Blue States, Red States and Why I'm Purple

I just read an article about how this year's Presidential Election will come to down to the strength of Red and Blue States.  And tell you the truth, I'm sick of the Red-n-Blue debate and the party politics.  There are many people that play the "party" card as an entry into the world of politics.  But in my mind, things are never as clear cut at these two political parties make them out to be.  I'm a registered Republican.  The only reason I decided to register for any party affiliation was the mere fact that if you don't, there is not voice [and there fore vote] during the primary elections.  I want my vote.

 

But down deep, I'm really purple.  My belief system has been shaped by my youth, my parents, my experiences and now my grey hair.  I don't see things in black and white - pure right and wrong.  I see may shades of grey - between self righteous ends of the spectrum. 

 

I believe in most cases, Government should stay out of the way - not just within the business world, but also my personal world.  But there are also times that require someone with a bigger stick to help out those in need.  Our government has been doing things to both help and hinder the growth of this nation.  Our top leaders at most times, don't consider the consequences of their actions, beyond their political lifetime. 

 

Case in point, America has had 30 years to embrace the concept of "getting off foreign  oil" - we saw the disaster is created in the 70's being dependent upon the Middle East for this country's livelihood.  The reality, during those same 30 years, our dependence has gotten worse, not better.  Our vehicles in general guzzle more gasoline [if you take into consider the advances of technology].  There was no outrage from the everyday American about the our dependence on Foreign oil 4 years ago -- because oil was cheap. 

 

Now, the near collapse of Wall Street [or at least the capital markets] is big news.  But what about the fact that 4 or 6 years ago, there were lots of people writing about the possibility that having both cheep money to loan and easy credit terms was going to cause major problem in the future.  About how banks and investment houses were bundling non-performing loans into the various funds and packages [which they all bought and sold to each other] - that maybe these practices would cause problems in the future.  And how about the fact that noone in their right mind would believe that a 1,000 sq ft house should be sold for $500K, with or without a beach view. 

 

You can not have an explosive growth, without a corresponding "pop".

 

But none of those reasons is why I'm purple.  I'm purple because I believe most people are good and honest - but that even good and honest people need help staying on the right path.  I'm purple because in most cases, a hand up is better than a hand out - but if you need it, a hand out helps.  I'm purple because I believe that we need to have strong military [carry that big stick] but that having the military and being aggressive with it are two different things.  I'm purple because I don't want someone to tell me I can't have something, but I realize that sometimes, my judgement could be wrong.  I'm purple because I believe in a free market, but that doesn't mean everyone else in the world does.

 

In the political climate of Red vs. Blue - the one thing that I know, is that there are a lot more purple people out there and at times, they rise and make a big difference.