All posts in General

One Year Later

by Nate Ritter on 12/20/2011 in General with 4 Comments

It’s been over a year since I wrote anything substantial.  I feel the need for change.

Perhaps it’s the crisp chilly winter which propels me to become more introspective.  I’m not sure.  Whatever the case, it’s time to write again.

I’ve been watching my wife become a dedicated and talented blogger in her own right over the past year. It’s inspiring, to say the least.  Of all people, she has less time than most – taking care of our freshly minted son, our home, and my own stressed out body and mind when I return to our sanctuary of a home from the less-than-stellar day or week on the job.

As our business continues to grow (doubled growth), I continue to find ways of pressuring myself into letting go. It’s a difficult chore, but worthwhile when it works.  This coming year will only be different in that I plan to push myself harder than I’ve ever gone before.  My business partner and I plan to take a real vacation next December – the entire month.  Not only that, but we plan on doubling this year’s growth, again, but this time in 11 months instead of 12.  We plan on hiring no more than one additional person to manage this new load too, if we have to.  So, it’s going to be an interesting ride in 2012.

I don’t pride myself on being busy, as I had in the past.  In fact, I consider it a failure.  If I’m busy, that means I’m probably taking on too much responsibility that someone else should be doing.  And if nobody else can do that job, then I’ve pushed us into the wrong business.

So, this coming year will be defined in how efficient I/we can be.

This overarching goal is why I’ve started writing again.  Mainly, because 2011 was the year of working hard, excruciatingly pushing everything without breaking it, and not saying no.  It was all about doing, and less about thinking.  I had a plan. I just needed to work it.

That was 2011.  It was exciting and exhausting.

After writing the previous post in Nov 2010, I also decided I didn’t want my (often divisive) opinions to be out there in the world.  I’m not sure why, but I pulled back quite a bit.  Perhaps out of fear (which is a rare feeling for me) of retribution or hurtful words which seem to be easy to throw around and are common on the web.  Whatever the reason, though, I didn’t want to share.

This year, I’m going to try to write more insightful, thought provoking posts about the things I care most about.  I hope by writing more I can consider my arguments in more depth, study and research more, and consider other valuable points and perceptions.  I hope it’s even self-inspirational – prodding me to a more full life, with more meaning behind it than to chase the almighty dollar.

And in the end, I actually hope that I could be so bold as to do the same for you.

Enjoy your holidays, friends.  Cheers.

Voting, understood

by Nate Ritter on 11/1/2010 in General with 8 Comments

Seth Godin recently wrote a post on how voting is misunderstood by the masses. He says if you’re disgusted by the politics, by the advertisements, by the politicians, that you should vote. That the plan of the political TV advertising is to get us not to vote.

Really?

I heartily disagree. I seriously doubt there is an actual plan to get people not to vote.

Perhaps the politicians are not the winners in the advertising race, but I don’t think that means the politicians would rather have less people voting. There’s no benefit for them in such a result.

However, one thing I do agree with Seth on is that “It doesn’t make you responsible for the outcome”. But, isn’t that what we want? And isn’t it wrong to have authority without responsibility or vice-versa?

When someone has authority to make decisions yet believe they should take no responsibility for the impact of those decisions, we put those people in jail after they break the law. Conversely, having responsibility with no authority makes for a disgustingly irate individual who is responsible for an outcome they can’t control. Both of these cases are wrong.

In voting, we have a few problems.

We believe we have the authority to put someone into office who can do what we want. I believe it’s not really “power” (as some people call it) if we can’t also remove the person if they’re not performing up to the standard they won the election on (promises). If we vote someone in, and they fail us while having no consequences for doing so (ie, we don’t have the responsibility for the outcome), what’s the point of the vote in the first place? And who cares if they don’t last another term. They have a full four years (in most cases) to screw up as much as they want.

And if that’s the case, why vote anyway?

People lie, cheat and steal. We have consequences for those people. When I don’t fulfill an obligation to a client, I have a fiduciary connection to them, so I probably owe them money. When someone steals from you, we put those people in jail.

But, when we put our trust in someone to reflect what we believe (or at least do what they said they’d do while on the campaign trail), and they don’t do it, even though we’re paying them to do so, there’s no consequences. None.

So, why should I vote again?

Should I believe that I have a duty to someone to do so? No. It’s not constitutional to force me to vote.

Should I believe that putting the least “evil” into power is better than the only alternative, which is not to vote at all? No. There is no power in giving someone else power when they have no accountability for their actions.

Should I believe that simply because it’s “free [and] fairly fast” that I should do it? Of course not. There are plenty of things I could do that are free and fairly fast which I should not do.

And should I vote so that I get the “right” to complain? Nope, I get the freedom to complain all I want, regardless of whether I participated in a system which seems fundamentally broken and ineffective. That, friend, is protected by my constitutional right to freedom of speech.

The system isn’t hijacked when people don’t vote. It’s hijacked when people don’t do what the voters asked for. It’s hijacked when there’s no accountability, no repercussions, no consequences, no law for a reduction in ethics upon which our country and fabric of society is built on. The reciprocity effect is broken in (federal) politics.

That’s why I don’t vote.

And I believe, it’s one big reason which explains why many voters are disenfranchised with the process as well. The media was pivotal in showing exactly how and when politicians did things they said they wouldn’t, and didn’t do things they said they would. If I’m not responsible for the outcome, how can you blame me for not voting at all? I have just as much of an effect on the outcome as those who voted. None.

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