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Finally. I’m proud to be an American.

40 Responses to 'Finally. I’m proud to be an American.'

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1. Well said! I’m actually optimistic about our future again. Let hope he can mend the festering wounds of the Bush years.

   

   Tony

   5 Nov 08 at 6:09 pm
2. International guy: Happy as hell.

   

   nano

   5 Nov 08 at 10:21 pm
3. An amazing day and a beginning to what I see as one of the most exciting times in American history. Some of the comments made in the media today have been interesting, implying that the American public shouldn’t expect too much, after all he is only one man. But I think there is something that has been overlooked by the media, if the right man is put into a position of power by his people, those same people will work harder than ever to make the changes they want to see. I lost count of how many people I heard interviews with last night saying they wanted to get involved and would feel proud to go to work for the US Government. This is the reverse of the brain drain the public sector has seen over the past decade. So President Obama may be only one man, but because he is an empowerer OUR country can realize the changes we have longed for. It’s about damn time the people of the US stopped shooting themselves in the foot every four years!

   

   Big John

   5 Nov 08 at 10:34 pm
4. Yes, many of us Europeans believe that Obama could make a change. And yes, I’m impressed that the American voters did make this choice. It shows the world that Bush USA and USA Bush (Had my doubts when he got reelected though).
   Congratulations!

   

   Robert

   6 Nov 08 at 1:34 am
5. Somehow the ‘not equal sign’ got lost in my previous posting (Bush not equal USA and USA not equal Bush).

   

   Robert

   6 Nov 08 at 1:36 am
6. Happy Swiss guy! It finally happend.. It’s great having a black president!

   After bush got elected the second time, most of the Swiss were really shocked.
   They wanted to impeach Clinton because of .. (I guess that word is in the black list) but Bush could lie about a war and nothing happend!

   

   Remo

   6 Nov 08 at 2:11 am
7. While it was quite a feat to elect an African American, it’s too bad that man elected has minimal experience in American politics and has never fought for our country.

   I’ll never disagree that the last 8 years were horrible, but if you think that just because we have someone new and different in office the world is going to change immediately, you’re being ignorant.

   Barack has a LONG road ahead of him and many challenges to face. Maybe, just maybe, he can help us pull ourselves out the rut we’re in. But Barack is not God, he is not the second coming of Jesus. He is President-Elect.

   Let’s not rush into judgment, many people thought Bush was going to save our country. Give it some time before we start calling Obama our ‘Saviour’.

   All-in-all, congratulations to President-Elect Obama. There is much hope that he follows through with his victory speech and that he meant every word of it.

   

   Owange

   6 Nov 08 at 8:45 am
8. You misspelled the word Barrack. There is a double ‘r’ in there. Anyway cheers bro!This message is from the counry that brought to you Barrack Snr: who shagged Ann and then the rest as they say is history.

   

   symore

   6 Nov 08 at 9:13 am
9. Hrm. That may be true but I think he uses one R..

   barackobama.com

   

   Franz

   6 Nov 08 at 11:52 am
10. I think it’s sad that you haven’t felt proud of your country until Obama was elected President. Maybe you should learn a bit more about history.

    I too disagreed with much of Bush’s policies, but I was never ashamed to be an American. My love of my country and pride in all the wonderful things it offers is not contingent upon my agreement with the policies in Washington. That’s akin to saying you love your parents only when they do what you think is right.

    I voted for Obama and wish him the best of luck. I think your expectations of what he can accomplish as President may be a bit inflated.

    

    Wayne

    6 Nov 08 at 1:01 pm
11. Yeah Wayne,

    It was sad.

    My opinions are rarely formed through lack of education or information. It’s not that I think Washington should be utopia, or that Obama is going to wave a magic wand and make everything better. (as someone else implied in a comment here) I think my post was pretty clear that I saw Obama as a community organizer and I think everyone I talk to fully expects to simply be called to action, not to have anything done for them.

    That’s part of what I was always TOLD made this country great, but I’m not a fellow that easily takes someone else’s “say-so” as gospel. I am 33 years old this month. I have never SEEN anything happen in or by my country to be truly proud of until last Tuesday. Yes, I am well educated enough to dribble on about WWII and the suffrage movement, but that’s all very abstract. When your leader says “we’re going to war on a tactic, and if you’re not with us your against us!”.. its unforgivably embarrassing. Not because I’m un-aware of history, but rather because I’m painfully aware of it. Who were the last people who did well in Afghanistan and Iraq with this approach… Alexander the Great?

    Regardless… I don’t want this to get in a shouting match at all, I don’t mean to dismiss anyone else’s patriotism and I think one of the coolest things tuesday was when Obama said “to those who did not vote for me, I will be your president too.”

    I heard someone else put it quite well the other day:

    When we were attacked on 9/11, Bush’s response was to tell us to go shop. Seriously. He told us to be consumers.

    Obama is clearly telling us to Give. Be contributors.

    That feels right.
    That’s something historically proven to work.
    THAT’s something to be proud of.

    I don’t think HE will accomplish ANYTHING as President, I think WE will accomplish GREAT things with a GREAT leader, and I finally feel like we’ve chosen one who has a chance. He doesn’t need your “wish of luck,” what we all need is your help.

    

    Franz

    6 Nov 08 at 3:39 pm
12. “Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.”

    That’s exciting.
    Ballsy. How many times have I been at a dinner party where someone said “The Swiss have it right, you should HAVE to help somehow as part of growing up.”

    http://www.change.gov/americaserves/serves_section/

    

    Franz

    6 Nov 08 at 9:04 pm
13. I enjoyed your writing style and I’ve added this blog to my RSS reader; keep up the good work!

    

    SimpleMeditationTechniques

    7 Nov 08 at 12:46 pm
14. I’m happy to see that you’ve joined the rest of the country in being proud to be an American. It took you long enough. Though I find it interesting that you’re proud now and not before. Will you still be proud when a Republican is back in the office? Probably not.

