Tag Archives: Right to Vote

September 19, 2020 · 10:09 AM

The Ball Will Find You

There’s this weird and strange thing in sports. I’ve witnessed it as a player, a coach, and as a fan. I saw it quite often while coaching baseball and football, especially at the JV level. You put a player into the game at a critical junction for any number of good reasons like an injury substitution, playing time, or just a hunch. Inevitably, the ball will be hit in their direction, they’ll get targeted as a defensive back against the opponent’s best receiver, or the ball will find it’s way into their hands for the last second do-or-die shot. This scenario seems to play out with great frequency. The ball will find you.

From the highest office in the land to the lowest levels of sports, it’s important to put the people in place to get the job done. If you don’t, errors occur, mistakes are made, and systems devolve into chaos. But why? 

Because the ball will always find you. 

The negative results we often see are an effect caused by incompetence in addressing each and every situation. In short, like the third-string, sophomore right fielder seeing his first varsity action in the late innings of a state playoff game, people get put into situations that are over their heads. They neither have the tools or the experience to react with competence. 

Personally and professionally, I’m a firm believer in the old adage, “You are only as strong as your weakest link”. Weak links are holes in the ship and the holes are always most vulnerable, especially in a crisis. Holes sink ships. Weak links sink organizations, teams, and systems.

This is why when it’s time for you to make a decision, cast a vote, or trust someone with a job, you need to consider if that person is up for the job. Who’s going to get the job done and who’s going to be the weak link in a system? Who’s going to be the one who, as President Theodore Roosevelt most aptly said, will “Speak softly and carry a big stick” and who’s going to be as we said back in the day, “All blow and no show.”

The choice is up to you. 

But always remember that whomever you support, honestly evaluate whether they are capable of performing the required duties in a responsible manner. 

Because they will be tested. They need to be ready to up their game and be prepared to take on the tasks at hand. 

The ball always finds them. 

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June 5, 2010 · 3:03 PM

We hold these truths to be self-evident…

Rest Day Read (SR-29)
The Declaration of Independence (Preamble) by John Adams
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. ”

Goosebumps. Yes, goosebumps. I get them every time I read these words. These words ring true across the chasm of time and space. Beautiful, powerful words. Words we, as Americans, have responsibility to live by and live up to. Unrest and unease in our nation, dissatisfaction and frustration at an all time high. Corruption, influence peddling, a ever bloated, ineffectual federal government, fueled by paranoia and distrust. It appears we have drifted from the course so eloquently laid out and fought for by the Founding Fathers.

Is it time for a revolution? I don’t know. I really don’t think the taking up of arms against our government will solve any problems. But you know, there is a solution. And that solution is an inalienable right passed down to each of us through the centuries by the architects of the Great American Democracy; the right to vote. Too simple? I think not. Right now we are a federal governing body whose inability to tackle and solve the biggest problems in our country is costing us and our future citizenry dearly.

And why have we become only right and only left in our government?

I heard a political scientist who researches these issues theorize that our government has become so polar because we have a less than 30% of the registered voters in this country actually exercising their right to vote. He went on to explain that most of these 30% are polar right or left and are angry enough or issue driven enough to actually get out and vote, so their polarizing candidate become the ones elected. His suggestion for real change in this country and to establish real order is to motivate the masses to vote. Motivate the masses, thus electing more middle of the road candidates, who agendas are more in line with the voting populace and provide a real stabilizing force for our nation.

I often wonder what the Founding Fathers would think if they came back to USA 2010. Would they consider their project a failure? Would they feel let down and abandoned? Did they design gridlock intentionally to make sure no huge mistakes or power abuses occur by Congress?

Thomas, John, George? Anyone? Anyone? I need your help. I just don’t know…

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