Gary Tanashian's  Instablog

I was born in Boston and grew up about 5 or 7 miles from the Old North Bridge. Not to sound corny, but when you walk through that area in Concord, you feel the ghosts that helped birth this nation. It is unspoiled and pretty much as it was back then.

"By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
and fired the shot heard 'round the world." --Ralph Waldo Emerson



I am so proud of the people of Massachusetts right now, not because they elected a seemingly good guy with good intentions (Scott, remember where you came from and beware of the corruptive nature of the place your truck is taking you), and certainly not because they elected a Republican, but because they rose up and unified, across party lines led by the independent voters who just knew the country was gaining momentum down the wrong path.

In my opinion there are a multitude of problems on the current path, but none more important than the fact that the US government is currently attempting to print its way out of its financial problems with a huge bias toward ideologically favored groups.

But for the purposes of this blog, you cannot print and debit your way out of economic cycles, not if you want your country to exist in some recognizable form for your children. I mean yeh, it is hokey... Massachusetts, the home of the Minute Men and all. Okay, hokey it is. But it is also awesome. We (the people) did something, and we will continue doing something whether it is in resistance to Democrats or Republicans or monetary inflationists in high places.

Now for the really good part (from my personal perspective). This from a subscriber who dealt with the urge to be alienated by my generally 'not liberal' viewpoints. This is what it is all about; we must come together as PEOPLE.

"Gary,

For what it’s worth: I could be voted “most likely to defect Gary’s service.” Demographically speaking, you should really be pissing me off. I’m a red-diaper baby of union organizers, life-long advocate for lefty causes, professional staffer in national environmental movement (up with government regs!) and fervent Obama voter.

And yet . . . our country is careening dangerously toward a state I can only describe as financial fascism or corporate oligarchy — a project presided over by every greedhead President and Fed Chief of the past three decades, with Obama being only the latest and most disappointing (to me; those wiser may have seen it coming). I have a friend who made gazillions on Wall Street who was tapped by Geithner to unwind one of TARP’s biggest messes. He did it, truly, out of public service and wanting to give back. I saw him last week in Washington and his eyes have been opened: to what he describes as a lethal combination of corruption and stupidity that reigns supreme, especially on Capitol Hill. He considers the situation hopeless. I, for one, refuse to go down with that ship. I will protect my very hard-earned cash by continuing to listen to contrarians like you. And if crippling the system altogether is what it takes to awaken America to the ticking debtbomb, then I’d even send Scott’s truck to Washington.

Sometimes one has to hold two seemingly opposing thoughts in one’s head simultaneously, as in: I’m politically progressive AND fiscally conservative.

Keep up the good work."