As we all are learning how to adept to these economic conditions, now more than ever, we need to stay focused on exactly what it is we are marketing, that would be ourselves. Speaking as someone who knows, that is all you can count upon. I come from the new home sales business where changing builders is more the rule than the exception. Personally I have worked for nine different builders since 1983, some I left by design, others by desire. What was the most important asset that I took with me each time? My Rolodex and my reputation, those two things are who you are in the business.
Growing up old school it was shoe leather that built that base of contacts. For 5 years straight I hand delivered fliers to the top of 1,200 Realtor desks across the North side of Indianapolis every week. Those "spam" fliers were really an excuse to be walking up and down the aisles of those offices each week, this was when you could walk past the receptionist and go into the offices, and when most Realtors had offices at their brokers. When I was walking up and down handing out these I was able to get face to face time with some of the Realtors, it paid big dividends.
Today, we can do the same thing in a flash of a keystroke after we put forth the effort to build a base of contacts through Social Media like Facebook, Linked in, and Twitter. This is a new phenomenon for most of us, however it is still networking and many of the rules for networking still apply. One is we need as many contacts as we can get, and from those we need to develop strong connections as well. Is it work, yep, but it is well worth it. I find it truly amazing when I talk to someone who is a Realtor or other who makes their living by marketing themselves who are not sold on building a big network, not befriending anyone if they don't know them keeps your circle small.
Let me give you a little tip that I learned the hard way. It didn't dawn on me until after I crossed 1,000 friends. When you add a friend create a list to attach them. I now have a Central Indiana Realtor list, I am developing a political connections list as well as family, friends, etc., this way you can target messages to each according to their interests, or what you want to convey. For instance if I want to hold a meeting and invite Realtors I can do a "Special Event" and send the invitation to over 700 targeted people in one keystroke. If you wait to do after you build a large network it is very time consuming to go back and build later. Once done each new name gets linked to a list the first day.
Today I attended a Real Estate Bar Camp for Social Networking and was thrilled to be able to listen to those more successful in doing so, and meeting and exchanging ideas with so many like minded individuals. Once again, networking, is critical to succeed at anything. I want to point out a few of the topics that I thought would benefit anyone who is interested in learning this skill.
This one idea is one that I had come to through trial and error and was thrilled to hear it was truly a key in marketing yourself in today's crowded cluttered market, to Micro-brand yourself. For decades I was terrified to let anyone know much about who I was personally to keep my professional image as vanilla as possible to not offend anyone. For instance, most of have been told never to talk politics, I even wouldn't mention that I was a fan of Purdue University sports to not offend those from Indiana University.
However, I have personally become so passionate about the direction that the political world is going, I decided I didn't care and started mouthing off. I did in fact lose some Facebook connections, when I started I had 719 Realtor connections, it dropped to 600, but now has bounced back to nearly 800. What I learned is, yes, I will lose some, but those I keep and gain will have more of a connection to me. The speaker today spoke to how we need to get "our" like minded client base, those who share our passions. Be it talking about your cats or dogs, sports, whatever it is you are to be known for be sure it isn't contrived, but your real passion. In other words be real.
The consensus of the seminar today is that we all need to create a large sphere of influence, that isn't anything new. What is new is the mediums. There are some great training opportunities out there to learn about these forums. Find someone in your office who is having success. When I started to try to learn about this I went to those who were successful, I picked my 19 year old son's brain. He was running his photography business through Myspace and had a network of over 10,000 "friends." Another I went to was Kelly Burns with Century 21, she was way ahead of me in the curve, she showed me how she was marketing her homes through it, and some tips and results she was seeing. Then I talked with Steve Dalton who at the time had the largest Twitter following in Indiana, and was using it as a key to his marketing of his mortgage business. I wanted to pick each of their brains, learn as much as I could from each. If you don't have anyone to teach you, contact me, I will be happy to get your started with some 101 level stuff as well as turn you on to others to seek information from.
Bottom line is what you are marketing today is you, no one knows what might happen to any company we may be working. What you can control is that you have a large circle of influence that will follow you to whatever, and where ever you may go.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Benjamin Franklin and Daylight Savings Time
Twice a year we turn our clocks toward the sun moving forward and back to try to manipulate the day. If you like or dislike Daylight Savings Time, it is part of our lives today. This idea is quite old, and is credited to Benjamin Franklin, one of the wisest men in our history. However, I would love to hear his comments if he were alive today about it. With his great wit, I am sure it would be a comical response to the arrogance and idiocy of people. I was greatly disappointed when Indiana chose to follow other states in succumbing to this great arrogance of moving our clocks. I always like to believe that Hoosiers were some of the few who "got the joke." But alas, the joke is on us as well.
If you have ever read his letter that was claimed to be his suggestion to create Daylight Savings Time and not noticed his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, you don't know the wit and comedy that was so much a part of Franklin's personality.
He claimed to be awakened at six in the morning only to be shocked to learn that the sun actually comes up before noon each day. Franklin did an experiment and rose at six the next three mornings to see if it was a one time anomalies or a pattern of behavior the sun was prone. Learning that it seemed to happen with regularity he suggested that if the people of Paris would arise at six instead of noon they would gain six hours of daylight per day! Franklin is one of my favorite people in history, no one was more of a smart ass, and no one loved an argument more. Though as a young man he noticed that people would walk across the street to avoid him and the sure argument that would follow. Franklin chose to never argue again and became one of the worlds greatest ambassadors.
Here is the actual letter to Paris, enjoy this brilliant man's wit.
To THE AUTHORS of
The Journal of Paris
1784
MESSIEURS,
You often entertain us with accounts of new discoveries. Permit me to communicate to the public, through your paper, one that has lately been made by myself, and which I conceive may be of great utility.
I was the other evening in a grand company, where the new lamp of Messrs. Quinquet and Lange was introduced, and much admired for its splendour; but a general inquiry was made, whether the oil it consumed was not in proportion to the light it afforded, in which case there would be no saving in the use of it. No one present could satisfy us in that point, which all agreed ought to be known, it being a very desirable thing to lessen, if possible, the expense of lighting our apartments, when every other article of family expense was so much augmented.
I was pleased to see this general concern for economy, for I love economy exceedingly.
I went home, and to bed, three or four hours after midnight, with my head full of the subject. An accidental sudden noise waked me about six in the morning, when I was surprised to find my room filled with light; and I imagined at first, that a number of those lamps had been brought into it; but, rubbing my eyes, I perceived the light came in at the windows. I got up and looked out to see what might be the occasion of it, when I saw the sun just rising above the horizon, from whence he poured his rays plentifully into my chamber, my domestic having negligently omitted, the preceding evening, to close the shutters.
I looked at my watch, which goes very well, and found that it was but six o'clock; and still thinking it something extraordinary that the sun should rise so early, I looked into the almanac, where I found it to be the hour given for his rising on that day. I looked forward, too, and found he was to rise still earlier every day till towards the end of June; and that at no time in the year he retarded his rising so long as till eight o'clock. Your readers, who with me have never seen any signs of sunshine before noon, and seldom regard the astronomical part of the almanac, will be as much astonished as I was, when they hear of his rising so early; and especially when I assure them, that he gives light as soon as he rises. I am convinced of this. I am certain of my fact. One cannot be more certain of any fact. I saw it with my own eyes. And, having repeated this observation the three following mornings, I found always precisely the same result.
