November, 2020 - One Less Dog In The Hunt

November 24, 2020November 21, 2020

What’s My Line?

You know, I’m a fan of Lonesome Dove. I find a lot of meaning in Larry McMurtry’s characters. One character in particular reflects an individual who floats through life using situations, people, and opportunities to his advantage. Jake Spoon is what Augustus McCrae calls a leaky vessel, someone you just simply can’t count on to be there or to do things right. In a fateful scene in the movie, we can see the struggle Jake faces with personal responsibility. When Gus accuses him of crossing the line between being a citizen or an outlaw, his response is one with which perhaps many individuals today can relate.

“I didn’t see no line, Gus.”

In life we come against a lot of lines – lines which separate organization from chaos, good from bad, happy from sad, and life from death. As a society we have drawn lines. Some are helpful. They help us live peacefully together, such as lines of law and order. Others help us establish boundaries – city limits, county lines, state lines, and property lines. Often lines can help to keep us safe – caution lines, traffic lines, and fence lines. Other lines help entertain us – I’m thinking of goal lines, free-throw lines, and finish lines.

Other lines aren’t helpful at all, like the lines we draw between ourselves. Lines which classify us, and divide us – race, ethnicity, age, sex, politics, and religion. These aren’t lines we’ve drawn for positive use in our society, they are lines which have become walls to separate us from each other. These are the lines that many hope to erase within our society, our country, and the world.

November 17, 2020November 7, 2020

They Think Yer Stupid – Maybe You Are

I saw a certain celebrity tweet about the need to raise corporate taxes the other day. It’s amazing how someone who thinks themselves so intelligent that they speak for everyone else is too stupid to understand the simple methods of business. I get it. It’s easy to think that these large corporations and businesses should pay more of the taxes in this country. People want some of their wealth, but there’s truly no real way to collect more in corporate taxes without hurting the very people you claim to help. It’s just a matter of math, or business, whichever you choose. It’s easy to see why an average American could consider raising corporate taxes as the right thing to do, and for a politician, well it’s easy to see that they just see more $$ signs and more money to spend. Realistically, this isn’t necessarily a political argument. There are people on both sides of the aisle who believe that corporate taxes or taxes to business in general should rise.

http://clipart-library.com/clipart/76577.htm

But simply put, these people who think this is a good idea are either extremely ignorant of the ways of business or they simply use it as a way to rile the masses against the very core of capitalism (much like leading sheep to the slaughter, if you will). Whether we’re talking about corporate business or a Mom and Pop, business is business. You have to stop looking at corporate tax as a way to get more money into the government’s coffers or to even the playing field between Middle Class America and the Rich, and start looking at it as it is — a business expense. Raising taxes on any business, corporate or main street, raises the cost of doing business. Costs of doing business impact profit. Profit is the only reason a business is IN business. If a business is not in business for profit, they aren’t a business; they are a non-profit organization.

November 10, 2020November 21, 2020

“History,” repeated?

History. It takes many shapes. It’s documented in various forms. Photographs, letters, journals, books, buildings, battle sites, monuments, statues, and plaques all come together to mark the passing of time, trials, troubles, progress, victories, and the existence of a human society. These things tell our tale, both the good and the bad of our journey. The American portrait has been painted with brush strokes which offer both amazing colors and dark shadows. Collectively, our tale mixes the sweetness of freedom and liberty with the bitterness of prejudice and tartness of ignorance. Throughout our history, we’ve taken and conquered, we’ve given and shared, we’ve protected and defended. We are what we are, but we are not what we were.

Our founding documents claimed a hope for “A More Perfect Union,” but they never claimed perfection.

November 2, 2020October 18, 2020

A Titan of a Statement

“Attitude reflects leadership.”

Wood Harris and Ryan Hurst in *Remember the Titans*, 2000.Everett Collection / Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures

Remember that statement by Julius in Disney’s Remember The Titans? Only three words but it’s one of the most powerful reflections of effective leadership ever stated. Yeah, it’s just a line from a movie, but there’s a depth to it that today’s leaders need to hear. People respond, and perhaps mimic, the examples of their leaders.

Whether it is the leadership of a football team, the leadership of a company, or the leadership of a nation — attitude, posture, outlook, and direction are exemplified through leadership. If leadership does not present itself well, the attitude of those who follow will fail to achieve the right results.