"As the household goes, so goes the nation."

Currently, I am reading "The Seventeen Traditions" by Ralph Nader. I am a big supporter of this man and I have actually voted for him in the past 3 elections. I know what you are thinking, and please don't ever say it to me unless you want to get into an in depth discussion. I am a fervent believer that our system is broken and appalled that so many of us fall into the acceptance of this "two party" farce. In reality, it's one big snake with two ugly heads. This is America people! Once upon a time the Republican party was a third party underdog that overtook the Whig party. And ironically, the party founders adopted the name "Republican" to indicate it was the carrier of "republican" beliefs about civic virtue, and opposition to aristocracy and corruption. This is America and if people took the time to learn history, we could progress so much farther than we have.

I find it interesting that we live is such an information age and yet have not really progressed in relation to history as a whole. If technology can evolve so quickly, why can't we? A prime example of this is the fact that so many of our children can't even write a paper in complete and proper English with analytical thoughts. But they can text ridiculous "acronym based shorthand" at rapid speeds all day long. And when they do attempt to write these papers, they cite information from the Internet as fact. It's actually astounding how many people believe the information they are getting off the Internet is factual and reliable. Of course, I am not saying there aren't good sources of information, but people generally don't know how to discern the fact from fiction.

I think in the times in which we live, there is incredible pressures that rob us of our valuable time and energy. And it blinds us to what is truly important in life.
"The Seventeen Traditions" is a reflection on Nader's family traditions and what his parents instilled in him and his siblings growing up. He shares seventeen traditions that shaped him into the thoughtful, just and wise man that he is today. He is a pioneer in consumer protection and I think this salmonella outbreak proves that we need much more of this now more than ever. He is an idealist and I believe that is my strongest draw to him. He believes whole-heartedly in democracy in it's purest form. It has now been polluted with coroporate greed to unprecendented levels. And we need to take back the control and keep our representatives accountable. All of us need to be accountable and responsible.

I could go on and on and on about Ralph and all of(what I believe to be) his noble qualities, but the bottom line for this post is I wanted to share an excerpt from his book. I highly recommend it for all families. Passing on traditions is such a vital part of being a family. This is what builds our characters, fosters the people we are to become and provides us with the moral fibers that we pass on to future generations.

This excerpt is from the chapter: The Tradition Of Scarcity

"Scarcity is far less time-consuming than abundance. Saving time for creative pursuits is a continual dividend of not owning so many things that they eventually own you. More, we learned, was really less. Thrift and other related principles - frugality, economy, scarcity - were once a part of America's shared value system, and they were certainly a part of our family's frame of mind. Today, however, millions of children are growing up with the opposite attitude, with a diminished sense of the work that goes into material things. And with such feelings grows a tolerance of wasteful economic systems, for wasteful technologies, for gas-guzzling SUV's, designer cell phones, and disposible products of all kinds.

Such desinged-in waste may be profitable for manufactures, for fuel and electric companies, and for retailers. But it hardly benefits our families, who every year hand over more of their money to the disposible economy, even as their children grow more distracted and more demanding.

As the household goes, so goes the nation."

Can I get an Amen?

It's time to minimize, simplify, recycle, reflect, shift our priorities, get informed, take action and be accountable. As our new president Obama so eloquently put it, "We need more than the same old empty promises. We need to show that this time it will be different. This is the time that Americans must come together on behalf of our common prosperity and security."