Yet it so happens, that when I speak of this discovery to others, I can easily perceive by their countenances, though they forbear expressing it in words, that they do not quite believe me. One, indeed, who is a learned natural philosopher, has assured me that I must certainly be mistaken as to the circumstance of the light coming into my room; for it being well known, as he says, that there could be no light abroad at that hour, it follows that none could enter from without; and that of consequence, my windows being accidentally left open, instead of letting in the light, had only served to let out the darkness; and he used many ingenious arguments to show me how I might, by that means, have been deceived. I owned that he puzzled me a little, but he did not satisfy me; and the subsequent observations I made, as above mentioned, confirmed me in my first opinion.
This event has given rise in my mind to several serious and important reflections. I considered that, if I had not been awakened so early in the morning, I should have slept six hours longer by the light of the sun, and in exchange have lived six hours the following night by candle-light; and, the latter being a much more expensive light than the former, my love of economy induced me to muster up what little arithmetic I was master of, and to make some calculations, which I shall give you, after observing that utility is, in my opinion the test of value in matters of invention, and that a discovery which can be applied to no use, or is not good for something, is good for nothing.
I took for the basis of my calculation the supposition that there are one hundred thousand families in Paris, and that these families consume in the night half a pound of bougies, or candles, per hour. I think this is a moderate allowance, taking one family with another; for though I believe some consume less, I know that many consume a great deal more. Then estimating seven hours per day as the medium quantity between the time of the sun's rising and ours, he rising during the six following months from six to eight hours before noon, and there being seven hours of course per night in which we burn candles, the account will stand thus;--
In the six months between the 20th of March and the 20th of September, there are
Nights 183
Hours of each night in which we burn candles 7
Multiplication gives for the total number of hours 1,281
These 1,281 hours multiplied by 100,000, the number of inhabitants, give 128,100,000
One hundred twenty-eight millions and one hundred thousand hours, spent at Paris by candle-light, which, at half a pound of wax and tallow per hour, gives the weight of 64,050,000
Sixty-four millions and fifty thousand of pounds, which, estimating the whole at-the medium price of thirty sols the pound, makes the sum of ninety-six millions and seventy-five thousand livres tournois 96,075,000
An immense sum! that the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles. If it should be said, that people are apt to be obstinately attached to old customs, and that it will be difficult to induce them to rise before noon, consequently my discovery can be of little use; I answer, Nil desperandum. I believe all who have common sense, as soon as they have learnt from this paper that it is daylight when the sun rises, will contrive to rise with him; and, to compel the rest, I would propose the following regulations; First. Let a tax be laid of a louis per window, on every window that is provided with shutters to keep out the light of the sun.
Second. Let the same salutary operation of police be made use of, to prevent our burning candles, that inclined us last winter to be more economical in burning wood; that is, let guards be placed in the shops of the wax and tallow chandlers, and no family be permitted to be supplied with more than one pound of candles per week.
Third. Let guards also be posted to stop all the coaches, &c. that would pass the streets after sunset, except those of physicians, surgeons, and midwives.
Fourth. Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing; and if that is not sufficient?, let cannon be fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effectually, and make them open their eyes to see their true interest.
All the difficulty will be in the first two or three days; after which the reformation will be as natural and easy as the present irregularity; for, ce n'est que le premier pas qui coûte. Oblige a man to rise at four in the morning, and it is more than probable he will go willingly to bed at eight in the evening; and, having had eight hours sleep, he will rise more willingly at four in the morning following. But this sum of ninety-six millions and seventy-five thousand livres is not the whole of what may be saved by my economical project. You may observe, that I have calculated upon only one half of the year, and much may be saved in the other, though the days are shorter. Besides, the immense stock of wax and tallow left unconsumed during the summer, will probably make candles much cheaper for the ensuing winter, and continue them cheaper as long as the proposed reformation shall be supported.
For the great benefit of this discovery, thus freely communicated and bestowed by me on the public, I demand neither place, pension, exclusive privilege, nor any other reward whatever. I expect only to have the honour of it. And yet I know there are little, envious minds, who will, as usual, deny me this and say, that my invention was known to the ancients, and perhaps they may bring passages out of the old books in proof of it. I will not dispute with these people, that the ancients knew not the sun would rise at certain hours; they possibly had, as we have, almanacs that predicted it; but it does not follow thence, that they knew he gave light as soon as he rose. This is what I claim as my discovery. If the ancients knew it, it might have been long since forgotten; for it certainly was unknown to the moderns, at least to the Parisians, which to prove, I need use but one plain simple argument. They are as well instructed judicious, and prudent a people as exist anywhere in the world all professing, like myself, to be lovers of economy; and,from the many heavy taxes required from them by the necessitities of the state, have surely an abundant reason to be economical. I say it is impossible that so sensible a people, under such circumstances, should have lived so long by the smoky, unwholesome, and enormously expensive light of candles, if they had really known, that they might have had as much pure light of the sun for nothing. I am, &c.
A SUBSCRIBER
If you have ever read his letter that was claimed to be his suggestion to create Daylight Savings Time and not noticed his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, you don't know the wit and comedy that was so much a part of Franklin's personality.
He claimed to be awakened at six in the morning only to be shocked to learn that the sun actually comes up before noon each day. Franklin did an experiment and rose at six the next three mornings to see if it was a one time anomalies or a pattern of behavior the sun was prone. Learning that it seemed to happen with regularity he suggested that if the people of Paris would arise at six instead of noon they would gain six hours of daylight per day! Franklin is one of my favorite people in history, no one was more of a smart ass, and no one loved an argument more. Though as a young man he noticed that people would walk across the street to avoid him and the sure argument that would follow. Franklin chose to never argue again and became one of the worlds greatest ambassadors.
Here is the actual letter to Paris, enjoy this brilliant man's wit.
To THE AUTHORS of
The Journal of Paris
1784
MESSIEURS,
You often entertain us with accounts of new discoveries. Permit me to communicate to the public, through your paper, one that has lately been made by myself, and which I conceive may be of great utility.
I was the other evening in a grand company, where the new lamp of Messrs. Quinquet and Lange was introduced, and much admired for its splendour; but a general inquiry was made, whether the oil it consumed was not in proportion to the light it afforded, in which case there would be no saving in the use of it. No one present could satisfy us in that point, which all agreed ought to be known, it being a very desirable thing to lessen, if possible, the expense of lighting our apartments, when every other article of family expense was so much augmented.
I was pleased to see this general concern for economy, for I love economy exceedingly.
I went home, and to bed, three or four hours after midnight, with my head full of the subject. An accidental sudden noise waked me about six in the morning, when I was surprised to find my room filled with light; and I imagined at first, that a number of those lamps had been brought into it; but, rubbing my eyes, I perceived the light came in at the windows. I got up and looked out to see what might be the occasion of it, when I saw the sun just rising above the horizon, from whence he poured his rays plentifully into my chamber, my domestic having negligently omitted, the preceding evening, to close the shutters.