    In spite of the fact you’re a blithering idiot, I’ll still try your product. In the future, politics is a subject you should stay away from on your site. Politics and religion tend to drive people away from your product.

    

    James Burdette

    7 Nov 08 at 2:16 pm
15. Actually, I’d get behind anyone that made me feel like they were trying to make the world a better place. I’m certainly not a registered democrat. I think Kerry was an idiot too.

    Moreover, I’ll continue to ‘blither’ thank you very much. I stand behind my product on its own two legs. I don’t need you to share my politics to use it, but I’m afraid you will be hearing about mine if you do.

    I’ve spent my years in khaki’s and a blue shirt. I don’t need lessons in PR from you. To be perfectly frank, I feel like if something I’ve said above is likely to drive a person away from my product, I’d be better off without them. I realize that’s not particularly corporate, but I ‘betcha’ if you read some more posts on this blog you’ll realize I don’t give a shit.

    I find it particularly annoying that you feel comfortable calling me a “blithering idiot,” while still taking advantage of something I’ve paid for thousands of hours of development to go into, AND you seem unable to actually respond to a SINGLE point I’ve made above. If you feel I am a “blithering idiot,” tying the success of your potential project to my work is probably less than prudent. (see, I just called you an idiot by extension, cool eh?)

    The only meaning I can infer from your post is you think I’m supposed to be proud of the USA, just because I’m part of it. Well I wasn’t. I am now. Excuse me for expressing myself on my blog, James. To bring the connection full circle for you - I wasn’t proud of the state of the services and software the web industry was offering their clients in 2003 when we started building Concrete CMS. I wasn’t proud of the impact we had made after 5 years of corporate consulting, and I’m finally starting to be proud of the product and community that’s emerging on concrete5.org today.

    I think questioning authority and the status quo is the most important thing we can do. I think my job as CEO of a CMS that is being looked at by a world audience is to express my personal values as they apply to things like freedom of expression. It is not by accident that our competition’s names are Expression Engine, Moveable Type and WordPress. The web is going to be a huge part of the future. I hope it’s part of what Barack uses to help continue motivate a disenchanted country. It’s certainly how he won, and what’s been happening even in the last few days on change.gov is exciting.

    So ‘nah’. Anyone else wanna tell me how to do my job today?

    

    Franz

    8 Nov 08 at 10:38 pm
16. I’m not really prepared to step onto the stage of world politics but the result of this weeks election has accelerated my need to do so. Surely this blog is a small ‘world’ but a world it is nonetheless.

    First, I think James was out of line calling Franz a ‘blithering idiot’ simply over a disagreement in political values. I’m quite certain Franz, you are not an idiot, blithering or otherwise. I liked your ‘idiot by extension’. Yes, it was cool.

    Secondly, its easy to rant and rave a few days out of the election. ‘Monday Night’ politicking is also easy. But it’s naive. I think I’ve heard it referred to as ’standing outside the fire’. You and I, we, are a long way from Washington. Let’s examine ‘that cowboy dicking around’ thing. BTW, Bush wasn’t really telling people to go shop, he was saying ‘move on’. Think about it. Everybody was sitting around stunned and the economy was in a standstill. I guess he could have said, ‘go volunteer’. He probably thought shopping was better for the overall good. I thought they taught this stuff in economics. Nobody shops. Nobody works. Go figure. Go shop. Actually, it’s brilliant. It’s simple. But brilliant.

    Out of curiosity, did you ever stop and think what you would have done if you were the President and they just flew planes into the World Trade Center on International TV? Funny, it’s the first thing I thought. What’s he gonna do? He had to do something. He has to take some sort of action. Then I thought, ‘poor bastard’ no matter what he does, right or wrong, it all falls on his shoulders. He wasn’t in office all that long, either.

    Now, stop and think about it. These radicals over there want to control the oil to take down the West. That’s you and me, fellas. Now, I imagine I’m the Prez. What would I do? (Hey, I’ve watched The West Wing) I need a presence in the Middle East. I’ve got to have my tanks & troops over there to protect my interests. And yes, my interests are in that oil. It sustains the country I’ve been sworn to protect. My fellow Americans might hate me but I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do. Even, if it proves unpopular. I think, Franz, you referred to it as, “I don’t give a shit”. You’ve got to admire him for that.

    I can’t roll my tanks and set up shop in just any country. But there’s this rogue idiot over there in Iraq and I can bring that guy down. Oh, and geez, guess what? My new next door neighbor is Iran. Picture gang members down the street buying nuclear technology on the black market. Would you want to keep an eye on them? Let’s put this in lay man’s terms: there’s a houseful of tattooed and tear-dropped gang members down the street with a stockade of weapons. Which one of you guys is going to go down there and negotiate with them? Better yet, let’s get Obama to do it. Or perhaps we could even move in next door to these guy and keep an eye on them. Would you rather be on defense or offense? And who would you rather have leading the charge? A guy who was the editor of the Harvard Law Review or the guy who spent five years in a POW camp?

    Well, there you have it. You get what you pay for. (No pun intended, Franz) Tears streaming down peoples faces, arms raised in worship, a crowd of people so large it can only be liken to a ‘sea’ and the entire world in awe and worship of a new leader. Sounds like something out of ‘Revelation’ to me. This is not a new day and time for change its Devine intervention. Let’s see how things look four years from now. Creation longs for what’s in store.

    Who are they calling a ‘blithering idiot’, now?

