Not much time to blog today, but I wanted to get your thoughts on what Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama said the other day in Oregon. In case you missed it, the quote went like this,
We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.
A Few Thoughts:
- I think he has a good point. But unfortunately I don’t think it will play with most of the country. People don’t want to hear that they need to have a hotter home, a tiny car, and they can’t eat as much as they want.
- He has it right that we as Americans are a society of excess. How did that work out for the Romans?
- I think global responsibility is a big part of frugal living.
- During WWII, Americans made the sacrifices necessary out of a responsibility to our country. They saved everything, planted victory gardens, they did their part. This is certainly missing today.
Your thoughts?
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Tags: Frugal Living6 Comments
6 responses so far ↓
I do agree with your first thought. I’d be curious to know what the context surrounding this quote was. On one hand, some people tend to think they are entitled to having brand new cars and eating out several times a week, despite not being able to afford it. I think it’s wonderful that a politician is telling them that they are not entitled. Though I can definitely see where people might not appreciate such a concept. There are people out there who really can afford to gas up their SUVs (and quite possible own them because they need that particular size or strength of vehicle) and eat out whenever they please and do these things without batting an eye. But I wonder if the later are the ones complaining about higher prices?
I don’t necessarily personally disagree with what he said, but the fact is that the US is a free, capitalist society, where people can drive big cars, eat too much and air condition their homes, even if it drives someone else crazy. Obama’s on the road to socialism. So, yes, it’s probably not going to wash with a lot of Americans!
I’m leery of a candidate who promises change with no actualized, practical plan of how we are going to get there. Even if the outcomes he wants are good, when all the things he promises conflict with all the other things he promises, it just isn’t going to work out in the end.
I don’t think the American public is going to buy into it that they need to keep their homes warmer in the summer because its not fiscally responsible, but that at the same time he can promise better healthcare without raising taxes or cutting social security. Why can’t we make oil and food appear, if we can make doctors, hospitals, and retirement income appear out of nothing?
Personally, I would like to know what the temperature gauge is set on in his mansion, what he drives and why he has any right to criticize hard working people who are spending less in one year than he does in one month. This man really grates on my nerves! He is so out of touch that he sounds ridiculous trying to sound like he is “right there with us”.
Obama travels to campaign events on private planes and in gas-guzzling SUVs. People may be less generally hostile to the message of politicians if they practice what they preach. “For me, but not for thee,” is something most Americans see right through, whether it be politicians or Al Gore, or even activist Hollywood celebrities.
Regardless of whether he practices what he preaches or our perception that our freedom as Americans includes the freedom to indulge in excesses, the environmental and global economic impacts be damned, what he said is the simple truth. Having grown up mostly working-poor with Appalachian grandparents who were socked down seriously hard by the depression, I know that we are NOT, as a country, all that far away from a time when it was considered not just patriotic (WWII) but good citizenship and good character to not be wasteful, to use our resources wisely, to reuse/recycle everything you can, to save money, to borrow as little as possible, to grow much of your own food… concepts that are now not only considered by many to be crunchy/hippy/tree-hugging but downright un-American. There’s nothing “socialist” to say that we have to grow the **** up and stop thinking that we are the center of the universe and that we should never have to practice frugality if we don’t want to. My guess is that, unfortunately, in not too many years way too many folks with “I can do whatever I want” attitudes are going to be stuck down brutally hard by an unexpected economy that has become overly dependent on gasoline and other oil-based products, once our gas prices and oil prices finally even out with what folks may in most of the rest of the world. Instead of preparing now by living frugally by choice, they’re going to end up having to live with far less than they could have ever imagined — just like folks had to in this country because of the depression and because of many wars, WWII and before.