I looked at my watch, which goes very well, and found that it was but six o'clock; and still thinking it something extraordinary that the sun should rise so early, I looked into the almanac, where I found it to be the hour given for his rising on that day. I looked forward, too, and found he was to rise still earlier every day till towards the end of June; and that at no time in the year he retarded his rising so long as till eight o'clock. Your readers, who with me have never seen any signs of sunshine before noon, and seldom regard the astronomical part of the almanac, will be as much astonished as I was, when they hear of his rising so early; and especially when I assure them, that he gives light as soon as he rises. I am convinced of this. I am certain of my fact. One cannot be more certain of any fact. I saw it with my own eyes. And, having repeated this observation the three following mornings, I found always precisely the same result.
Yet it so happens, that when I speak of this discovery to others, I can easily perceive by their countenances, though they forbear expressing it in words, that they do not quite believe me. One, indeed, who is a learned natural philosopher, has assured me that I must certainly be mistaken as to the circumstance of the light coming into my room; for it being well known, as he says, that there could be no light abroad at that hour, it follows that none could enter from without; and that of consequence, my windows being accidentally left open, instead of letting in the light, had only served to let out the darkness; and he used many ingenious arguments to show me how I might, by that means, have been deceived. I owned that he puzzled me a little, but he did not satisfy me; and the subsequent observations I made, as above mentioned, confirmed me in my first opinion.
This event has given rise in my mind to several serious and important reflections. I considered that, if I had not been awakened so early in the morning, I should have slept six hours longer by the light of the sun, and in exchange have lived six hours the following night by candle-light; and, the latter being a much more expensive light than the former, my love of economy induced me to muster up what little arithmetic I was master of, and to make some calculations, which I shall give you, after observing that utility is, in my opinion the test of value in matters of invention, and that a discovery which can be applied to no use, or is not good for something, is good for nothing.
I took for the basis of my calculation the supposition that there are one hundred thousand families in Paris, and that these families consume in the night half a pound of bougies, or candles, per hour. I think this is a moderate allowance, taking one family with another; for though I believe some consume less, I know that many consume a great deal more. Then estimating seven hours per day as the medium quantity between the time of the sun's rising and ours, he rising during the six following months from six to eight hours before noon, and there being seven hours of course per night in which we burn candles, the account will stand thus;--
In the six months between the 20th of March and the 20th of September, there are
Nights 183
Hours of each night in which we burn candles 7
Multiplication gives for the total number of hours 1,281
These 1,281 hours multiplied by 100,000, the number of inhabitants, give 128,100,000
One hundred twenty-eight millions and one hundred thousand hours, spent at Paris by candle-light, which, at half a pound of wax and tallow per hour, gives the weight of 64,050,000
Sixty-four millions and fifty thousand of pounds, which, estimating the whole at-the medium price of thirty sols the pound, makes the sum of ninety-six millions and seventy-five thousand livres tournois 96,075,000
An immense sum! that the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles. If it should be said, that people are apt to be obstinately attached to old customs, and that it will be difficult to induce them to rise before noon, consequently my discovery can be of little use; I answer, Nil desperandum. I believe all who have common sense, as soon as they have learnt from this paper that it is daylight when the sun rises, will contrive to rise with him; and, to compel the rest, I would propose the following regulations; First. Let a tax be laid of a louis per window, on every window that is provided with shutters to keep out the light of the sun.
Second. Let the same salutary operation of police be made use of, to prevent our burning candles, that inclined us last winter to be more economical in burning wood; that is, let guards be placed in the shops of the wax and tallow chandlers, and no family be permitted to be supplied with more than one pound of candles per week.
Third. Let guards also be posted to stop all the coaches, &c. that would pass the streets after sunset, except those of physicians, surgeons, and midwives.
Fourth. Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing; and if that is not sufficient?, let cannon be fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effectually, and make them open their eyes to see their true interest.
All the difficulty will be in the first two or three days; after which the reformation will be as natural and easy as the present irregularity; for, ce n'est que le premier pas qui coûte. Oblige a man to rise at four in the morning, and it is more than probable he will go willingly to bed at eight in the evening; and, having had eight hours sleep, he will rise more willingly at four in the morning following. But this sum of ninety-six millions and seventy-five thousand livres is not the whole of what may be saved by my economical project. You may observe, that I have calculated upon only one half of the year, and much may be saved in the other, though the days are shorter. Besides, the immense stock of wax and tallow left unconsumed during the summer, will probably make candles much cheaper for the ensuing winter, and continue them cheaper as long as the proposed reformation shall be supported.
For the great benefit of this discovery, thus freely communicated and bestowed by me on the public, I demand neither place, pension, exclusive privilege, nor any other reward whatever. I expect only to have the honour of it. And yet I know there are little, envious minds, who will, as usual, deny me this and say, that my invention was known to the ancients, and perhaps they may bring passages out of the old books in proof of it. I will not dispute with these people, that the ancients knew not the sun would rise at certain hours; they possibly had, as we have, almanacs that predicted it; but it does not follow thence, that they knew he gave light as soon as he rose. This is what I claim as my discovery. If the ancients knew it, it might have been long since forgotten; for it certainly was unknown to the moderns, at least to the Parisians, which to prove, I need use but one plain simple argument. They are as well instructed judicious, and prudent a people as exist anywhere in the world all professing, like myself, to be lovers of economy; and,from the many heavy taxes required from them by the necessitities of the state, have surely an abundant reason to be economical. I say it is impossible that so sensible a people, under such circumstances, should have lived so long by the smoky, unwholesome, and enormously expensive light of candles, if they had really known, that they might have had as much pure light of the sun for nothing. I am, &c.
A SUBSCRIBER
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Red Counties and Blue Counties and Education
The electoral map of the United States shows that the blue or democrat counties are concentrated in the large cities while the rest of America is painted in nothing but red or republican voting counties. You can quickly see that almost all of that "fly over" country between the coasts is carried by Republicans in Presidential elections.
We find ourselves in the situation that Thomas Jefferson most feared, even though he is considered the forefather of the democrat party,(of course he wasn't that didn't happen until Martin Van Buren did as a means to protect slavery.) Thomas Jefferson's beliefs were exactly 180 degrees away from what the democrats are pushing today. Jefferson believed strongly in State's rights over Federal government, and he wanted a small and weak Federal government. Jefferson was a believer in rural America and had no use for large cities. If you recall he was one of the leaders of the American Revolution to end what they believed to be excessive taxation, and an oppressive government.
Let's see what Jefferson had to say and how timely it is today.
"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe." Thomas Jefferson
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Thomas Jefferson
"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." Thomas Jefferson
" I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Thomas Jefferson
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.." Thomas Jefferson
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." Thomas Jefferson
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." Thomas Jefferson
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson
If you continue with the thought of the red and blue counties and their uneven distribution, I have to query what the counties would look like if we defined them by high school graduation rates and SAT scores? I will bet that we would find that it would fall again to nearly the very same counties that were red and blue. Marion County Indiana is a blue county and the Indianapolis Public Schools boast a nearly 20% graduation rate.
Our founders differed on many beliefs, but they were nearly speaking in unison that the only way to guarantee the American Republic's survival was to have an educated population. Our founders lived in a knowledge explosion. America had nine colleges and twenty five newspapers in 1776 serving a population of 2.5 million. Benjamin Franklin was partly responsible testifying that "reading became fashionable" in America in the 1730s. Since Americas had "no publick amusements to divert their attention from study," they soon became "better instructed and more intelligent" than people in other countries.