    

    Gary 'HooP' Hooper

    9 Nov 08 at 4:24 am
17. Hey Gary,

    Thanks for the thoughtful reply. It’s always refreshing to have a meaningful debate with someone. After I wrote that reply to James I worried that the curtness of my tone might have been more combative than constructive, so I’m glad to see I haven’t turned off our readers.

    Lets see…

    Yes, amazingly, I have been impressed with Dubya’s ability to blithely keep on doing what he’s doing, in the face of so much negative feedback from the world and 75% of our own country. I really doubt that 100 years passing is going to turn him into the fearless leader he thinks he is in history’s eyes, but yeah - he’s got balls, no doubt.

    I also agree that 9/11 was not an enviable problem to have. From what I’ve been reading Obama actually has the wisdom to see the current set of problems he’s facing as more of an opportunity. If you already thought a system needed some fundimental rethinking - having everyone else realize that before you take office is not a bad thing. I don’t think that’s the type of problem Bush got, so yeah - tough job.

    Here’s my prospective on the middle east / war on terror issue you detailed, which incidentally is only one of many amazingly bad plays Bush made. We actually started this in the 80’s in Afghanistan. We used those people up like they were our toys to fight the russians, and as soon as the russians left, so did we. I understand that in cruel world there’s no reason we should HAVE to stay around and build a school after spending billions on a covert war - but the image I was taught, we were supposed to make the world a better place, not just pursue our most immediate interests.. Clearly a stable Afghanistan would have been in our interests anyway.. If you have no idea what I’m talking about here, go watch Charlie Wilson’s War.. Actually a pretty enjoyable movie in-spite of Tom Hanks.

    So we made a bunch of promises to people in the 80s and left, and guess what, 10-15 years later, they’re pissed and some of the powers that be over there fly two planes into one of our great American icons. This is absolutely unacceptable and unforgivable and Bin Laden should be caught and tried. That being said, like almost anything in life, it didn’t happen entirely out of context. This is not the first time our country has gone throwing its military might around at great cost to make some small country a better place, only to check out when the much less expensive and glorious hard work of building a place up starts. In fact, we’ve pretty much been doing that since wwII, over and over with less and less success..

    So, to use your metaphor, if I was trying to make the ghetto a better place, and I had pissed off the crips for years and years and they finally retaliated.. No, I don’t think my next move would be go attack the bloods, just because they look scary. I think a much smarter move would be to deliberately and inequitably deal with the few individuals who had wronged me, and actually sit down with everyone else and start fixing the real problems. How about creating some opportunity with all those billions of dollars instead of dropping bombs. How about building some schools? These same people conservatives are so eager to say “hate us” are perfectly willing to love us if we just give them a reason. Look at the few remaining countries that do, they’re scattered all over the world and love us because we have walked the walk and not just talked the talk in their country in some way or another.. Be it an AIDS program that’s well designed, or even an oil contract that’s fair.

    Regarding Harvard Law Review vs. POW camp for being good training for being our commander in chief… Wow man. I frankly can’t think of a WORSE set of experiences to give someone whose finger could have been on “the trigger”. McCain is known in the Senate for having a short temper, which made itself shown a few times during the campaign, but I’m sure nothing like what would have happened under the stress of POTUS. Moreover, what if that stress had done him in and we had Palin up there, who actually believes the world is ending and heaven’s army is coming down to earth in the next couple of years. So do I prefer having someone with the smarts to become editor of one of the most coveted forums for critical legal thinking in our country, in a conservative school, being black, and doing it at a reasonably polarized time? Yes. I prefer thoughtful diplomats with real track records of finding common ground between disparate view points making important decisions, over someone who spent half a decade in a POW camp. I just don’t see how that could have a positive impact at all. Lemmie put it this way; you’re going hunting. Do you take the dog who has been sent to the best dog training school in the world, excelled at it, and then went off to do some hard hunting in rough grounds (political climate in Chicago) - or do you take the one who was tied up in a cage in the back yard? I hear that second dog is really mean, so I’m sure whatever you’re hunting will be scared shitless.. Sounds great, eh?

    Now. I /do/ agree with you about everything else. (amazing eh?)
    1) Yes, it is easy to be excited the week after something dramatic as a black man with the middle name Hussein gets elected to the white house.

    2) No, that in itself will not solve anything. It /IS/ a very powerful message and I think just from the replies here from people around the world anyone can see that. Yes, it absolutely has to be the beginning of an ongoing effort from everyone, not just liberals, to make our country and our country’s contributions to the world more meaningful. I have never considered myself a liberal. I do not support government spending. I would probably more likely be a republican if they actually did what they claimed, but I’m an independent. I’ve always felt like it didn’t much matter what I did because nothing really seemed to change in our country. I now see that my parents were right. The best resource our country has isn’t our bank account, or our military, it IS our people.. That always sounded like a load of cheese to me because I had never seen the people rise up and do something dramatic and sane. They now have. That’s exciting..

    3) Yes, I agree - hero worship scares me, no matter who the hero is. I was very turned off by the behavior of the dem’s outside their convention. You shouldn’t be accosting Fox news even if they aren’t news. I don’t like the look of crazy ladies crying in ecstasy over Obama taking the stage either. As I’ve said before, Obama is gonna be the conductor but we’re the engine, train, and tracks. I don’t think he’s making any promises otherwise. I think that’s what bothered me about Bush’s “go out and shop for america” approach. Actually, no. If our kids are over in Iraq dying, we SHOULD be asked to make some sacrifices. The fruit is much tastier when there’s some actual labor involved.

    So all of that being said, I’d like to steer this conversation into a more useful direction.

