On the Campaign Trail

Yesterday, a couple was so excited to be “discovered” by me off the beaten track, that they wanted to register to vote, and vote for me just because they were impressed that I bothered to walk back there -- “rather than just standing on the road waving a sign.” It surprises and amazes me when one will have these life-affirming encounters -- when one least expects them.

The positive to negative runs about 20-2 -- which I guess must be pretty good. The trick is not to be the weakness, or the limitation in the encounter.

This past week, and for the reminder of the month, the candidates forum of the Waikiki Neighborhood Board, plays for the last half an hour of the 3.5 hour meeting-- and I get to follow Councilmember Djou, in that sequence. I used to give a lot of public talks -- but haven’t in the last few years, so it’s kind of interesting to see myself on tape again. People note that I have a very distinctive speaking style -- which may be the most dynamic they will see on public access.

Additionally, all the candidates got a chance for a 5 minute "exclusive" taping at Olelo these past two weeks as part of their Vote 2006 presentations, after which the lineup for the elections will be running virtually nonstop during the election season. I think I gave a good account of myself, Governor Lingle, and the Republican Party. The producer was impressed that I kept getting better with each “take.” After the third take, they didn’t ask me if I wanted to try to improve on it further -- or even look at it to decide which was best. So I figure I nailed it.

While at Olelo, I resubmitted my classic hourlong video on Understanding Conditioning, which twelve years later, is still ahead of its time but becoming more the mainstream view of exercise and conditioning, with the Baby Boom generation and beyond realizing that it is the only way that makes sense. That’s just the reality of the situation/observation -- which no amount of wishful thinking can deny.

It’s good training for government -- in which many have difficulty distinguishing between wishful thinking and reality, and so many of our laws don’t eliminate problems but become the perpetual source of them -- ensuring job security for highly paid government experts. That is probably the greatest danger of our times -- that government is run for the benefit of the government experts, rather than the citizens at large. And that is also the source of inflation -- that we pay more and more, for less and less -- until finally, most of the budget goes to pay for those who we don’t know what they are doing.

They are just “administrators” -- or some fancy-sounding title while lobbying, blogging and emailing for their favorite candidates and causes. So we really need more people in government who are willing to tell us what is really going on in government. It’s happening in all the fields -- even exercise, when formerly, one did what the P.E. teacher told us to do, and if we didn’t, had to do twice as much.