The founders were passionately concerned with instructing their peers, and their children. The intelligence they wanted to develop was political and practical. As John Adams made his way to Philadelphia for the first Continental Congress in 1774, his thoughts turned to the children he had left behind in Braintree. "Fix their ambition, " he wrote his wife Abigale, "upon great and solid objects, and their contempt upon little, frivolous and useless ones." They believed that the people would shape America; their children would shape to future.
Jefferson wanted education for everyone, and lots of education for the talented. Since even "the best forms" of government tended to revert to tyranny over time, "the people at large" had to have enough knowledge of history "to know ambition under all it's shapes;" the most talented people needed additional training, to enable them "to guard the sacred deposit" of liberty.
George Washington, in his first State of the Union address told his audience that "nothing...can better deserve your patronage" than education. His reasons, like Jefferson's, were political. He wanted people to "value their own rights"; he also wanted them to be able to acknowledge "the necessary exercise of lawful authority."
Of course it is fine to want knowledge, but what kind of knowledge would the founders ask for? Franklin's central subject was history. "As nothing teaches so nothing delights more than history." He was always tugging in in practical directions,however, applying it to the present, or using it to teach a skill. Franklin's students would study journalism as well as rhetoric. In studying history "questions of right and wrong" would "naturally arise." Students should debate them. "Publick disputes warm the imagination, whet the industry, and strengthen the natural abilities." Franklin also wanted students to study religion as a historical and civic subject; "History will afford frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a publick religion and the excellency of the Christian Religion above all others ancient or modern."
If our founders believed we needed to have an educated electorate to keep them from being fooled by tyrants offering something for nothing, where are we today. How many Americans have adequate knowledge of history, economics, civics, or philosophy?
Reading a historian describing the America that Alexis de Tocqueville met when he researched for his book "Democracy in America" during the Andrew Jackson administration. What he said was that Americans considered themselves to be well educated because most all read newspapers, unlike the founders though, they had no real education in history, civics, and philosophy. The author's comment was that these Americans were full of current events but without the depth of knowledge in those above learning's to filter it through so they couldn't assimilate the information and were like bobbers tossed and turned onto of waves of never ending information. If that was the case then, what is going on now?
If we are were we are today because we have an ignorant electorate who are being misled by those who promise them something for nothing there are three questions we must consider.
1.How did this happen to our schools, was it just incompetence in our school systems?
2.Is it possible that our schools are failing our students on purpose as Mason Weaver stated in his excellent book "It's Okay to Leave the Plantation." Weaver strongly believes that the mission of the left is to hold people in poverty to enslave them to government hand outs to guarantee their votes for democrats.
3.What do we do about it now?
If it is the first and only incompetence we need to as parents, and as citizens start volunteering to help in the education of our youth if they are our kids or not, they will soon be voting. If it is the second we need to go to war and fight back this rape of our children's minds.
We find ourselves in the situation that Thomas Jefferson most feared, even though he is considered the forefather of the democrat party,(of course he wasn't that didn't happen until Martin Van Buren did as a means to protect slavery.) Thomas Jefferson's beliefs were exactly 180 degrees away from what the democrats are pushing today. Jefferson believed strongly in State's rights over Federal government, and he wanted a small and weak Federal government. Jefferson was a believer in rural America and had no use for large cities. If you recall he was one of the leaders of the American Revolution to end what they believed to be excessive taxation, and an oppressive government.
Let's see what Jefferson had to say and how timely it is today.
"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe." Thomas Jefferson
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Thomas Jefferson
"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." Thomas Jefferson
" I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Thomas Jefferson
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.." Thomas Jefferson
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." Thomas Jefferson
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." Thomas Jefferson
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson
If you continue with the thought of the red and blue counties and their uneven distribution, I have to query what the counties would look like if we defined them by high school graduation rates and SAT scores? I will bet that we would find that it would fall again to nearly the very same counties that were red and blue. Marion County Indiana is a blue county and the Indianapolis Public Schools boast a nearly 20% graduation rate.
Our founders differed on many beliefs, but they were nearly speaking in unison that the only way to guarantee the American Republic's survival was to have an educated population. Our founders lived in a knowledge explosion. America had nine colleges and twenty five newspapers in 1776 serving a population of 2.5 million. Benjamin Franklin was partly responsible testifying that "reading became fashionable" in America in the 1730s. Since Americas had "no publick amusements to divert their attention from study," they soon became "better instructed and more intelligent" than people in other countries.
The founders were passionately concerned with instructing their peers, and their children. The intelligence they wanted to develop was political and practical. As John Adams made his way to Philadelphia for the first Continental Congress in 1774, his thoughts turned to the children he had left behind in Braintree. "Fix their ambition, " he wrote his wife Abigale, "upon great and solid objects, and their contempt upon little, frivolous and useless ones." They believed that the people would shape America; their children would shape to future.
Jefferson wanted education for everyone, and lots of education for the talented. Since even "the best forms" of government tended to revert to tyranny over time, "the people at large" had to have enough knowledge of history "to know ambition under all it's shapes;" the most talented people needed additional training, to enable them "to guard the sacred deposit" of liberty.
George Washington, in his first State of the Union address told his audience that "nothing...can better deserve your patronage" than education. His reasons, like Jefferson's, were political. He wanted people to "value their own rights"; he also wanted them to be able to acknowledge "the necessary exercise of lawful authority."
Of course it is fine to want knowledge, but what kind of knowledge would the founders ask for? Franklin's central subject was history. "As nothing teaches so nothing delights more than history." He was always tugging in in practical directions,however, applying it to the present, or using it to teach a skill. Franklin's students would study journalism as well as rhetoric. In studying history "questions of right and wrong" would "naturally arise." Students should debate them. "Publick disputes warm the imagination, whet the industry, and strengthen the natural abilities." Franklin also wanted students to study religion as a historical and civic subject; "History will afford frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a publick religion and the excellency of the Christian Religion above all others ancient or modern."
If our founders believed we needed to have an educated electorate to keep them from being fooled by tyrants offering something for nothing, where are we today. How many Americans have adequate knowledge of history, economics, civics, or philosophy?
Reading a historian describing the America that Alexis de Tocqueville met when he researched for his book "Democracy in America" during the Andrew Jackson administration. What he said was that Americans considered themselves to be well educated because most all read newspapers, unlike the founders though, they had no real education in history, civics, and philosophy. The author's comment was that these Americans were full of current events but without the depth of knowledge in those above learning's to filter it through so they couldn't assimilate the information and were like bobbers tossed and turned onto of waves of never ending information. If that was the case then, what is going on now?
If we are were we are today because we have an ignorant electorate who are being misled by those who promise them something for nothing there are three questions we must consider.
1.How did this happen to our schools, was it just incompetence in our school systems?
2.Is it possible that our schools are failing our students on purpose as Mason Weaver stated in his excellent book "It's Okay to Leave the Plantation." Weaver strongly believes that the mission of the left is to hold people in poverty to enslave them to government hand outs to guarantee their votes for democrats.
3.What do we do about it now?
