically conservative mindset. Upon receiving my first paycheck, he phoned: “See how much money they take out of your check for taxes? Makes you think twice about voting for democrats, doesn’t it?”

Well, it is nearly a year now since I have graduated college (or the “haven for liberals,” as my grandfather likes to call it), and I must confess: I have had my first shift of thought towards a more conservative attitude. Ironically, I credit the current “conservative” administration’s handling of power for my recent change of heart. Yes, I am indeed about to argue that the administration’s overwhelming abuse of office has actually led me to give MORE credence to the ideology that it claims to adhere to.

My contention primarily regards the increasing distance that the federal government is maintaining from its constituients: aka, “The People.” Ever since 9/11, this government continues to relay only one core message to the masses: don’t worry about it; we’ve got it taken care of. In perhaps one of the most bizarre twists of public leadership in the history of this country, the current administration successfully managed to dissuade a united, emotionally committed, and eager generation of Americans ready to make sacrifices and geniuine pledges to public service from doing anything worthwhile at all. In response to the rhetorical question, “what can you do for your country?” Bush told us to go about our daily lives. Which, in his definition, included going shopping at the mall and cheering for football teams. The irony of this call to service lies in the perversion of its message. What outwardly looked like an attempt to ease the minds of a fearful public was in reality an act to NUMB our minds into complacency. In a time when the U.S. was facing a serious identity crisis, Bush located America’s identity within our economy. Unlike other wartime or crisis-engaged presidents who equated America’s strength with the moral courage of its people, Bush claimed that our strength as a people depended on our consumer power. In that crucial time of national uncertainty, we were told that our most important role stemmed not from our place as citizens but as consumers.

Six years later, we are suffering the results of our assigned role. By valuing our consumer power over our civic power, we have exchanged our civil liberties for economic liberties. Indeed, the consumer has never been more powerful: lower taxes (in the middle of a multi-billion dollar war), lower interest rates, easier loan acquisitions, and greater amounts of credit have all led to a staggering growth in consumerism. Yet what kind of power have we laid claim to as citizens? Yes, we did vote for a change of power in Congress. We, as voting citizens, changed the party ticket of the legislative branch. But what kind of political pressure have we actually managed to effectively exert upon our elected officials? Corruption has decayed the effectiveness in all facets of our federal government; yet for the most part we can do nothing. Lower polls have not dissuaded the executive branch from carrying out their original plan of action. Public outcry as expressed through angry editorials (such as this one) and news media has not managed to effect change. Our generation often gets criticized for not protesting in the streets. Yet how effective can public protests be when they are in fact SANCTIONED and surveyed by the government?

It is this line of questioning which has led me to look upon the conservative ideology towards government more favorably. This ideology involves favoring smaller government and giving greater authority to state and local government. Currently, our access to the federal government’s daily operations has been severely limited. (Does it alarm anyone else that one of the first moves of security after September 11 was to ban public access to the Capitol?) Until the federal government undergoes a complete administrative change in ALL branches, I believe that we as citizens will remain relatively ineffective in shaping the actions of elected officials. I, for one, have “given up” in believing that I can storm on Washington.

However, I feel that great opportunities currently abound for citizens within state and local governments. The internet and computer technology has made and can continue to make such governments extremely effective and accessible to its citizens. Blogs announcing local meet-ups, programs which allow you to file taxes, apply for state tags, and other bureaucrataic matters can make and have already made local/state governments much more efficient. E-mail makes any city council offical easily accessible. If we want legislation that actually makes a difference, I think we need to stop focusing on the federal government and start focusing on the local government. Bush is unwilling to place emission controls? Fine. We can convince our mayors and governors to place them here. No universal health coverage? Start demanding it to state officials. While on the federal level we may now be denied much of power that is rightfully ours, I believe the step to reclaiming that is through the power that remains through our role as residents in our communities and reigions.

Training- who is in charge here?

I attended my orientation for obedience class the other night. I suspected something was fishy when the trainer told us to leave our dogs at home. The first two hour class was only for humans.

The trainer is fantastic. Really knows her stuff. She has a great sense of humor and a way with analogies. However, she had some hard truths to share.

Your dog cries at night? Your dog digs up the yard? Your dog pees in the house? Guess what. The dog doesn’t have a problem with any of these behaviors. She thinks they are fun. You however, do have a problem. You need to either learn to deal with these behaviors (thus eliminating your problem) or train your dog not to do them. If you don’t train your dog not to do something, you are essentially granting permission to the dog to continue on with what it is doing. Problem behavior is your problem.