    Is anyone considering how they might do some community service? I’ve got a 3 year old and a 4 month old, and my wife and I want to start doing something positive in Portland, Oregon with them. I feel like its important to actually get out and touch people, not just send some check or care package off in the mail. I used to work in a soup kitchen with my mom growing up, but I also know that this isn’t a very good time of year to decide to help in a soup kitchen (the established volunteers look at the holiday folks like easter and Christmas christians: thanks for showing up for the fun stuff)…I like to get my hands dirty, but I’m afraid the rest of my family isn’t going to be very helpful in a habitat for humanity type environment.. Kids need naps, aren’t great with hammers… They are VERY cute however, I’m thinking maybe something with a hospital? Vets or Elderly? i dunno.. Is anyone else actually starting to think about how they can contribute and have some advice for me? Are there sites I should be checking out?

    Lets not let the “change” become a joke.

    

    Franz

    9 Nov 08 at 10:05 am
18. I could not agree with you more, Franz! I have been so ashamed of what our country has stood for over the last 8 years. The killing of innocent civilians, the raping of our environment, and corporate greed has made made American look selfish bastards in the eyes of our neighbors. Reason being, we, WE the people, voted for Bush, not once but TWICE!!

    As I stood along side fellow progressives Tuesday night, I felt the energy of people hungry for something different. Not rhetorical difference that has been accused in the media, but real change. Yes we CAN help preserve the planet. Yes we CAN give healthcare to all of Americans citizens. Yes we CAN more beyond greed and help support those less fortunate: the hungry, lame, and poor. Yes we CAN have a better future! And finally, Yes we CAN be proud to be an AMERICAN!

    BTW - I LOVED how you have expressed this on your concrete5 blog! It is so important to not only say yes we can, but to live it by being better than the corporations out there! i could not agrees with you more about “if they get offended, we didn’t ant them anyway”!

    YES WE CAN… YES, WE WILL!
    GO CONCRETE5

    

    Amy

    9 Nov 08 at 11:04 am
19. Thanks Amy,

    I want to be clear, c5 isn’t “only for liberals.” I truly believe that lack of open communication is the root of all problems. So come one come all, help yourself to our free software..

    Just don’t tell me that its business’s role to quietly take money and do nothing more. My business is my life, my life is my business, we’re gonna make the world a better place and we’re not gonna do it by kissing ass from 9-5 only to go home and behave differently there.

    

    Franz

    9 Nov 08 at 12:17 pm
20. Very nice thoughts, as always, Franz. In the past we haven’t always agreed on everything, politically – but I’m glad we agree on this.

    I’m especially glad you find Obama’s service initiatives exciting and positive: I’ve been reading responses from the the tech sector on these first few post-election days, particularly the community service initiatives, and I’ve found the knee-jerk responses of many people on Slashdot, for example, to be profoundly depressing. These responses are almost universally in the vein of “you can’t tell me what to do” and “what kind of freedom is that?”

    It reminds me of Jackie Chiles, the lawyer, in the final episode of Seinfeld. “You don’t have to help anybody! That’s what this country is all about!”

    I think we need to be better than that.

    

    Andrew

    9 Nov 08 at 6:23 pm
21. Guys,
    I’m glad the USA is back on my Christmas Card List. But please don’t stop trying, you have still got a lot of dark suits and sun-glasses over there.
    Richard (Ireland)

    

    Richard

    10 Nov 08 at 1:53 am
22. It´s very nice to see that maybe you guys can go out of the ultra-bellic system and start some changes =D

    

    Adriano

    10 Nov 08 at 4:04 am
23. A change like this is welcome, but if you, USA Citizens, want to be seen as less selfish, stop calling your selves Americans. There is a lot of countries in America and all the people of those countries are Americans too.

    

    Gab

    12 Nov 08 at 1:34 am
24. Well, Gab. What do YOU think we should call ourselves? Surely you must have a better idea of what we as a nation should call our people? Come on, let’s hear it!

    We belong to the United States of America, and we shall always call ourselves Americans. This does not mean we are taking claim to the ‘Americas’. We do not have an issue with people of Central American calling themselves that or any other group in the Americas.

    Learn a little about the world outside before you spew your garbage on the Internet. You’re being an ignorant child.

    

    Owange

    13 Nov 08 at 8:25 am
25. Common now. That’s a bit much - Gab didn’t call your kids monkeys or anything, he just brought up a valid point, we are far from the only “Americans.”

    Ownage, you also raise a valid point (although in a pretty combative way).. “United States Citizens” doesn’t really have the same ring as Britons, Germans, or the Dutch….

    Are we Yankies? I bet there’s a lot of states that wouldn’t like that… What is the politically correct one word for us? I dunno but I think most of the world knows who your talking about when you say “Americans”.. I just hope that it’s not spit out through the side of mouths as much any more..

    

    Franz

    13 Nov 08 at 9:04 am
26. I don’t think that we’ve ever thought we were the ONLY Americans and any suggestion of the sort is an insult.

    That just happens to be what the world recognizes us as, so who really is to blame here?

    Having that as a complaint against the U.S.A. is pretty weak.

    

    Owange

    13 Nov 08 at 10:49 am
27. I have always been proud of the United States and proud to be a citizen of the United States.

    I may disagree with some leaders and some actions of our government from time to time, but I’ve never forgotten that the United States is its people — not its government.

    That said, I would never denounce or denigrate the nation of my birth, and I would never openly commit the kinds of vile anti-americanism that has been displayed by a particular side of the political spectrum these past few years. If find it both childish and insulting on one hand, and borderline treasonous on the other.

    I wish the president-elect well in his endeavors.

    

    Bob

    13 Nov 08 at 1:58 pm
28. Franz, thank-you for the compliment and an even bigger thank-you for your thoughtful response. The time and thought that go into our ‘debate’ are often overlooked. Once again, much thanks.