If it is the first and only incompetence we need to as parents, and as citizens start volunteering to help in the education of our youth if they are our kids or not, they will soon be voting. If it is the second we need to go to war and fight back this rape of our children's minds.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I Want To Be Obama
There is no job on earth that has to be more stressful than is that of President of the United States. We have, for generations, watched men go in their first day fresh and vibrant, and watch them age beyond their years during their tenure. It is hard to imagine the overwhelming weight thrust upon your shoulders as you become responsible for running such a huge country, massive government, military, and all that includes. Knowing that the decisions you make, or don't make will have serious impact on the lives of all Americans, possibly for generations to come. I know as vp of sales for a company I more often than not had sleepless nights knowing that I was responsible for helping my team and company succeed. It weighed upon me knowing that if my team didn't deliver over a hundred families in the company would suffer the consequences. Can you imagine multiplying that by three hundred million?
Our first President, the one who showed the way for all future Presidents, George Washington whispered to John Adams as he was about to take his own oath of office as the second President, "I am fairly out, and you are fairly in. See which of us will be happiest." Even Washington, the most popular man who ever lived in America, was also criticized and ridiculed in his decisions as President. Years later John Adams was the first of only two Presidents in history to know the joy and trepidation of seeing their son elected to the same office. John Adams told John Quincy Adams "No man who ever held the office of President would congratulate a friend on obtaining it. He will make one man ungrateful, and a hundred men his enemies, for every office he can bestow."
It is hard to imagine how hard this job would be, you would be being pulled in a million different directions from every advisor, friend, and enemy. The weight of your decisions would have to haunt your every waking moment, no wonder we watch them age so.
However there are some awesome perks, you may only make 400,000.00/year for a job that in the private sector would pay millions, but your lifestyle would be one of the richest in the world. Nice home, great vacation spot at Camp David, private jumbo jets, helicopters, on and on and on. Who wouldn't like the deference you are afforded the power and celebrity that all is part of the package. But with the weight of the world on your shoulders, I am sure that you would be very pleased to finish your term and get out of the pressure cooker.
From watching Barrack Obama and how he is handling his Presidency, I have to say, I want to be Obama! He is truly enjoying all the perks, flying all over the world visiting and being wined and dined, going on multi-million dollar dates with his wife, playing golf, on and on.
In fact Playing is the best description of Obama's presidency, he is enjoying the perks and the play, but seems distant and unaffected by the work. He doesn't talk to his generals running his wars, he doesn't seem to pay much attention to the economy, he doesn't seem to care about what the unemployment rate or what direction it goes, he doesn't seem to care about much of anything but getting his pet programs in place.
He spends almost all his work time in campaign mode, in his comfort zone. Even when he campaigns his programs he only speaks to hand picked friendly crowds who are guaranteed to adore him, he won't do interviews with any journalists that doesn't pay homage at his feet. He lives in a protected cocoon where only those who sing his praises are allowed to enter.
If you didn't care about your military, even if they win or lose a war, how many die, or for what it takes a lot of pressure off.
If you didn't care what happened to Americans, their jobs and their futures, in fact the worse it gets for Americans the easier it would be to get them to let you put your programs in place, it has to make it less stressful.
If you didn't care about American sovereignty, safety, and standing in the world, it would be easier to not worry about making mistakes that can destroy America.
When you even don't care if your Health Care program actually works or if Cap and Trade do what they are advertised to do, as long as they increase your own power it has to keep your hair from going gray.
If you didn't care if your own parties political future is damaged by aligning themselves with you and your programs that sure would take stress off as well. If you didn't care about anyone, or anything but you and your own power life has to be pretty stress free.
Obama simply doesn't care, he is Playing President, enjoying all the perks while we all twist in the wind. I want to be Obama, but know I couldn't ever be I was born with a conscience and a soul.
Our first President, the one who showed the way for all future Presidents, George Washington whispered to John Adams as he was about to take his own oath of office as the second President, "I am fairly out, and you are fairly in. See which of us will be happiest." Even Washington, the most popular man who ever lived in America, was also criticized and ridiculed in his decisions as President. Years later John Adams was the first of only two Presidents in history to know the joy and trepidation of seeing their son elected to the same office. John Adams told John Quincy Adams "No man who ever held the office of President would congratulate a friend on obtaining it. He will make one man ungrateful, and a hundred men his enemies, for every office he can bestow."
It is hard to imagine how hard this job would be, you would be being pulled in a million different directions from every advisor, friend, and enemy. The weight of your decisions would have to haunt your every waking moment, no wonder we watch them age so.
However there are some awesome perks, you may only make 400,000.00/year for a job that in the private sector would pay millions, but your lifestyle would be one of the richest in the world. Nice home, great vacation spot at Camp David, private jumbo jets, helicopters, on and on and on. Who wouldn't like the deference you are afforded the power and celebrity that all is part of the package. But with the weight of the world on your shoulders, I am sure that you would be very pleased to finish your term and get out of the pressure cooker.
From watching Barrack Obama and how he is handling his Presidency, I have to say, I want to be Obama! He is truly enjoying all the perks, flying all over the world visiting and being wined and dined, going on multi-million dollar dates with his wife, playing golf, on and on.
In fact Playing is the best description of Obama's presidency, he is enjoying the perks and the play, but seems distant and unaffected by the work. He doesn't talk to his generals running his wars, he doesn't seem to pay much attention to the economy, he doesn't seem to care about what the unemployment rate or what direction it goes, he doesn't seem to care about much of anything but getting his pet programs in place.
He spends almost all his work time in campaign mode, in his comfort zone. Even when he campaigns his programs he only speaks to hand picked friendly crowds who are guaranteed to adore him, he won't do interviews with any journalists that doesn't pay homage at his feet. He lives in a protected cocoon where only those who sing his praises are allowed to enter.
If you didn't care about your military, even if they win or lose a war, how many die, or for what it takes a lot of pressure off.
If you didn't care what happened to Americans, their jobs and their futures, in fact the worse it gets for Americans the easier it would be to get them to let you put your programs in place, it has to make it less stressful.
If you didn't care about American sovereignty, safety, and standing in the world, it would be easier to not worry about making mistakes that can destroy America.
When you even don't care if your Health Care program actually works or if Cap and Trade do what they are advertised to do, as long as they increase your own power it has to keep your hair from going gray.
If you didn't care if your own parties political future is damaged by aligning themselves with you and your programs that sure would take stress off as well. If you didn't care about anyone, or anything but you and your own power life has to be pretty stress free.
Obama simply doesn't care, he is Playing President, enjoying all the perks while we all twist in the wind. I want to be Obama, but know I couldn't ever be I was born with a conscience and a soul.
Monday, October 26, 2009
HSE Referendum
Dr. Brian Smith, Hamilton Southeastern School's Superintendent of Schools, was the guest speaker at the Hamilton County Division of MIBOR (Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors.) He was there to promote the November 10th, 2009 special election on the HSE Schools Referendum and their upcoming law suit with the State of Indiana. He gave a very compelling speech as to why it was important for those homeowners in his school district to voluntarily raise their property taxes the very first year that they would enjoy the new hard fought for new tax rates.
