Thoughts - Part VI

A. “Hope and Trust” is a campaign slogan no one dares use these days – or ever.  Indeed, it seems never to have been used, but every campaigner at some point begins or concludes a speech beginning with the sentence, “I hope and trust …. “  This is the candidate’s principle platitude.  This is the phrase that enjoins the candidate to the voter, the stakeholder of the community.  This is the phrase that conjures faith in the what the following predicate and object suggest.   I presume no candidate will ever have the nerve to venture forth with this loaded couplet of terms as a slogan.  While many hope for the better, and while many have trust better times are before us, none use it as a slogan. It doesn’t resonate with anyone - except in the negative.  It asks just too much to believe. For the politician...

Asking for trust is too much to hope for.  Hoping for trust is asking too much.

Hope is a vague term having individual meanings for each voter.  Some hope for better commerce, some for benefits, some for a job or opportunity, some for security, and some, some, some.  Trust, though, has a meaning based in childhood upon a deep and abiding relation to their parents.  Trust in someone means you warrant your hope for better commerce, opportunity, and the like.  In engenders an expectation. Trust is a profound elevation of ephemeral hope to definite actionable effects.   It takes us qualitatively from a maybe to a probable or absolute. 

Indeed, in all presidential campaigns the term “hope” has been used but once (Obama, 2008).    I cannot find one campaign featuring “trust” as part of the slogan.  These two most important terms for us all are strictly avoided.  In Presidential campaigns since 1840 the top ten frequency counts of campaign slogans* are

 In another list of 38 winning campaigns over many elections, the frequency counts on the top 13 words used are

“Change” is a favorite.  It signals a call to “throw the bums out,” to alter course, or to roll the dice anew.    Voting for change is concomitant with a hope for better things to come – or at least different things.  In this context, “change” is the sister of “hope. “   Several of these terms refer to future prospects: new, change, tomorrow, vision, build,  better.  Not surprisingly, the incumbent or mostly the candidate pushes for a relief from the now – hoping enough voters concur. 

*http://www.presidentsusa.net/campaignslogans.html

Alternatives:
For the politician. .Asking for trust is too much to hope for. 
For the voter  Hoping for trust is the deepest desire.

Trusting in hope defines the base.

 

B.  I like to play gin rummy.  One key in playing this game is to note which cards have not been discarded.   This offers a window into what your opponent holds. It is most revealing and a key strategy to winning the game.   

C. I used to think that looking on the Internet for something was like going to the super-mall in your neighborhood and finding it.  So many stores there are having the same thing.  One could expend a day or two making a buying decision.  That was wrong.  Seeking something on the Internet is more like an alien shopper visiting planet Earth with the capacity to visit every store before making a decision.  Too much this is - but it is so.

D.  Women - and this is amazing.  I give many talks in my profession and many to predominantly women audiences.  At times I begin my talk with the question, "Do you know what's different between men and women?"  Antennae go up.  Suspicion is high. Expectation is in the air.  Then I tell them.  Women are more social than men.  There are furtive glances about the hall, but this settles.  By-and-by, they agree, though never saying so, and are back on task.  The talk is underway...

In my experience, many times I have seen two or more women meet for the first time, and within minutes are engaged in a lively conversation.  Rarely is this true for men unless the topics are sports and sometimes politics - though then guarded. 

E. You want to light up the blogosphere boards?  Just publish something on politics.  Left or right, no matter.  But the center?  No dice. The center is a vacuum in the blogosphere of thought.  Nobody is home.

F. Reverse Mortgages.  I am very concerned, since I'm in the age group, about these reverse mortgages.  They seem like a great idea - get some cash now for signing over the deed to your property upon death.  There are restrictions.  (a) You must be 62 or over to qualify, and (b) you should own outright your home.  However, we see the huge corporations hawking them and advertising constantly.  Advertising is not cheap. Someone must pay. This push implies their longevity tables show that even still with the advanced age requirement, and even with the continual barrage of advertising, there is profit to be made.  Probably lots of profit.  Reverse mortgages seem to be a great profit tool for lenders.  It is that simple.  They take advantage of older folks in desperate need of cash.  It assumes those taking the loan have no need or desire to provide for their families or that they have no wish to do so. It implies their families will not or cannot help their parents.  Reverse mortgages seem to be a rather cynical solution to the very unhappy circumstances of old age.  

G. While idleness may be the devil's playground, weak leadership is the devil's host.