You remember Ross Perot, don’t you? He’s that Texas billionaire who made two very respectable presidential runs in the 90’s. He first ran on the Independent Party ticket and the second time as a candidate on the Reform Party ticket. And, even though he didn’t win the election he garnered over nineteen million votes in the 1992 election which amounted to, just under nineteen percent of the popular vote. Not a bad showing for a guy with practically no political experience. Because of his common sense approach he drew supporters from the liberal, conservative and moderate crowd.
Perot was a very confident, ‘no nonsense’ kind of guy. He was a huge proponent of balancing the federal budget, against gun control, and a staunch opposer of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which he described by telling listeners to listen for a giant sucking sound because of all the jobs he said would go to Mexico if ratified. He often spoke out against the laziness and incompetence of the D.C. political ‘fat cats’. A quote from 1992: “This city has become a town filled with sound bites, shell games, handlers, media stuntmen who posture, create images, talk, shoot off Roman candles, but don’t ever accomplish anything. We need deeds, not words, in this city.” Sounds like he had a pretty good handle on it!! Makes you wonder if we’d elected him in the 90’s that maybe the ‘swamp’ might’ve already been drained! lol
“Gives the idea that one should, first calculate, think about it, calculate again….. then move with swift determination.”.
If you were paying attention to his campaign you’ll remember that he had a, seemingly unlimited, number of flip charts detailing everything from the economy to immigration. He really had his act together. One of the sayings I remember Ross repeating fairly regular was, “Measure twice, cut once”. Good advice no matter what you’re doing. Gives the idea that one should, first calculate, think about it, calculate again…..then move with swift determination. In other words, make dang sure…..then do it!! I like that line of thinking even though I haven’t done too good in making a practice of it.
I thought about that today as I, for the second time in a week, hit the “Publish” button on my WordPress blog page…..by accident. (Grrrrr!) Yep, been doing this for going on six years now and only made the blunder twice. …..and did I say in one week?! I have no less than fifty blogs started. Some are nearly complete, some only have a line or two…and some just have a title. When I feel the urge to work on one of them I may finish it, or just write a paragraph or two and revisit it later.
The second,….and mistake blog, that published today was titled, “Let’s Put it in Perspective”. Had I published it later, which I intended to do, that wouldn’t have been the title. I work hard to find a ‘catchy’ title. That one wasn’t. It was just the title holding the spot until I arrived at ‘the one’ I liked better. I was 90% done with the blog but had to finish that last 10% in 2 minutes. I hate cuttin’ an important topic short!
I said all that to say, the message in the blog is a very important one. So important, in fact, that I was extremely frustrated when I accidentally published it. It’s one that I really believe you should read. One that I think’ll provoke some good thought and be helpful to anyone who takes the time to read it. If a lot of people don’t read it I may post it again under a different name. So, if you see it again….that’s why. …..or you could just read it again…..it wouldn’t hurt!
I’m really being careful not to hit the “Publish” button again by accident.
I’m takin’ Ross’s advice: “Measure twice, …and cut once”!
Andy Taylor 