[As the commentary in my blog is a small attempt to reach through the divisiness in our country, and to speak thoughtfully, but written from the perspective who has leaned Right most of his life, but currently leans Left, it is only fair to present some background on the reasons for that shift. I will attempt to do so over a series of half a dozen or so posts. Part 1, the Republican follows]
I am a bean counter by trade. My colleagues prefer to use the term - Certified Public Accountant, but really, they are just playing to their collective egos here. They are all good people, but if you get a few beers in them, they will tell you the same thing. We are all just bean counters.
Now contrary to what many people think, being a bean counter is actually a pretty cool thing. You see, your job as a bean counter is to go into to different businesses in different industries, in different locations and count different beans. Of course, I use the term metaphorically. Our jobs were to go into different businesses and audit them: hospitals, universities, manufacturing companies, banks, insurance companies, retail stores, service companies and if you were real lucky, you could land a really cool gig like auditing the Boston Red Sox. You would check out Fenway Park, the Green Monster, watch batting practice and review all the players contracts. Now that never happened to me. The closest I ever got to a "glam gig" was auditing the historic Trinity Church in Copley Square in Boston. Every Wednesday we would have lunch with the staff and the pastor in the basement of the church. We'd hold hands, say a prayer and sit down to eat. Tomato soup and grilled cheese. Being a bean counter you see, was not without it's many perks.
In my own, then Big 8 accounting firm, the policy was "Up or Out", and you knew this going in. At the end of every year, there would be a thorough performance review of everyone in your starting class, and if you were ranked in the bottom 10% - 15%, one day you would just be gone. It was Darwinism in the modern world, survival of the fittest. Your desk would be cleared out, your nameplate removed. It was silent, quick, almost as if you never existed. The narrative they painted was because you couldn't cut it here, you would have to get a job that was lower than bean counter. I couldn't imagine what that might be, but it had to be horrible.
It was here where I learned the fundamentals of our capitalistic system. In our roles, we would get a pretty good education as we visited anywhere between eight and ten companies a year. You observed new management techniques, the implementation of cutting edge technologies. It was all about efficiencies, doing it all better, faster, cheaper. Taxes, regulations, unions, welfare was bad. Increasing the bottom line was good. And America had no equals You could study the winners and every thing they did right and dis the losers and everything they did wrong. More than anything, you realized that many of the really big winners, not all but many, were just shit lucky. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Indeed it was then and there that I set my most important lifetime goal. I was going to grow up and be lucky. God help you, if you got in my way.
I remember when Nixon resigned (not all that long after he ended the military draft for Viet Nam in my year of eligibility, which would endear him to my father forever), and Gerry Ford couldn't get reelected, largely because of his pardon of the former President. I remember the malaise that followed in the Jimmy Carter years, and 15% interest rates. I remember the Miracle on Ice, the occasion where a bunch of spunky college kids beat the dominating Russians in hockey in the Lake Placid Olympics, and America felt good again Ronald Reagan was the man, The Great Communicator made us feel good again, the Berlin wall fell, and the Cold War was in our rear view mirrors. It was good to be an American. He was followed by George H.W. Bush, and his Thousand Points of Light. H.W. doesn't get the credit he deserves. He went to war for a valid reason, and set an attainable goal, and then ended the war (Sadly, his own son would not follow his father's example). He eventually lost his job because he broke his "Read My Lips, No New Taxes," promise, because he was well intended and wanted to balance the budget. What a concept. Bill Clinton came into office, at at time when the economy was good, technology was really taking off, and the world was relatively calm. It's not clear to me what Clinton did for us in his eight years in office, oh wait, that's right, he brought us his abusive affair with a White House Intern, and a permanent stain on our country, which started out as a small stain on a blue dress and grew bigger with each passing lie. While I never felt it was an impeachable offence, I wanted him impeached anyway. I hate waste, its a pet peeve of mine, and Clinton wasted our time and our resources. If he were a company CEO, he would have been gone, and never been heard from again. So when George W. Bush came along, he got my vote. I figured - like father, like son. This had to be good. And his Compassionate Conservatism, seemed to appeal to both my support of Capitalism, but also to the desire to help those in need. It was the best of times. It was 2000, the start of the new millennium, I was leaning Right, and I had voted Republican all along the way.