In his speech Dr. Smith spoke of his concern for the budget cuts costing up to 60 teachers positions increasing class sizes for the elementary kids from around 24 to 30 or even more. He spoke to studies on how if children are not fully integrated to become readers by third grade that they never catch up. He made the point that "from grades 1-3 they are learning to read, and from then on they are reading to learn."
One of the things he mentioned was that he has had a very difficult time getting in front of people to explain his proposals since the meetings he has attended to present this referendum were very scantily attended, unlike the swine flu meetings that overflowed. Dr. Smith made slightly veiled threats that one of the places that they may have to cut would be High School athletics, including possibly football. He suggested if he made that proposal he would expect a much larger crowd attending the meetings.
Let me first state that I have no intention of taking sides on this issue, I don't have children in the HSE school district, and I don't own property there. While I may have ideological preferences, this is something that those involved should decide. My goal here is to present information to help make those decisions, and maybe through in an editorial comment on the concept in general.
Some of the ironies that he pointed out in the way the Indiana Legislator distributes funds to school systems was that the more a school system grows and the higher the test scores the less the State allows for each student. Conversely for schools that are failing and have an ever decreasing enrollment the State gives more per student. This is a formula that rewards failure while punishing success. Hamilton Southeastern Schools are suing the State for this system. He claims that if they win this suit that they would "voluntarily" end the referendum and stop taking the excess funds. I would question this without a legal binding contract saying that and not leaving it to their good intentions.
Over the past ten years HSE has had a 136% increase in student enrollment, and a 127% increase in teachers and a 95% increase in administration staff. When you compare HSE's ratio of 160:1 of student's to licensed employee to Noblesville's 137:1, Lawrence Twnp's 110:1, Carmel's 74:1, IPS's 48:1, and Gary's 45:1 you can see that they are already stretching their resources.
The State's General Fund is distributed to school systems in a most interesting and inequitable way. Once again, dropping enrollment and failing scores increase the state money while high scores and growing populations bring less. The legislators are telling them that they believe that students whose parents make more money need less of their tax dollars distributed to them to succeed. To give you an example the State gives Gary Schools 10,000.00/student where HSE is given 5,800.00/student, HSE is asking for about 500.00 more per student.
There is, according to Dr. Smith, a 5 million dollar structural deficit. This comes after the district already made up 3.3 million in reductions for the 2009-2010 school year. To close this 5 million dollar gap with more reductions would require extreme measures, such as cutting another 50-60 teachers.
Hamilton Southeastern is trying to close that budget deficit for year 2010-2011 with a 5.5 million dollar referendum. State laws permit a community to raise funds through property taxes by passing a referendum with an election. This referendum, by law, would be in effect for seven years, paying mostly teacher's salaries with an additional 5.5 million dollars each year for the next seven years. The special election will cost HSE Schools around 50,000.00 to 60,000.00 since it isn't run during a normal election day cycle.
What effect would this have on home owner's property taxes? It would raise them about 11.00/year for a 100,000.00 home, 44.00/yr for a 250,000.00 home, and 75.00/yr for a 400,000.00 home. This of course would be a property tax increase the very first year that Governor Daniel's new 1% tax rate would go into effect. Something that should be considered is how hard it was to get the state to work out the reduced tax rates. If you add this little bit, then the police dept, does a referendum, then the fire dept. then park dept, etc, tax rates are soaring once again. Be careful opening the gate.
Dr. Smith also mentioned that it is against Indiana law for funds allocated for buildings to be used for salaries, so cutting costs in the buildings wouldn't solve this issue. However, I would have to ask, if the cost of buildings were reduced significantly couldn't the overall costs be shifted maybe even at legislative level. I question why we must keep building these temples of excess as our schools? Why not copy the trend we see the mega-churches are building with glorified pole barns, they are functional, last with low cost to maintain, and while more modest, cost a great deal less. It would seem to me that the lower the costs in total, the more that can be directed toward actual education.
Further could this be an argument for a school voucher system? Why not stop paying nearly 10,000.00 per student in failing school systems, and only half that in successful schools? Why not find a middle ground in a voucher where parents can take their kids to whatever school they want and not trap their kids in bad schools? If we open the educational factory systems to true free market competition, even allowing those vouchers to go to private as well as public schools. If this was done the competition would reduce overall costs and would improve educational results. If a school wasn't working parents would take their kids out and move them where it is.
In his speech Dr. Smith spoke of his concern for the budget cuts costing up to 60 teachers positions increasing class sizes for the elementary kids from around 24 to 30 or even more. He spoke to studies on how if children are not fully integrated to become readers by third grade that they never catch up. He made the point that "from grades 1-3 they are learning to read, and from then on they are reading to learn."
One of the things he mentioned was that he has had a very difficult time getting in front of people to explain his proposals since the meetings he has attended to present this referendum were very scantily attended, unlike the swine flu meetings that overflowed. Dr. Smith made slightly veiled threats that one of the places that they may have to cut would be High School athletics, including possibly football. He suggested if he made that proposal he would expect a much larger crowd attending the meetings.
Let me first state that I have no intention of taking sides on this issue, I don't have children in the HSE school district, and I don't own property there. While I may have ideological preferences, this is something that those involved should decide. My goal here is to present information to help make those decisions, and maybe through in an editorial comment on the concept in general.
Some of the ironies that he pointed out in the way the Indiana Legislator distributes funds to school systems was that the more a school system grows and the higher the test scores the less the State allows for each student. Conversely for schools that are failing and have an ever decreasing enrollment the State gives more per student. This is a formula that rewards failure while punishing success. Hamilton Southeastern Schools are suing the State for this system. He claims that if they win this suit that they would "voluntarily" end the referendum and stop taking the excess funds. I would question this without a legal binding contract saying that and not leaving it to their good intentions.
Over the past ten years HSE has had a 136% increase in student enrollment, and a 127% increase in teachers and a 95% increase in administration staff. When you compare HSE's ratio of 160:1 of student's to licensed employee to Noblesville's 137:1, Lawrence Twnp's 110:1, Carmel's 74:1, IPS's 48:1, and Gary's 45:1 you can see that they are already stretching their resources.
The State's General Fund is distributed to school systems in a most interesting and inequitable way. Once again, dropping enrollment and failing scores increase the state money while high scores and growing populations bring less. The legislators are telling them that they believe that students whose parents make more money need less of their tax dollars distributed to them to succeed. To give you an example the State gives Gary Schools 10,000.00/student where HSE is given 5,800.00/student, HSE is asking for about 500.00 more per student.
There is, according to Dr. Smith, a 5 million dollar structural deficit. This comes after the district already made up 3.3 million in reductions for the 2009-2010 school year. To close this 5 million dollar gap with more reductions would require extreme measures, such as cutting another 50-60 teachers.
Hamilton Southeastern is trying to close that budget deficit for year 2010-2011 with a 5.5 million dollar referendum. State laws permit a community to raise funds through property taxes by passing a referendum with an election. This referendum, by law, would be in effect for seven years, paying mostly teacher's salaries with an additional 5.5 million dollars each year for the next seven years. The special election will cost HSE Schools around 50,000.00 to 60,000.00 since it isn't run during a normal election day cycle.
