“The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause endless trouble, through the rivalry of schools and creeds that are anxious to obtain official recognition, and there is great danger that our people will lose our independence of thought and action which is the cause of much of our greatness, and sink into the helplessness of the Frenchman or German who expects his government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die, and, in time, to regulate every act of humanity from the cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek future admission to paradise.” —Mark Twain

First and foremost, I’m a mother of two, a small business owner, a dog lover, a tennis player, a folk & outsider art collector, etc. I used to be a Virginia political junkie but grew increasingly disenchanted with all of it . . . until the bloggers came along and changed everything. I think getting rid of the politicians and keeping the bloggers is the solution, regardless of the problem.

Politically, I’m a mutt, a product of having a mother who was a social worker and a grandfather who was staunchly Conservative. Seems like I was either listening to mom’s clients complain about how “th’ guvment’” wasn’t doing enough for them or listening to my grandfather complain about government not leaving welfare in the hands of the churches - where it belonged. As a child, I believed that “government,” regardless of its spelling or pronunciation, was not a good thing. Now that I’ve matured, I realize I was right.

I knew I wasn’t a Democrat so decided I must be a Republican. The Virginia legislature proved me wrong with their Marshall-Newman Amendment.  I’m embarrassed that my commonwealth alone would allow such a far-reaching intrusion of “govment” into our private lives.  Not only that, the amendment is very mean-spirited and hateful. Anyone who’s ever been fortunate enough to have same-sex couples in long-term committed relationships as friends or family knows what I mean.

For now, I’m a Libertarian and the relationship is working out just fine.  When I cast my vote, it matters not if a candidate is a Democrat or Republican, I vote for the one least likely to intrude further into my life. Let myself and others take personal responsibility.

That’s all that comes to mind but I’ll add things as I either remember them or commit them.

More about ME, ME, ME

. . . (what are you hoping to find, anyway?)