I am a bean counter by trade. My colleagues prefer to use the term - Certified Public Accountant, but really, they are just playing to their collective egos here. They are all good people, but if you get a few beers in them, they will tell you the same thing. We are all just bean counters.
Now contrary to what many people think, being a bean counter is actually a pretty cool thing. You see, your job as a bean counter is to go into to different businesses in different industries, in different locations and count different beans. Of course, I use the term metaphorically. Our jobs were to go into different businesses and audit them: hospitals, universities, manufacturing companies, banks, insurance companies, retail stores, service companies and if you were real lucky, you could land a really cool gig like auditing the Boston Red Sox. You would check out Fenway Park, the Green Monster, watch batting practice and review all the players contracts. Now that never happened to me. The closest I ever got to a "glam gig" was auditing the historic Trinity Church in Copley Square in Boston. Every Wednesday we would have lunch with the staff and the pastor in the basement of the church. We'd hold hands, say a prayer and sit down to eat. Tomato soup and grilled cheese. Being a bean counter you see, was not without it's many perks.
In my own, then Big 8 accounting firm, the policy was "Up or Out", and you knew this going in. At the end of every year, there would be a thorough performance review of everyone in your starting class, and if you were ranked in the bottom 10% - 15%, one day you would just be gone. It was Darwinism in the modern world, survival of the fittest. Your desk would be cleared out, your nameplate removed. It was silent, quick, almost as if you never existed. The narrative they painted was because you couldn't cut it here, you would have to get a job that was lower than bean counter. I couldn't imagine what that might be, but it had to be horrible.
It was here where I learned the fundamentals of our capitalistic system. In our roles, we would get a pretty good education as we visited anywhere between eight and ten companies a year. You observed new management techniques, the implementation of cutting edge technologies. It was all about efficiencies, doing it all better, faster, cheaper. Taxes, regulations, unions, welfare was bad. Increasing the bottom line was good. And America had no equals You could study the winners and every thing they did right and dis the losers and everything they did wrong. More than anything, you realized that many of the really big winners, not all but many, were just shit lucky. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Indeed it was then and there that I set my most important lifetime goal. I was going to grow up and be lucky. God help you, if you got in my way.
I remember when Nixon resigned (not all that long after he ended the military draft for Viet Nam in my year of eligibility, which would endear him to my father forever), and Gerry Ford couldn't get reelected, largely because of his pardon of the former President. I remember the malaise that followed in the Jimmy Carter years, and 15% interest rates. I remember the Miracle on Ice, the occasion where a bunch of spunky college kids beat the dominating Russians in hockey in the Lake Placid Olympics, and America felt good again Ronald Reagan was the man, The Great Communicator made us feel good again, the Berlin wall fell, and the Cold War was in our rear view mirrors. It was good to be an American. He was followed by George H.W. Bush, and his Thousand Points of Light. H.W. doesn't get the credit he deserves. He went to war for a valid reason, and set an attainable goal, and then ended the war (Sadly, his own son would not follow his father's example). He eventually lost his job because he broke his "Read My Lips, No New Taxes," promise, because he was well intended and wanted to balance the budget. What a concept. Bill Clinton came into office, at at time when the economy was good, technology was really taking off, and the world was relatively calm. It's not clear to me what Clinton did for us in his eight years in office, oh wait, that's right, he brought us his abusive affair with a White House Intern, and a permanent stain on our country, which started out as a small stain on a blue dress and grew bigger with each passing lie. While I never felt it was an impeachable offence, I wanted him impeached anyway. I hate waste, its a pet peeve of mine, and Clinton wasted our time and our resources. If he were a company CEO, he would have been gone, and never been heard from again. So when George W. Bush came along, he got my vote. I figured - like father, like son. This had to be good. And his Compassionate Conservatism, seemed to appeal to both my support of Capitalism, but also to the desire to help those in need. It was the best of times. It was 2000, the start of the new millennium, I was leaning Right, and I had voted Republican all along the way.
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