This is hard to hear. Especially when it goes on for two hours.

According to the trainer, 98% of “behavior problems are due to the following 4 issues:

1. Not enough physical exercise
2. Not enough mental exercise
3. Confusion
4. Missing “the pack” i.e. the people in the dog’s life

So how does one fix problem behaviors? Eliminate the four factors. More exercise is the obvious answer, since a longer walk will also provide time with the pack and mental exercise. But how to eliminate confusion?

Rules.

Dogs (apparently) crave structure and rules. They want to know where they stand in the hierarchy of the pack and they want to understand all the rules to this big game we call life. They need to know what they are NEVER allowed to do (knock over the garbage, pee on the rug) and what they are ALWAYS allowed to do (chase the ball, chew the bone). Dogs don’t understand sometimes or “just this once.” So the leader of the pack (that’s me) has to create and enforce rules and stick by them. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

So there are all these rules. The trainer says Matilda needs to earn her keep. She has to sit before I can pet her. She has to sit and stay before I feed her. She has to walk to the door and sit before I can take her outside. She has to drop the ball and sit before I throw it. I have to be in control of every interaction, because in every interaction, I am teaching her something, whether I mean to or not.

The trouble is, that means I have to remember to MAKE HER sit, or stay, or lie down. I have to create the rules and then remember all of them. I have to change the way I interact with her, if I am ever going to change the way she acts.

I am sensing a theme already, even though I have only been to one class and only gotten one homework assignment. This whole training thing is as much about teaching me to be a good pet owner as it is about teaching Matilda to be a good dog. This reminds me vaugely of a conversation I had, once upon a time with some of the fine folks on this blog, about a NY Times article on “spouse training” using animal training techniques. According to the trainer, there is very little difference between training a pet and training humans, especially human children. It all starts with training the trainer.

Who let the dogs in

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for not posting in a couple of weeks. But see, I have a great excuse.

I got a dog.

Her name is Matilda. She is golden-brown, part German Shepherd, part lab retriever. She is 50 pounds of almost solid muscle and is 1 year old. She has boundless energy and as near as I can tell, she love me to bits. She should. I sprung her from the pound (actually from the amazing people at the Atlanta Humane Society, where everyone should go to get their pets.)

I can hear you now. “But Rebekah, you don’t have time for a dog. You have a full time job, one that keeps you quite busy and stressed.” I see you pulling up my earlier posts about how busy I am and all the big things I have been working on. I see you shaking your head and laughing quietly at my foolishness.

Well, pooh on you. I got her and I love her.

You are just jealous.

I have had her for nearly a month now and I have seen some marked changes in my life for the better. I get more exercise now and spend lots of time outside, enjoying the Atlanta spring time flowers and growing green stuff (including the pollen that has covered everything.) I have met a number of new people, at the dog park, in my apartment complex and on the street, people who may have never talked to me before, but can’t resist stopping to pet my pooch and shoot the breeze. My stress levels are down, I am laughing a whole lot more and best of all, when I come home from a hard day at work, there is someone there who is REALLY excited to see me. That cheers me up without fail. No bad mood can withstand Matilda the Spaz’s wild and crazy antics.
We are starting obedience classes soon. I will be sure to keep you updated on that. (Again, AHS has an awesome deal on obedience classes- if you have a dog you should sign up NOW!)

I will figure out a way to post photos . . .

Ups and Downs

Been offline for quite a while.  My apologies for the lack of posting / commenting.

I’ll keep this post brief — just two topics that have got me thinking lately.

1) Ups and downs about how we’re doing in this world.  I was elated to read about Northern Ireland – the leaders of the Irish nationalists and the Ulster unionists have met face to face for the first time.  They were killing each other for 20 years, now they figured out a way to work together (slowly).  Somebody needs to figure out what happened over there and share with the world. 

So then I read about a blogger who writes about technology feel threatened for her life  (first read about it on Salon), and I get depressed again….brought me back to a piece from the “This I Believe” series about our capability for brutality (each one of us).

2) A story about the Colorado football coach responding a parent’s concern about practice (click on the video link on the page).  General agreement from the commentators — this is football people.  Damn, wish we that same sort of commitment to academics.