What effect would this have on home owner's property taxes? It would raise them about 11.00/year for a 100,000.00 home, 44.00/yr for a 250,000.00 home, and 75.00/yr for a 400,000.00 home. This of course would be a property tax increase the very first year that Governor Daniel's new 1% tax rate would go into effect. Something that should be considered is how hard it was to get the state to work out the reduced tax rates. If you add this little bit, then the police dept, does a referendum, then the fire dept. then park dept, etc, tax rates are soaring once again. Be careful opening the gate.
Dr. Smith also mentioned that it is against Indiana law for funds allocated for buildings to be used for salaries, so cutting costs in the buildings wouldn't solve this issue. However, I would have to ask, if the cost of buildings were reduced significantly couldn't the overall costs be shifted maybe even at legislative level. I question why we must keep building these temples of excess as our schools? Why not copy the trend we see the mega-churches are building with glorified pole barns, they are functional, last with low cost to maintain, and while more modest, cost a great deal less. It would seem to me that the lower the costs in total, the more that can be directed toward actual education.
Further could this be an argument for a school voucher system? Why not stop paying nearly 10,000.00 per student in failing school systems, and only half that in successful schools? Why not find a middle ground in a voucher where parents can take their kids to whatever school they want and not trap their kids in bad schools? If we open the educational factory systems to true free market competition, even allowing those vouchers to go to private as well as public schools. If this was done the competition would reduce overall costs and would improve educational results. If a school wasn't working parents would take their kids out and move them where it is.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Obama Learned His Lessons Well.
As we watch how his White House deals with critics either in the media, or from the people at large, we learn how well Obama has learned his lessons from his long history of being taught and then teaching Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."
"Obama learned his lesson well. I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday." --Letter from L. DAVID ALINSKY, son of Neo-Marxist Saul Alinsky
"True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism", Alinsky taught. "They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within." Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties. Do you remember Van Jones? He nearly quoted this in his own putting aside the joy of being an open revolutionary to be more effective by hiding his radicalism.
Barack Obama is an Alinskyite.... Obama spent years teaching workshops on the Alinsky method. In 1985 he began a four-year stint as a community organizer in Chicago, working for an Alinskyite group called the Developing Communities Project. Camouflage is key to Alinsky-style organizing. While trying to build coalitions of black churches in Chicago, Obama caught flak for not attending church himself. He became an instant churchgoer. Of course whose church did he attend but the leftist radical Rev. Wright's.
"he very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history... the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.” Saul Alinsky
Tactics as defined in Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."
"Tactics are those conscious deliberate acts by which human beings live with each other and deal with the world around them. ... Here our concern is with the tactic of taking; how the Have-Nots can take power away from the Haves." p.126
Always remember the first rule of power tactics (pps.127-134):
1. "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."
2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear and retreat.... [and] the collapse of communication.
3. "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."
5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage."
6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
7. "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time...."
8. "Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose."
9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
10. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign."
11. "If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counter side... every positive has its negative."
12. "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and 'frozen.'...
"...any target can always say, 'Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?' When your 'freeze the target,' you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments.... Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the 'others' come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target...'
"One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other." (pps.127-134)
"Alinsky's second chapter, called Of Means and Ends, craftily poses many difficult moral dilemmas, and his 'tenth rule of the ethics of means and ends' is: 'you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral arguments.' He doesn't ignore traditional moral standards or dismiss them as unnecessary. He is much more devious; he teaches his followers that 'Moral rationalization is indispensable at all times of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means.'...
The qualities Alinsky looked for in a good organizer were:
Ego:Reaching for the highest level for which man can reach, to create, to be a 'great creator,' to play God"),
Curiosity: raising questions that agitate that break through the accepted pattern.
Irreverence: "nothing is sacred, the organizer detests dogma, defies any finite definition of morality"),
Imagination:"the fuel for the force that keeps an organizer organizing",
•A sense of humor:"the most potent weapons known to mankind are satire and ridicule", and an
Organized personality with confidence in presenting the right reasons for his actions. "as a moral rationalization after the right end has been achieved.'
"'The organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems,'
and 'organizations must be based on many issues.'
The organizer 'must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression.
He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act. . . . An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent.'"
"Obama learned his lesson well. I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday." --Letter from L. DAVID ALINSKY, son of Neo-Marxist Saul Alinsky
"True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism", Alinsky taught. "They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within." Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties. Do you remember Van Jones? He nearly quoted this in his own putting aside the joy of being an open revolutionary to be more effective by hiding his radicalism.
Barack Obama is an Alinskyite.... Obama spent years teaching workshops on the Alinsky method. In 1985 he began a four-year stint as a community organizer in Chicago, working for an Alinskyite group called the Developing Communities Project. Camouflage is key to Alinsky-style organizing. While trying to build coalitions of black churches in Chicago, Obama caught flak for not attending church himself. He became an instant churchgoer. Of course whose church did he attend but the leftist radical Rev. Wright's.
"he very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history... the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.” Saul Alinsky
Tactics as defined in Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."
"Tactics are those conscious deliberate acts by which human beings live with each other and deal with the world around them. ... Here our concern is with the tactic of taking; how the Have-Nots can take power away from the Haves." p.126
Always remember the first rule of power tactics (pps.127-134):
1. "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."
2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear and retreat.... [and] the collapse of communication.
3. "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."
5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage."
6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
7. "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time...."
8. "Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose."
9. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
10. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign."
11. "If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counter side... every positive has its negative."
12. "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."
13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and 'frozen.'...
"...any target can always say, 'Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?' When your 'freeze the target,' you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments.... Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the 'others' come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target...'
"One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other." (pps.127-134)
"Alinsky's second chapter, called Of Means and Ends, craftily poses many difficult moral dilemmas, and his 'tenth rule of the ethics of means and ends' is: 'you do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral arguments.' He doesn't ignore traditional moral standards or dismiss them as unnecessary. He is much more devious; he teaches his followers that 'Moral rationalization is indispensable at all times of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means.'...
The qualities Alinsky looked for in a good organizer were:
Ego:Reaching for the highest level for which man can reach, to create, to be a 'great creator,' to play God"),
Curiosity: raising questions that agitate that break through the accepted pattern.
Irreverence: "nothing is sacred, the organizer detests dogma, defies any finite definition of morality"),
Imagination:"the fuel for the force that keeps an organizer organizing",
•A sense of humor:"the most potent weapons known to mankind are satire and ridicule", and an
Organized personality with confidence in presenting the right reasons for his actions. "as a moral rationalization after the right end has been achieved.'
"'The organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems,'
and 'organizations must be based on many issues.'
The organizer 'must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression.
He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act. . . . An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent.'"
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Three Story Townhomes
After the housing market cooled, one of the hot new markets started seeing the turn down first, and is still pulling up the rear in the industry those three story town homes.
During their hay day there was a lot of talk, and questions as to what was the big draw to all of those three story town homes popping up all over Greater Indianapolis. Until very recently, I am not sure that there has been a very good answer. Now we see the damage done by too many mistakes by developers and builders as well, leaving them, and their customers holding the bag.
When the first community went up and sold well, most other builders took a "me too" approach and jumped in with their own versions to get in on the action. However, I don't think that any of us really understood what made them attractive, we all tried to work off of the old paradigms we used in building any community, to keep the land price as low as possible, to keep the overall price as low as possible, and worry about the floorplans. I become aware that was the exact opposite of what is required to build a successful townhome community.
