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The economy is in trouble, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan rages and the gap between faith and political affiliation has entered widespread disarray. In all of these things, the blame game is the one thing that we see with unity.

We naturally seek answers for the ills facing the nation, and rightfully so. I too have found it easy to blame Washington and Wall Street for the economic crisis. I have blamed the mainstream media for the perceptions some have with regard to the war on terrorism or the battlefronts in Afghanistan and Iraq. And while it is easy to point here and there in order to place some semblance of reason and blame for the events taking place, I have found it more difficult and less convenient to look into the mirror and say: `O.K., what have you done Will Griffith to help resolve these issues?"

The fact is while we blame Washington and Wall Street, we tend to do so because it is the easy way to look at things. It is more difficult to recognize that, perhaps, as American citizens we did not do all we could or should have done to find solutions to the things we need to resolve.

Have I utilized my entrepreneurial station in life to find any solutions? Have I done enough to make the economic crisis less of a crisis for my family and my business? Have I been active and involved enough in the community and the national political landscape?

As this self-interrogation is sobering, the inevitable answer to these questions is: No, probably not.

The challenge is in finding new ways to engage our citizenship with action that produces, at the very least, potential solutions to the current issues facing our country. While we may not find answers to help the nation as a whole, we can certainly find answers that make our individual, family and business lives better, more productive and more secure.

While the government is now expected to bailout bad business decisions, low-performance school districts in Detroit and provide for the health care of our nation, we are waiting for government to do what the American people have the power to do themselves. Anything the government does will always be open for abuse. It is, therefore, our responsibility to make our lives better, improving each day and empowering our citizenship to provide something to our communities.

We all can blame someone else for the struggles and challenges we face. The real challenge is in finding ways to improve our own lives, asking for help from the private sector if need be, and rejecting the perception that government can solve all of our problems. Ronald Reagan said it best when he said "Government is not the solution to our problems...government IS the problem".

By rejecting the blame game and setting aside the obvious causes, let us find ways to improve upon what we know. Let us begin in our own families, our businesses and our communities. And let us end the era of  the "Citizen Victim", where we tend to blame someone other than ourselves for our difficulties, and brace-up, face the challenges square in the eye and resolve to conquer those challenges.

It does not take a village. It takes the individual who is willing to dream it and then resolve to make it happen.

Will Griffith
www.griffithcorp.com



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Will Griffith
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

Obama is president today because he wasn`t a Republican. Bush elected Obama by being one of the least popular presidents in US history. It says nothing about the American people and what we`re looking for. It simply says what we`re not looking for. Do we want free? That might be, but free didn`t get Obama elected. Do we want a comic book president spouting axis of evil and causing trouble around the world, torturing captives like the worthless nations we stand against,  detained indefinitely with less than legal captivities? The people didn`t think so. Flipper the dolphin could`ve been our president, so long as he`s not Republican. Obama was as much a vote for charisma as a vote to do everything the opposite as it had been done for 8 years. I voted Obama, largely to repair the US image around the world.

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Making limitless possibilities much more limited.

How is the American economy going even further into the tank under Obama repairing the US image around the world?  I agree that Bush sucked.  At some point, Obama [and his supporters] has to own the fact that his economic policies won`t work.  Hopefully, it won`t be too late.

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James Lindon, Ph.D. Patent Attorney
Lindon & Lindon, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio
Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Pharmacy Law, Litigation
[this is not legal advice - provided for discussion only]
Intellectual Property for the Individual and Small Business: Identify, Protect, Enforce, Defend.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
http://www.LindonLaw.com

The US image is being repaired by welcoming allies rather than blowing them off, by withdrawing from a war that was started less than legally in Iraq, and by a general reduction in militancy and warmongering altogether. Ending less than legal incarceration and interrogation policies was a big step in that direction as well. Our economy sucks at the moment, but that`s nothing that`ll hurt the US image more than it already has. The whole world has an economic crisis. Obama`s managed to take the US in the right direction in the foreign affairs department. He just needs to figure out how to do the same economically. I don`t know that anyone knows how to fix the problem.

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Making limitless possibilities much more limited.

Mark, you are right on the money my friend with regard to President Bush. I simply don`t get the mindset of the passive, complacent left when it comes to the Presidency of George W. Bush.

I agree with you...let them whine! Who cares!

My hat is off to you Mark.

Will



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Will Griffith
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL

Y`know, I first started noticing this problem with words, and "blame" in particular, about 25 years ago. At that time, it was the "new reality."

We were told "don`t blame." "Don`t judge!"

Then there was that most asinine of all: "When you assume, you make an `ass` out of `U` and `me.`"

All of it`s rubbish.

The fact of the matter is that "blame" is a process of assigning a cause to an effect. There`s no way to even begin solving any problems in that effect without knowing the cause.

You can`t fix a consequence if you have no idea what created the problem.

To assign blame requires judgment. That`s a result of analysis, logic, thought, intelligence, imagination, and so forth.

And yet we`re told not to judge. "Don`t ever use your mind in any kind of practical way." We`re told not to blame: "Never think about what causes anything, just live in the moment."

The "Blame Game" isn`t a game. It`s a basic, necessary, and fundamental part of problem-solving.

Another popular one is, "if you`re not part of the solution, you`re part of the problem."

Once again, needle-point philosophy for people who can`t think.

The fact of the matter is that the people who caused the problems we`re facing today, are the same people ignorant voters have re-elected to solve those problems. Since they have no clue how the problems were developed, they also have no clue why they voted to continue the problems.

Ignorance and living by utterly vapid platitudes has brought us to this set of conditions. Reason and examining the substance of the problems will eventually show us how to get out of this mess.

Plenty of people are doing exactly that, using their minds and skills, working to get out of the mess on their own. They`re not part of the problem, they`re not part of the solution; they`re "opting out" of the over-the-cliff mentality.

In one thread, people are surprised to see me as a member of SUN because of my liberal tendencies towards socialism. They want to revert to the government of 1776. In another thread, torture and preemptive wars are just fine. The same high values people tout when it comes to spending money also apply when conducting national defense. If we`re the best nation on the planet, it`s time we start acting the part. There were no WMDs in Iraq. That war was unjust. America was founded on justice, amongst other high principles. I suggest we adhere to them. America signed the Geneva Convention, Declaration of Human Rights and the like. It`s only right that we follow them. It`s not the American way to bend word definitions and reclassify terminology to make torture legal. We`re American. If you want torture and warmongering, you`ve got Africa and the Middle East for that. I`ll never claim that my views on government in terms of liberal vs conservative are right. I`m not educated enough. I come to my opinions based on what seems right to me, but I might be wrong. When it comes to American moral values, I`m 110% correct. We`re better than we were in the last administration. We`re a beacon of humanity. We`re not the thugs and terrorists we claim to fight.

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Making limitless possibilities much more limited.

The Geneva Convention was about "enemy combatants." It was about soldiers of a nation, governed by a diplomatic organization that could discuss war and violence. Terrorists, as part of a loose cohort of ideological or religious fanatics, have no such nation.

Terrorists aren`t subject to the Geneva Convention. Period.

As for George Bush, I think history will have to be the moderator. People will look back, just as they did with Reagan and Nixon, and see things in a different light.