Our founding father, George Washington, said, “All see and most admire, the glare which hovers round the trappings of elevated office. To me there is nothing in it, beyond the luster which may be reflected from its connection with a power of promoting human felicity.”
Like the majority of Americans, I watched most of the inauguration of the new President, Barack Obama, today.
The first eight years of the first decade of the twenty-first century is about to come to an end. What a tumultuous year this has been. Never in my eight decades of living on this earth can I recall so much happening in any one twelve-month period. So much has changed and yet so much remains the same.
For me personally, it was a year of change. I began writing on my own blog site this year. When I started, I did not know what a “blog” was. But when my son suggested he would create this website for me to write about anything I wanted to, I jumped at the chance to express my ideas on a variety of subjects. And I must say, it has been a great cathartic experience. I’ve written about my life’s journey, politics, Universal Principles, grandparenting, told stories about North Georgia where I live, and a variety of subjects related to current events, as I write to express not to impress.
As the year ends, there’s much to be grateful for, and much to be concerned about. So many have lost their homes, millions are out of jobs, and despite the rising cost of food, we still have plenty to eat. There seems to be no scarcity of food in the grocery stores. And despite the grumbling about the economy, the malls seem to be crowded with shoppers for the holiday season.
The news media cycle is working overtime with all the buzz and spin over President-Elect Obama’s appointments.
During his campaign he repetitiously said, “change we can believe in” and spoke of how he was going to “change the culture” in Washington. The first thing he did was appoint someone right down the street from the White House and changed his job by moving him in the White House.
Then he quickly began filling slots with all those who had been in Bill Clinton’s regime as President—all Clinton’s cabinet members, staffers and deputies like Bill Richardson, Rahm Emanuel, Tom Dashle, Eric Holder, and topping the list is Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.
I woke up this morning thinking about the past eight months when I wrote my first article for this blog site, and all that has happened to me since I began. I also thought about all that has happened in this country in this past eight-month period and decided to review some things.
First, despite the fact my blog name, octogenariansblog.com, connotes that it’s geared toward the 80-plus reader, my writings are not solely directed to that group. Actually, I’m a Libertarian, and the core centerpiece of my writings has a common theme of ideas associated with individual freedom and personal property rights for all ages, including octogenarians.
I believe every individual is born to be free and that it is an inalienable right bestowed upon us by our creator. In order to live, thrive and expand in our lives, we absolutely must own property and would perish without that essential. Freedom and ownership of property are inseparable and both are a total concept.
Copyright 2008-2012, Anne Cleveland. Feel free to quote me or use snippets of my text with attribution – but please refrain from reusing entire posts without first procuring written permission.
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