18 August 2011

The Middle Management Perspective ... Of God

And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.

And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. (Exodus, 18:13-23)

10 August 2011

Crowdsourcing the Coveted Secret Blog Endorsement.

The Secret Blog's endorsed candidate for the 2012 presidential election will be the Republican nominee, but who should be the Republican nominee?

The obvious answer would seem to be Romney. He is, in some ways, the anti-Obama and, as the frontrunner, could move to the nomination with a minimum of fuss, plus he could credibly move to the center in the general election. But there are very substantial reasons not to want Romney, the most substantial being that it's always a mistake to pick the candidate who would best deal with the current crisis. The trick of picking presidents -- and the reason democracy works better than other systems -- is to pick the right person to deal with the completely unforeseen crisis that will be occupying us four years from now. Plus, having put time, effort and his own money into his complete failure of an attempt to elect Republicans to the state legislature in Massachusetts, Romney quit on the Commonwealth. That leaves me cold when it comes to supporting him now.

Pawlenty is the next obvious candidate, but he's one of the those obvious candidates that has no real chance of winning. Everyone's second choice, he's not anyone's first choice.

The radical conservative in my is attracted to Bachman, but the moderates and liberals in this country are too bigoted to vote for her. Of all the current candidates, she's the most likely to be Ronald Reagan come again, and the most likely to be Obama come again.

So who should the moderate and reasonable radical conservative nutjob endorse?