Dan Olsen’s Weblog

I watched McCain’s and Obama’s speeches last night after Obama clinched the Presidency. I thought both men gave great speeches and I think the people of the United States have a great chance to take President-Elect Obama’s promise and run with it. Obama promised to listen to the people. The thing I like most about what Obama has done already for this country is that he has shown that the people really do have a say.

Although I am weary of Obama’s plan for this country I think we can start out with some positive momentum going into the next four years. If Obama can really get Washington’s act together we can start getting some work done. I was a supporter of Bush but over the last four years I got sick of his stubbornness. The constant battle between parties and standing on party lines instead of working hard to work for the people was getting old. Now we have a democratic president and democratic Senate and House if they can’t get something done the problems in this country are only going to get worse.

I believe we need to start looking past parties because it is getting in the way and not allowing the country to progress.

Lastly, I was disappointed in many of those in attendance at the McCain speech. When McCain mentioned Obama’s name people would boo. It is one thing to not agree with a candidate but I believe in respecting the office of the president. Obama is going to be our next president and he deserves this countries respect. Just remember, there is a difference between respect and agreeing with the President’s decisions. Too many people have forgotten this.

My congratulations go out to Barack Obama for his well deserved win and wish him the best in taking on the hardest job in the world.

I have enjoyed watching all the political skits on Saturday Night Live this election season. It is currently one of the few things about this election season that I am not getting tired of.

I have to say, my favorite was the McCain QVC TV spot.

So I attended my first caucus last night as a mentioned in my previous post. I went in with the intent to just get a feel of what actually happens at a caucus. I must say that it was an awesome experience. For anyone who wishes to be active in politics, attending your state caucuses is a great way to actually get involved. There were about 20 in attendance last night which is far from the number of individuals who reside in the precinct. In some ways it was nice to have a small group but on the other hand I was disappointed that more people don’t care.

I am a believer in the idea that if you don’t participate in the political process you have no right to complain about your government. A young man I took with me to the caucus was not excited about going but he left with the understanding that if you want the government to hear your voice then you must participate in how officials are elected. The other young man I took with me loved the caucus. He was even more excited to find out that he could actually participate since he will be 18 by the November election. I wish I saw more young people getting involved even though they can’t vote. I’m sure if more adults were active in the political process we would see more young people joining in. Just because you can’t vote doesn’t mean your concerns about the government can’t be heard.

In conclusion, the two main topics that were discussed in our caucus were the budget/debt and education. I think I was in the minority since I voted against private school vouchers in the state of Utah. I believe that vouchers had good intentions but did not provide an equal opportunity for everyone. If we want to allow people to choose whether to send their kids to private school then we should give the poor as much of an opportunity as those with money. I don’t know how to do it but we need to make sure we don’t make more of a divide between the rich and the poor. I actually think that we should focus on making our public schools better and I think the best way to do that is require that parents be more involved in their children’s education. That is a big reason I believe charter schools and private schools are more successful. A student must have more then just the school educating them.

And there you have my brain dump.

Tonight are the Utah caucuses and I hope everyone gets out and has their voice heard. I am planning on going tonight which will be my first caucus. Over the past couple of years I’ve been more and more interested in politics. I actually changed jobs and I know work up at the state office building. I’m excited for the opportunity to go over and watch the state house and senate when they are in session.

Tonight we are taking a couple of young men from our church over to the caucus for our weekly activity. One of them is excited to go and see how a caucus works. The other says he is not interested. I think it is important to be part of the political process. I think those who don’t want to participate have no right to complain about their government.

I started to take an interest in politics when I saw my data being politically active and going to the state caucuses. Also with everything going on in the nation as well as in the state of Utah I have become more interested in making sure I am heard. So if you are not getting out and being a part of the political process then I don’t want to you hear you complain about your government officials.