Snobs ignore these two political forces at their own peril.
For what it's worth, Sarah gives a speech that encapsulates well the problems with the policies of our nation's resident Super Genius. Give a listen...
0 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 2/7/2010 8:48:13 AM Permalink
3 Years
Today's our 3rd birthday!
Lucky, lucky, lucky me... Tamara would say "blessed." The joy of my marriage is that it gets better and better. And it started out great... but it's crazy good today.
February is a big month for us, as it is our anniversary and Valentine's Day and her birthday during the month.
Cool way to start out the year :)
3 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 2/3/2010 11:48:08 AM Permalink
Driving Value
Over the past year, my work life has transformed a great deal. On the drive home tonight from Des Moines Local Live, I realized what I'm becoming.
I recently said to a friend of mine that what we do at work is not nearly as important as what we become through the work. Labor, earnest and passionate, is transformational. If we allow it, work expands us and broadens our vision and capacity.
I've said many times that ideas are cheap. It costs nothing to conjure up an idea, and ideas, frankly, are worthless. Give me a day, I can cook up twelve "killer" ideas. Big deal.
But taking the idea and making it become reality, then the idea begins to have value.
Too many entrepreneurs place a valuation on their idea before the idea is market-tested and proven to be sturdy and reliable under use.
That's what I'm doing at DMLL - I'm taking an idea and turning it into reality. Yes, it existed already, but frankly its technology was shaky and its web site sucked. By my revision of it, I'm creating something of lasting value. Each day, my efforts make it worth more than it was the day before. If someday it makes money, it's in part because I drove value into the company, and the more value I drive into it, the more purchasable it becomes.
That's what I'm doing for ESI, the HVAC industry provider. They came to me with an idea and I created a web site that gives the idea shape. In one month, Alliant Energy will begin using it, and there are talks with Best Buy underway. The idea is worth more because I drove value into it.
And that's exactly what government can't ever do: drive greater value into a company or enterprise. Only individuals can drive value, by their energy and expertise, to make it more valuable than it was before. A carpenter takes plain pieces of wood and fashions them into something usable. A farmer takes a seed and dirt and feeds people. A loan officer assesses risk and provides a means to borrow money for people and companies.
What does government do that you would pay money for? For every effort of government that you wouldn't purchase, that effort has no value and is therefore a subtractive force on the economy. The bigger government is, the more subtractive it is.
Driving value is an additive force in the economy. It creates purpose and use from nothing and makes it attractive to purchase, which increases the velocity of money around those driving value.
My son, Nick, and I got into a discussion over the weekend about whether socialism and capitalism can be successful economic systems. We came to the conclusion that only capitalism can be a successful economic system because its primary goal is exactly that: expanded economy. Socialism can't be a successful economic system because its primary goals are not economic but social.
To take the point further, as an economy expands, the stress on society diminishes because needs and wants are fulfilled.
If an economy subtracts, the stress on society increases because needs and wants go unmet.
Therefore, I question whether socialism can ever be a successful social system, even if everyone in it craved its purported social outcomes: equality and fairness. Every socialist system ever tried collapses and leads to unrest and poverty.
On the other hand, what if every person believed that a chief purpose of their life was to drive value wherever they worked?
"What do you do?" I'll soon be asked.
"I drive value," I'll reply.
Through my direct efforts, do I leave whatever I touch more valuable than how I first found it? That's a hell of a question...
0 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 2/1/2010 2:54:36 AM Permalink
My youngest son, who is in fifth grade, is asked to give speeches without even the use of cue cards...
5 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 1/25/2010 8:50:52 AM Permalink
On Corporate Personhood
Here's the dilemma: the government knows that the source of all money in America is business. Everything happens in America because business creates the economy.
Now businesses are oftentimes partnerships. The larger the business, the more likely it's made up of multiple people. Therefore, a corporation exists as a legal entity, and also to protect the entrepreneur(s), who risk their wealth and property by starting a business.
But it's just a legal construct. No corporation is actually a person. Of course corporations are not people.
Government loves money, and if it is to get money, why not go to the source? So it taxes corporations.
If government taxes corporations, just as it taxes individuals, then it's a bit inconsistent to deny the taxpaying corporation a voice.
If the government collects tax from any entity, that entity has every right to speak on its own behalf.
Personally, I don't think corporations are people. I don't believe that corporations should be taxed. And I don't believe that corporations should have a political voice. The people who own and work in them? Yes, of course. But not the corporation itself.
Some in government want to silence corporations. Fine. But if you choose to silence corporations, then silence the taxation as well.