    Yes, I agree. The people finally did rise up and do something dramatic. But I think it was insane. People get so wrapped up in the hear and now and the ‘group mentality’ they forget to put on their thinking caps and begin believing everything they see and hear.

    I was a PI for three years. I wasn’t a skeptic at first but soon became one. You listen very carefully and ask a lot of questions. For example, Obama’s top three were interviewed on 60 Minutes last week. Listen carefully and you’ll discover a man who was the editor of the Harvard Law Review and wouldn’t survive a minute in a POW camp. (I don’t really know that, I just saying it–but there are no stategists and advisors in a POW camp) The point I was making about the POW camp is POTUS is actually Commander in Chief. In my eyes the Pres is CinC first and Law Review second. It was a game plan to become President–he didn’t have it in his heart. Think back to ‘Field of Dreams’ and Bert Lancaster’s doctor. He could have been a baseball player but in his heart he was a doctor. Obama’s a baseball player; he’s in it to win. McCain, on the other hand, is a doctor. See the difference between ‘law review’ and ‘POW camp’? If you don’t see it now you will someday.

    I’m not in my mid thirties anymore. My character and maturity have increased expotentially. I’m inclined to believe the same is true growing from 48 to 70 something. One of things I originally thought well of Dubya was he had a daddy. And his daddy had friends and experience. Who does Obama go to? The other problem I have with the Obama thing is too many people voted based on race. California and the Prop 8 thing proves it and so did Colin Powell. It’s evident we need more than the people to simply rise up. We need to rise up and take the high road. People have no back-bone these days; no depth of character. I received an email the other day–something about dirt roads. Basically it was saying people who live on dirt roads…..and it was 100% right. We elect our president with a bunch of blue states outlining both coasts of our country. The real people, the real people in the middle of our country are vastly underrepresented. The Electoral College!! What a load of shit. What if each state got one vote? The popular vote don’t cut either. Give a bunch of people a government handout and they’ll vote for next time. God forbid you’d cut off our funding and make us stand on our own two feet.

    Which reminds me–why in the hell are we going to give GM billions of dollars? They need to sell cars. Go figure. Why don’t we give a bunch of taxpayers a low-interest loan to by a GM car. Voila!!!!! GM gets a bunch of money AND they sell a bunch of cars. Instead of giving people a bunch of checks, why don’t we give them a voucher? “This voucher is good for shopping.” There we go with that shopping thing again. Who runs this country anyway? We’re all disillusioned!! They all politicians–Obama, Bush, Clinton. Have you read the Declaration of Independence lately?

    “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

    What!!?? You don’t think the government needs to be changed? Need some ideas? Ask me.

    Now, let’s talk about charity. I’ve coined what I do ’social entrepenuerialism’. All profits go to charity. Soon the name HooP will by synonymous with broadcasting, media, entertainment and charity. And with pissing people off. (I can end my sentences anyway I want to) I’m very opinionated. I’ve been serving since Oct 6, 1978. I lead a fulfilling life serving mankind. I do it daily. Taking the kids to the hospital might be a bit much for them and humans are not at their best when they’re not feeling well. However, the old folks home will be fulfilling for the children AND the residents. Seniors love kids and children bring a certain joy to them. Teach your children to ‘pay if forward’. Teach and encourage them while they’re young and be good example to them. A life of selflessness is a life worth living indeed!

    

    Gary 'Hoop' Hooper

    14 Nov 08 at 10:38 pm
29. Let’s see, you are 33 years old and never “saw” anything that the US did that was good. Hmmm. How about the fall of the Berlin Wall? That didn’t happen by itself. The evaporation of the Soviet Union? Massive humanitarian relief after the tsunami?

    After 9/11 how many angry Americans burned down mosques in the US? Umm, zero. I was pretty proud of that.

    There is a long list of Good Things that have happened in the past 33 years. Perhaps you should take a look at recent history through a different prism, and if you are interested in real change you may want to advocate getting some of the multi-term congress-people out.

    

    Andy Jackson

    15 Nov 08 at 10:38 am
30. That’s great Gary,

    I’ve generally found it interesting that the friends and associates who are telling me I’m crazy for “risking my bread and butter” by sharing my views here, are all conservative.

    It strikes me as a strange paradox that on the one hand the right argues: “don’t spend government money on social challenges, we’re good people and we’ll fix them on our own if you let us” (which in theory I agree with)… and yet, these are the folks who are telling me I shouldn’t raise difficult issues or use the forum my business has created to push my personal social agenda. If not here, where? My private life consists of bouncing babies, I don’t have thousands of people coming to read my rants at franzmaruna.com, they’re here. To suggest on the one hand that government has no business telling us how to contribute time and energy back into our system, but then also saying it’s not appropriate to do so in the workplace, leaves precious few venues for people to have these discussions, doesn’t it?

    I pose that it isn’t video games or gay marriage that is the root of our society’s problems, but rather a general attitude of “do your job as well as you have to and go home to your 2.5 kids and motor boat on the weekend”.. Let’s get passionate about our country again, it feels like we’ve been phoning it in.

    I think that’s the “change” that Obama represents to most of the people that voted for him. I hope people keep sight of that, and don’t expect him to fill a messiah roll. And I know McCain certainly did not represent that at all..

