It was a pretty fun evening in Springville, Utah at the Republican Caucuses.  It was my first time attending the event.  I have often heard of conventions and caucuses in states far away that everyone hears about when picking who the presidential candidates were etc., but for some reason I was always under the impression that the caucus was for party leaders.  Little did I know, the caucus is an event that anyone who is registered to vote can participate in.

In our local caucus it was required that you be registered to vote and declare that you were a member of the republican party in order to speak, vote etc. in the republican caucus meeting.  I went in support of one of my local neighbors to become a chairman of our precinct.  We had well over 100 people attend which was about double the number attending from the neighboring precincts.  It made me proud to see so many people were there to come and have their voice be heard.

This year the Utah Senate seat for Bob Bennett is up for election.  It has been a hotly contested seat this year with many vying for a chance to unseat the senator.  He has been in for a few terms now and his record has shown that he is willing to make deals and do what he feels he has to in order to make things go in Washington.  Many feel that he has compromised the beliefs of our party, state and its citizens and they are calling to unseat him.

During the caucus we nominated a chairperson, vice chair and secretary.  Then we nominated our delegates.  I was nominated for both the state and county delegate positions.  It was neat to be able to share my love of our country and constitution with my neighbors.  Being my first time, I was a bit nervous and did not get out all the things I wanted to say, however it was a good experience and I will be much better prepared next time the elections come around.

The caucus was fun, exciting and a very positive experience.  It was very interesting to be in the environment where everyone has similar beliefs and yet are trying to run for positions while promoting the same platforms (or very similar).  A quick note to all.  Go attend your caucus.  You will have a great opportunity to learn and take part in even more of the election process.

In an article I read today about the new budget and how the government is voting to raise the debt ceiling (which is a joke in the first place) by another 1.9 trillion dollars ( another $6,000 for EVERY US Resident – notice I said resident not Citizen or person who can vote).  Here was a portion that stood out to me:

“We don’t have a choice,” said Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn. “We are on an unsustainable march toward a fiscal Armageddon.”

Obama’s budget projects the government’s debt doubling to $26 trillion over the next decade. It offers few solutions for seriously closing the gap other than promising to appoint a bipartisan commission to come up with a plan to address the problem.

I have a solution for you Mr. President and all members of Congress and the Senate…  STOP SPENDING MONEY YOU DONT HAVE.  Its really that simple.  You work hard, you earn money, you can spend that money.  You dont have the money, you do without.  I know it looks nice to send millions of dollars to other countries in foreign aid, buy lots of new buildings, hire lots of government employees to enforce new legislation that you feel it is your duty to pass, and to sit around at your coctail dinners and enjoy all your nice benefits of retirement for spending 4 years of your life working hard.  However, the other 99.9% of us work for 40+ years to have a retirement, we struggle just to make our house payments and rent and when we dont, we get kicked in the rear on our way out the door.  Maybe it is time to kick MOST of you out the door and send you packing with NO retirement benefits, no extra bonuses and no bailouts.
ITS ECONOMICS STUPID.  As the electronics geek or computer user would say: RTFM – go look that one up.

Thanks to our government I will really never be out of debt. Thanks to Mint.com for making it easy on those who are non-beleivers so they can see where we are really headed. PS This is not a bash on the current president.

Its a bash on THE PRESIDENT, THE CONGRESS, THE SENATE, THE FED AND EVERYONE ELSE WITH THEIR HEAD IN THE SAND!

If anyone operated a business with this much disregard for accounting principles they would be in JAIL according to our laws. Can we please throw the book at our elected officials?

http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/visualizing-one-trillion-dollars/