I expect that businesses will be okay in either direction, but a mixed result will only hurt jobs because it diminishes the health of the business by removing its advocacy for its own survival.
2 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 1/22/2010 1:41:27 PM Permalink
Today's Beauty
0 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 1/21/2010 2:38:35 PM Permalink
Camouflage
Demonstrating his super keen sense of the American people, the Super Genius gave us this tidbit after Massachusetts:
Here's my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: the same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office. People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years.
Were voters mad in 2008? Yes, they were.
Were voters mad in 2010? Oh hell yes they were - by every multiple of the deficit over what was there in 2008. We're alarmed by his bankrupting policies, and we're not the same crowd that voted him into office...
So one of two things is possible with his tone-deaf comment:
He's too stupid to get it. Anger is anger, right?
He's stupid enough to think that he's persuasive enough to convince us that he's actually on our side. Persuasion... yes, more Time magazine covers, more Prime Time news conferences, that's the ticket. We haven't yet basked in his royal presence enough yet to soak up that socialist sunshine and feel good about it.
What a maroon.
Either way, though, he can't see us. We're standing, millions strong, right in front of him and he can't see us at all. Which is fantastic...
Surprise is always your best friend in any fight.
2 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 1/21/2010 10:19:45 AM Permalink
Happy Scott Brown Day
Whether he wins or not, Scott Brown has won.
And whether Martha Coakley wins or not, Obama has lost and ObamaCare is toast. When the voters of Barney Frank's and John Kerry's and frickin' Ted Kennedy's state rebel against ObamaCare and Democrats, Obama has lost.
This is the point at which he should pull a reverse Sally Field.
You don't like me. You really really don't like me.
No matter how cool you initially come across, socialism will never appeal to people who have tasted freedom. I bet Ben Nelson gets that point now.
It's fitting that it's one year after Obama became president. Happy Scott Brown Day, Barry. You earned it.
ETC: I misspoke.
Happy Senator Scott Brown Day!
In honor of our Super-Genius-in-Chief, an older graphic of mine:
8 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 1/19/2010 4:22:08 PM Permalink
Campaign Finance Reform
I'm going to step out on a limb here and say something brash:
You can roll your own Campaign Finance Reform.
That's right. You have the power to render the money in politics irrelevant.
Why is money spent on campaigns? To buy marketing. That marketing is either pro-candidate or anti-candidate, and usually the latter.
What trumps negative marketing, every day of the week? Personal experience. They can buy ad after ad that tells me you're an ass, but if that flies in the face of everything I know about you personally, then it's dollars wasted.
The old hands in politics believe that you're lazy. They believe that you won't get involved. They believe that they you're just a sheep to be led around and pushed around by their marketing. This is why every campaign has financial targets, but not organizational targets.
Here is what those influence peddlers fear most: an engaged and informed electorate. Why? Because it will render their money useless.
The reason that every politician - Democrat and Republican - is afraid of the tea party movement is because my personal activist influence will trump their moneyed influence. My personal involvement deflates the value of their campaign war chest. Neither the politician nor the rich guys nor the media want that to happen. Hence the name-calling and the poo-poo'ing of the tea party folks, from both sides of the street.
They fear most that they can't use money to sway you.
If you want to make money irrelevant in politics, the only way is to get actively involved in supporting the candidate of your personal choice. That's how you make sure that the right person is elected and how you show them that money will not buy the election.
1 Comment BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 1/16/2010 7:33:12 AM Permalink
Crystal Clear
Now that my entire political effort is focused on getting Dave Funk into Congress, I have to say that I'm much happier and I feel better. I'm doing something, and I'm having a strong effect. I've got some amazing people who have joined me in the effort, and things are coming together nicely. I look forward to Dave's election.
Tomorrow, I speak at the Madison County Conservative breakfast. Kinda cool. If you've heard of the Bridges of Madison County, that's where this is. My aim is to get them to help Kent Sorenson win his election to the state senate. We'll see if I am effective at all in my effort.
I watch from a distance as Scott Brown forces the Democrats to confront the hard truth that they're in deep trouble when a Massachusetts Senate seat is up for grabs. Awesome... it fills me with hope when America balks at the socialist ninnies in office. It also fills me with hope when Nebraska's village idiot, Ben Nelson, wants to give back the money he tried to bribe from the government/taxpayers. People are wising up. Freedom still has its crystal clear appeal.
0 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 1/15/2010 8:24:11 PM Permalink
Whether he wins or not, Scott Brown has won.