    By the way, I’m not generally responding to your comments with this so far.. You seem quite passionate and involved, I’m just making some general observations…

    To respond to your thoughtful post…

    1) I still maintain that being shot down and stuck in a hole for 5 years is, if anything, a liability not a asset when it comes to leading the biggest military force in the world. No disrespect for the military, but lets call it straight. John McCain wasn’t a great military leader, he was a military brat. If you wanna talk about his grandfather, and father, sure.. but not him. He’s just a stone throw away from Bush in terms of failing upwards.
    This is an interesting article on McCain, I think few people actually spent time to get past the PR image and get into the real man:
    http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23316912/makebelieve_maverick/print

    2) If you would have made the electoral argument in 2000 or 2004 I certainly would have agreed with you.. yet here we are. Regardless.. The numbers I’m looking at : 21 states McCain, 28 Obama. (can’t seem to find out what happened to Missouri) 58m votes McCain, 66m Obama… i’m not sure what kind of math you want, but i think the results were clear by any count here..’

    3) it sounds social entrepenuerialism is a great thing, in the end, we have the same vision.

    

    Franz

    15 Nov 08 at 11:15 am
31. Andy Jackson:

    Yes, those are positive things, although somewhat distanced from most of us.
    I have never been to Berlin, and moreover it strikes me that the Germans had a little something to do with that, although I guess Hasselhoff might be considered an overwhelming contribution…

    Fall of the soviet union? i guess that’s a good thing, certainly im no fan of communisim or socialism… Can’t say it seems like Russia is /soo/ much better off for it now.. Not sure that the people of Vietnam, Korea, or much of Africa and South America would agree with you that we made the world a better place with the cold war.. how does supporting brutal totalitarian regeims in one part of the world make ending one other one better? Again, I never said “I hate my country” and I’m not saying here that I would have written history any different around the cold war.. but it hardly seems like something to wear on your sleeve in a conversation about moral high-ground.

    Tsunami relief, yeah that is a good thing - but something about that seems very individualized.. I was happy that our people rushed to New Orleans as well, but i dunno.. neither one of those strikes me like we did much more than any other county would have.. surely you don’t think we’re the only nation that gives money away, or takes care of our people in a natural disaster.. but yes, our generosity is something to be proud of.

    Not burning down mosques hardly seems like something to be proud of, although I do agree with the underlying point that we seem to be fundamentally very forgiving.. just look at how many russians live here happily now, when in the 80’s it was they who were the “evil empire.” Perhaps in 10 years we’ll have an army of Iraqi and Afgan taxi drivers too..

    I dunno, I think the underlying gist of my excitement (which still is strong btw) is that I’ve never seen us actually live up to the promise of equality USA touts around, until last week. The idea that anyone can work hard and make it is very compelling. But when you look at a poster of all the presidents - it’s all fat, white, well-connected, white men. It’s cool that at a very shallow level we’ve changed that.

    What I think is even cooler is we’ve clearly chosen to not be led by fear. I think that’s what I found so embarrassing about the last 8 years, and what I still find unappetizing about some of the replies here. The idea that there are BAD BAD BAD guys out there we have to be STRONG STRONG STRONG against is not how I want to live, or how I want my children to see the world. I firmly believe that 99.99% of people all want the same thing. Peace, prosperity, a chance for their kids to have a better life… There is no “us vs. them” unless we do stuff to make it that way. Yes bad things happen, but they happen for a reason so lets stop giving the world reasons to hate us.

    It strikes me that we’re going to have a leader who sees his role as bringing disparate groups with animosity together around their shared desires, rather than splitting the world apart around some shallow view of their belief system or current politics. I’m proud that we were wise enough to make the right choice.

    

    Franz

    15 Nov 08 at 3:58 pm
32. Is always good to be reminded that software is written by real people with ideas, leanings and feelings (I happen to share them). Also, I admire your courage for exposing them on the c5 front page. Is also nice to see that dissenting opinions in this discussion have been on the point and well-argued, hopefully refuting the notion that everyone who doesn’t support Obama is a racist neanderthals. However, I’ve seen some other discussion trails that have made me wonder…

    

    iPaul

    17 Nov 08 at 6:35 pm
33. I must, unfortunately, and with all due respect, disagree.

    There is a certain mutual respect that is built on the rapport between a service provider and his patron. Social and professional grace dictates we keep the interaction focused in such a manner that is a mutually beneficial, pragmatic and most importantly, is not a distraction that was unsolicited. This is the same mutual “code” that frowns on people who thread jack your comments or troll.

    The notion that those individuals who subscribed to your business blog, should immediately be interested in your political paradigms is disrespectful, albeit a very minor offense. The same unprofessionalism that would make you cringe if JoAnne, your loud mouthed cubicle neighbor decided to lambaste you with anecdotes about her daughter’s hemorrhoid surgery.

    My main reason I typically tell clients not to mix their political and their business dealings is because the whole desire is deeply rooted in narcissism. What, precisely, do you hope to accomplish? There are 3 paths you could rationalize the behavior.

    1) You really honestly believe someone out there gives a fuck enough about what you have to say, that your words will effect a paradigm shift that will bring him from the dark side, over to yours. In truth, no one gives a fuck, and you are running your mouth because you like to hear yourself talk.

    2) You believe you can generate some good will out of it. Most businesses tap into local charities and events for precisely this reason. 99% of the time, it is a facade - and included in the marketing budgets on the balance sheets.

    3) You are under the impression that your words won’t have a negative affect on your public image, and/or product. This is too foolish even address.

    Nowhere up there will you find a pragmatic reason to couple your political punditry with your professional presence. You piss off half of the people out there, and gain nothing from the other half. And a good portion of those people probably didn’t want to hear your opinion anyways, and consider it spam.

    I’m not saying don’t put your opinion out there. Put it on another blog, or a personal site - post it on Facebook…there are so many mediums by which you can publish your opinion, and it be welcomed with open arms - that only a fool would even bother shoving unsolicited punditry down the throats of your professional associates.

    Just like that guy who invites you over for dinner under the auspice of friendship, who than springs on you a request to borrow $500…you grit your teeth at the inherent disingenuous nature of the whole affair. You feel…slighted. As if there was a bait and switch.