I was given a great opportunity for me to get a real handle on the town home market. I was our contact person for any lead coming in for Gunstra Builder's community in Carmel, Monon and Main, and their newest one in Broad Ripple, The Townes of Winthrop until I turned them over to a sales person when they were officially opened. I then took over sales for their Zionsville community, Manchester Square, This enabled me to speak with more potential town home buyers than maybe anyone else in our market.
Through this one on one discourse with several hundred potential town home buyers it taught me so much that I really don't believe any builders, Realtors, or most clients understand about what the keys to success in a town home community truly is. I wish we could take credit for being smarter than most but the truth is I was able to just see a large sampling and was able to listen to buyers.
What finally drove the message home to me was another family vacation to Washington D.C., one of our families favorite places to go. During this summer where I was just dealing with all of these townhome buyers, their comments were rolling around in my head while I was on vacation. All of a sudden it hit me, one of the things we love about visiting D.C. is the lifestyle of walking out our rented condo to restaurants, activities, and the Metro to go anywhere we want. Rarely do we ever start our car again once we get into D.C., we walk or ride the Metro. That is what the draw to a townhome buyer, that walk out your door lifestyle.
It became crystal clear that while the key to all Real Estate is Location, Location, Location, when you are looking at town homes multiply that by 20. The overriding key to having a successful town home community is determined by if once you arrive home and put your car in the garage in the evening or weekend, you don't have to get back into your car to go to dinner, out to drinks, entertainment, shopping, or to recreation activities. In other words everything has to be within walking distance or the town homes aren't in the right location. I guess one clue is that the word Town is in Townhome, and they need to be in town not the suburbs.
The new (old idea) concept of mixed use zoning has brought the opportunity to live, work, have recreation, and social life all within walking distance. There is a connection happening with baby boomers on this that I think is happening at a subconscious level. It is like going home again, but not to any we have known since our youth. Where you knew your neighbors, had chats as you went about the community, you knew the local business people and they knew you. In other words, pretty much how most of us boomer grew up before zoning rules in the 70's segregated every portion of our lives, isolating people from each other to the point we live in subdivisions not neighborhoods. When people get a taste of this town home living it is something that touches them at a very deep level.
Of course a lot of singles, or newly singles with children, have gravitated to town homes, but also both young professional couples and empty nesters as well. Many thought we wouldn't see the empty nesters with three story town homes, but it isn't the floor plans that draw them to their new homes, it is the location, the lifestyle within walking distance. The young couples are saying that they want to "do this for them" while they can, before the suburbs and minivans come into their lives. The empty nesters are saying that they are "doing this for them" while they are young enough to handle the stairs and they are forced to consider a one story lifestyle. However, it is all about "doing it for yourself" if only for a few years.
What became clear is that very few people buy a three story townhome because they love the floorplan, they will buy one in spite of the floorplan if it is located in the heart of their desired lifestyle and allows them to afford to live in a very pricey area. The concept of building a townhome in a cornfield dooms it to struggle to find an owner, they might make good rentals if bought priced low enough though.
One word of caution to anyone looking to buy a townhome, or condo in today's market. Be sure that it is a PUD (planned unit development) and not a HPR (Horizontal Property Regime.) I will do a blog on this later in detail, it is just a great deal more complicated getting a mortgage on an HPR if the community is under 75% sold out.
During their hay day there was a lot of talk, and questions as to what was the big draw to all of those three story town homes popping up all over Greater Indianapolis. Until very recently, I am not sure that there has been a very good answer. Now we see the damage done by too many mistakes by developers and builders as well, leaving them, and their customers holding the bag.
When the first community went up and sold well, most other builders took a "me too" approach and jumped in with their own versions to get in on the action. However, I don't think that any of us really understood what made them attractive, we all tried to work off of the old paradigms we used in building any community, to keep the land price as low as possible, to keep the overall price as low as possible, and worry about the floorplans. I become aware that was the exact opposite of what is required to build a successful townhome community.
I was given a great opportunity for me to get a real handle on the town home market. I was our contact person for any lead coming in for Gunstra Builder's community in Carmel, Monon and Main, and their newest one in Broad Ripple, The Townes of Winthrop until I turned them over to a sales person when they were officially opened. I then took over sales for their Zionsville community, Manchester Square, This enabled me to speak with more potential town home buyers than maybe anyone else in our market.
Through this one on one discourse with several hundred potential town home buyers it taught me so much that I really don't believe any builders, Realtors, or most clients understand about what the keys to success in a town home community truly is. I wish we could take credit for being smarter than most but the truth is I was able to just see a large sampling and was able to listen to buyers.
What finally drove the message home to me was another family vacation to Washington D.C., one of our families favorite places to go. During this summer where I was just dealing with all of these townhome buyers, their comments were rolling around in my head while I was on vacation. All of a sudden it hit me, one of the things we love about visiting D.C. is the lifestyle of walking out our rented condo to restaurants, activities, and the Metro to go anywhere we want. Rarely do we ever start our car again once we get into D.C., we walk or ride the Metro. That is what the draw to a townhome buyer, that walk out your door lifestyle.
It became crystal clear that while the key to all Real Estate is Location, Location, Location, when you are looking at town homes multiply that by 20. The overriding key to having a successful town home community is determined by if once you arrive home and put your car in the garage in the evening or weekend, you don't have to get back into your car to go to dinner, out to drinks, entertainment, shopping, or to recreation activities. In other words everything has to be within walking distance or the town homes aren't in the right location. I guess one clue is that the word Town is in Townhome, and they need to be in town not the suburbs.
The new (old idea) concept of mixed use zoning has brought the opportunity to live, work, have recreation, and social life all within walking distance. There is a connection happening with baby boomers on this that I think is happening at a subconscious level. It is like going home again, but not to any we have known since our youth. Where you knew your neighbors, had chats as you went about the community, you knew the local business people and they knew you. In other words, pretty much how most of us boomer grew up before zoning rules in the 70's segregated every portion of our lives, isolating people from each other to the point we live in subdivisions not neighborhoods. When people get a taste of this town home living it is something that touches them at a very deep level.
Of course a lot of singles, or newly singles with children, have gravitated to town homes, but also both young professional couples and empty nesters as well. Many thought we wouldn't see the empty nesters with three story town homes, but it isn't the floor plans that draw them to their new homes, it is the location, the lifestyle within walking distance. The young couples are saying that they want to "do this for them" while they can, before the suburbs and minivans come into their lives. The empty nesters are saying that they are "doing this for them" while they are young enough to handle the stairs and they are forced to consider a one story lifestyle. However, it is all about "doing it for yourself" if only for a few years.
What became clear is that very few people buy a three story townhome because they love the floorplan, they will buy one in spite of the floorplan if it is located in the heart of their desired lifestyle and allows them to afford to live in a very pricey area. The concept of building a townhome in a cornfield dooms it to struggle to find an owner, they might make good rentals if bought priced low enough though.
One word of caution to anyone looking to buy a townhome, or condo in today's market. Be sure that it is a PUD (planned unit development) and not a HPR (Horizontal Property Regime.) I will do a blog on this later in detail, it is just a great deal more complicated getting a mortgage on an HPR if the community is under 75% sold out.
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