Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my 30th birthday and today I have given myself something I have been wanting for a while.  Nearly 100% disconnect from all things social online.  So starting at around midnight I began systematically deleting all my profiles, pages, and posts and I am making good progress.

This isn't a new trend in my life really.  Starting last year I dramatically trimmed my email.  I deleted tens of thousands of emails.  Wiped out thousands of contacts --people I really didn't know and whose information I was never really going to need.  I have also been on Twitter a whole lot less.  It is funny.  When Google+ came out I immediately was there.  But for all of it's coolness, it has failed to prove to me that it is useful in replacing Facebook.  In fact, Facebook got noticeably better this year, in my opinion.  So with three (four if you count LinkedIn) major social networks now vying for my attention, it didn't take long for me to get disinterested in all three of them.  I am just not interested enough to try to make that balancing act work.

In no formal way, I also started a journey through the happy and peaceful world of minimalism a couple years ago.  I love it.  Ever since I started tossing out junk and cutting back on just about every expense category we have, I have noticed a proportional increase in the peace and happiness of our home.  I love having less.

But online, the world that I have made a big part of my career the last several years, has never been really tackled --much to my chagrin.  So I decided a couple months ago that I was going to start mentally prepping myself for the day.  I woke up this morning and immediately smiled at the idea of not getting another notification email or that silly red "1" from Google Plus isn't going to be telling me that someone from India has added me to their circle (for the 3,000th time).  No more notifications on my phone telling me that I got another spam tweet.

I will keep my blog.  In fact, one of the reasons I wanted to try jumping out of social networking sites is I want to see if it will help me get back to blogging.   I do enjoy writing and I always regret not doing enough of it.

Happy holidays.

Partisanship is Killing Our Neighborhoods

Partisanship is Killing Our Neighborhoods

My dear friend, Chuck Marohn, was on a radio show in Wisconsin this week called Koeping with Government.  First let me say this.  I think while Chuck has no doubt done some great things for the communities he has worked for, his greatest achievements -- his contributions to this great country -- are only now beginning to be unveiled.   Before I make this sound like an eulogy, I will quickly quip that some of the greatest minds of this country have been people who forced us, through simple articulation of a critical but often ignored perspective, to think differently.  Chuck will always make you stop and think, no matter your belief system.

The show was recorded and I hope you will listen to it.  I want you to hear it for two reasons.  First, his message is important.  Our cities have been mortgaged for the faux mantras of economic development and "mobility".  Instead, they are becoming places laden with debt and hampered by immobility.  We are literally being lied to and are lying to ourselves about what we can afford in roads and infrastructure.

Secondly, the hidden message -- one I wish was spoken more loudly more often -- is that our politics is killing our neighborhoods. It is killing them because we are being convinced by politicians that we can't get along. That our differences are too great. What you will recognize if you listen to this podcast is that two very different ideologies can and must learn to recognize our common burden.  All politics isn't local. Just turn on the TV.  What perhaps is more true is that all politics should be rooted locally.  We should determine what is best for our country by what is best for our neighborhoods.

I have all but given up on the populist political movements of today for this reason alone.  They are far too concerned with DC, thereby -- in my opinion -- giving all the power to DC.  We need strong, local political and social movements.  We need stronger towns.  Strong towns make for better public safety.  Better public health. More freedom for the markets to pick and choose winners and losers. Again, we are being divided on issues that are national and are then being prepped to import the partisanship back into our communities where the issues are much more practical.  You can hear it clearly during the interview.  We actually want to argue -- not because we actually know more, but because we have been taught that certain people with certain ideas are wrong and always wrong -- about everything.  The political system of today is framing the argument all wrong.  It is being framed in a way that makes it easy for campaign managers and pollsters to spin into money.  Don't buy it.  Focus on what is generating productivity and wealth in your own life and the life of your neighborhood and it will be a lot easier to formulate knowledgeable positions on topics like The Fair Tax or transportation.

I don't want to end with you assuming fatalism should be embraced and we should simply just opt-out of the political party system we have.  Please vote.  But don't vote based on party lines.  Vote for the man or woman with the most character and for whom you believe will fight to bring the power back to our neighborhoods. Vote for stronger towns and we will have a stronger America.

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Meaningful layers

Meaningful layers

There is a lot of talk about creating new technology.  A leap frog in innovation.  But layers matter.  In fact, for the most part, technology is just a bucket.  It brings us information and doesn't create it.  We can only hope that the way it does this, is inspiring to us.

I think technology should be an inspirational layer.  An effortless carrier of wonderfulness in our lives.  Should technology have a deeper meaning than that?