    Don’t forget, in the age of push information, we are guests of your house, but you are also a guest of our attention, and readership. Don’t abuse that.

    Perhaps that is why your conservative friends warned you of breaching that boundary of respect. What they realized, which you don’t, is those boundaries exist. It isn’t so much that you were spewing rhetoric that was antithetical to their beliefs, but rather you were breaching inherent duties that we owe to each other. It’s an understanding that has worked well for us for thousands of years. Keep your opinions in a separate stage - and perhaps I will also join you in the mix for some cognitive dissonance - but I implore you to think twice about publishing your unsolicited information (spam) into the inbox of those, that for better or worse, might not want to hear what you have to say - or more so, are too busy.

    Disclaimer: I voted Libertarian. McCain was a poor candidate, whose campaign ran afoul, and Obama’s hagiographic coverage was almost laughable…the illusory and circular rhetoric that had imbeciles declaring themselves proud of their country once again is just too idiotic to bear. This election was a joke, and anybody who had any command of the policies, or reads even the slightest bit of legislative history would see that.

    Look even now as the stench of reality starts to emerge from the depths of hollow rhetoric. The left gasps as their messianic harbinger of egalitarian justice starts to fall centrist, and hire all insiders. Even so far as keeping part of the current institution in positions of power that he stood in ardent opposition too (Gates). No, people are finally realizing that they had put their faith in a Fairy Tale. I have never seen intellectualism in such abject straits. The fact that people were actually taken in by this nonsense is absolutely appalling - on both sides!

    Have some dignity…please.

    Sorry, I’m off my soap box. But one thing annoys the shit out of me - diatribes when I didn’t ask for them. And sorry for being a sourpuss too - it’s late, I’m tired and the market sucks. Which is a blessing in disguise, because I have more free time to research different solutions, and in so doing, came across C5. Wonderful stuff so far gentleman. Wonderful stuff. Kudos.

    

    E.T.Cook

    27 Nov 08 at 2:25 am
34. One more point. I’m “international”. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, and lived all over the world. I even lived in Indonesia (Bandung/Jakarta) for a while. I also had the privilege of graduating high school in South Africa. My views certainly aren’t ameri-centric by any means. I figured since you mentioned it, it was worth a mention given my request that you give my words any credence whatsoever. Equanimity, of course, is a virtue - thus broad perspective does tend to validate an opinion more, does it not?

    

    E.T.Cook

    27 Nov 08 at 2:28 am
35. Wow E.T. Thems a lot of big words..

    Uhhh.
    Lemmie try to reply briefly:
    1) It’s not spam, you’re choosing to come here and add it to your feed. You don’t like what I think - you don’t have to read it. If you’re gonna tell me to get some dignity, I think you should make the effort to get the definitions to what you’re talking about right.

    2) Of your three choices, I take #1. We do plenty of pro-bono sites for causes we like, I don’t see my public image as something I need to handle with kid’s gloves. Frankly I’ve spent far too many years of my life doing exactly what you suggest, and swallowing my opinions in the spirit of not offending the person writing a check. I do believe that the business we’re in is providing a communication medium, and so I don’t see it as particularly insane to communicate as transparently as I can about all the things going on with us. You’ll find I’m blisteringly honest about our development road map, revenue strategy, challenges, what we’re going to do and what we’re not.. all of it. Life is too short, and the internet too fast, to spend a lot of time self-editing.

    We are a small company, we intend to stay that way, and happily we do have a pretty good shared view of the world. My staff is pretty proud of me for putting my ass out on the line here, so to me there is value in being a fearless leader alone who clearly values truth over dollars.

    While it is true, I may have lost some conservative customers with this, if you read much else around this blog you’ll note I’m not really bending over backwards to be appealing to everyone.

    Moreover, I know from comments here and phone calls I’ve received that a lot of customers are rather impressed that we’re willing to put our success on our sleeve this way and want to work with us more because of it. That’s not my goal, but it doesn’t hurt.

    I guess I’d just like to make it clear to you and the next “business person” who comes along and takes the attitude that we’re a bunch of cute kids who don’t know better… Actually, we do. We’ve worked for some of the biggest brands in the world, we’ve worked on million dollar projects, I can tie a full Windsor and a half Windsor and the fact that I choose not to wear a suit (metaphorically as well) is a choice I proudly made - not an accident.

    Please don’t correct me. If you’re offended. Go away. Or better yet, take my free product, realize it’s good enough that none of this BS really matters, use it every day enjoying it while in the back of your head thinking “I can’t believe some egocentric leftist prick made this!!”

    thanks.
    -frz
    ps: if we’re such idiots in the ways of business, how come Apple did the same thing coming out against the gay marriage ban in Cali on their website? I guess they’re unprofessional too? Bummer, I hope they make it.

    

    Franz

    27 Nov 08 at 1:12 pm
36. Do you really believe Apple did it with reckless abandon? Are you really that naive? You don’t think there was statistical analysis about their target demographic, and how it would affect their business. I was actually going to bring that up as an example, but I was dragging on last night. They prey on people like you that really truly believe companies would act in such a haphazard manner. If Apple was so philanthropic, where were their bleeding hearts prior? You are trying to convince me that there was a moral paradigm shift that birthed itself from nowhere? Think about it. No, REALLY think about it. I think you’ll start to see how patently absurd the whole spectacle really is. But hey, they convinced you, right?

    1) I did state that you do it at your own detriment, in the end, it is your prerogative. You cite your newfound transparency has brought you numerous deals, however you really have no way of measuring what business you might have lost.

    Personally, I don’t care what your politics are. That wouldn’t have any affect at all on whether I do business with you or not. However there are many other assumptions I might have gathered by your actions. For example, I might have seen them as demonstrative of your sloppiness as a business man; reflective of a low standard of care, or wanton disregard you have for the continuity of your business…as such, I would have a lowered sense of your professional abilities.

    The notion, however, that someone would commend you for being unnecessarily bold is also troubling to me. The whole concept of being unnecessarily bold with no pragmatic purpose is a bit puerile, is it not? We stopped rewarding that kind of behavior in grade school, didn’t we? Frankly, your actions aren’t much different from Lindsay Lohan blathering unsolicited political punditry into the microphone. Between performing sexual favors for movie deals, and making the aforementioned bad movies - people just aren’t interested in what she has to say.

    You make many assumptions in your response about who I am, or what I might do. I think you would probably be surprised if you found out. Regardless, let me leave you with this.

    I do respect you immensely - not for putting it out there…but for sticking by it. You got a bit of push back, especially from me- but you stuck to your guns. That is a man I wouldn’t mind having in my camp. I don’t care what your politics are, as you don’t mine - but I do respect your fidelity of resolve. It is an admirable characteristic. Kudos, again.

    

    E.T.Cook

    27 Nov 08 at 9:04 pm
37. Wow, thanks for the reply to reply E.T!
    Typically people come along and express their opinion one way or another on a blog and then wander off for the next chance to pontificate - be it the writer or the commenter. I commend you on the follow through to actually see if your comments were approved and if anyone bothered to reply to you… What that says about blogging as a communication form is sad, but none the less - its nice to have a little back and forth..

    No, I don’t think Apple made the decision to post their opposition to Proposition 8 on their home page as an after-thought. Please don’t make the mistake that because some of the strategic issues we review are decided at after 4pm with a beer or two, that we give them any less consideration. This blog post in particular came up in discussions before it was posted. As I looked for validation, my CTO said with no hesitation: “post it… it’ll be a net gain.”

    He’s a smarter man than I, and again proved to be right. Not to belabor a point, but we’re not “naive.”

    I don’t believe Apple saw the stating of their position on that political matter as a “moral paradigm shift that birthed itself from nowhere..”.. While I marvel at the Jibber Jabber in there, I figur’s what you mean by that is really just ‘absurd new prospective.’

    I don’t see that the idea that any two people who want to spend their lives together should be allowed to get married as absurd, or a paradigm shift.

    I don’t see that the USA, the world’s ‘democracy on a pillar’ has finally elected a underdog President instead of rich fat white man, is absurd.

    I don’t see a corporation acting to make their position on either issue known as a bad thing. I see it as a willingness to take on risk to make important conversations happen..

    Your #1st point.. (well your only numbered point)…
    Yes, I get that business may have past me by because of my willingness to be myself publicly. I also get that it would be difficult to impossible to measure the value or determent of these expressions. Regardless. My transparency is not ‘new found’, I just choose to no longer apologize for it.

    Regarding your potentially lowered sense of my professional abilities (sloppiness in approach, standard of care, general haphazard approach …) Think what you want. Those that work with my team know exactly what they’re getting. I’m not gonna sit here and say we’re perfect - but can build something sexy, fast. We run clean code, with clear direction, from people who know what they’re doing, in a creative and effective fashion. I’ll be as direct with you about your project as I am here. Or more.

    Regarding your condemnation of those who might find something refreshing, endearing, and I hope to some degree validating and inspiring in their own lives upon reading my strong willed dribble… BAH! My Facebook friends and tumblr readers at http://franzmaruna.com get subjected to far more. We’re plenty busy and if, as you point out, I’m missing some business by positioning myself on issues like this - so be it. I hope that someone with some purchasing power at a big corporation spends it on something doubly redeeming, and I hope the next creative entrepreneur stuck in corporate america runs home to their basement and builds something great of their own.

    I certainly didn’t mean to make any assumptions about who you are. To be frank, I’d certainly vote libertarian over democratic in almost any election, although I was certainly “obam’d” this year. The only assumption I feel like I made in my initial response was that you viewed our willingness to post this to our blog was amateur and unprofessional. We are simply neither.

    I’m glad that you respect my resolve. Check out the demo at http://concrete5.org/demo if you have real website management needs. I think you’ll find it a unique approach to the challenge.
    ;-\

    -frz

    

    Franz

    27 Nov 08 at 10:19 pm
38. What is the point of speaking, if you don’t listen for the responses?

    Fair enough, and fair responses. I’ve shared my position, and that’s all I can do.

    Thanks for duking it out with me…now…we need to talk - you need some help with your documentation (no offense intended)…and I used to be affiliated with the Symfony project, so I may be of some help. What do we do to get started?

    

    E.T.Cook

    28 Nov 08 at 1:44 pm
39. no offense taken, we totally do need help with our docs!

    Hit me up over on concrete5.org.

    The simplest way to get started there would be dig through the forums where my tech team is spending a fair amount of time, and start pulling the helpful bits out into the FAQ page in docs.

    From my point of view, anyone can do this with a basic account and the guestbook tools, so it’s just a matter of someone having the follow through to spend the time on it.

    It’s nice to have you on board, I made my first best friend after knocking him off his tricycle - sometimes the most productive relationships are formed in a standoff.

    

    Franz

    28 Nov 08 at 1:54 pm
40. @Owange and @Franz.

    it is a little late and off topic now, but outside the “English world” you are also called “Estadounidenses”…something like “UnitedStatians” and is not a bad word. In the other hand, I am not throwing any ignorant garbage on this thread. I’m just pointing the outside-USA-people-aka-a-lot-of-people point of view.

    cheers…

    

    GaB

    16 Dec 08 at 12:59 pm

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