(#6056) Mixed bag...

      First thing on my mind is a cost/benefit for either voting or not voting if eligible. Maybe $100 for voting in tax return benefit and a $100 tax cost for not voting. I know we have to incentivize voting if we are to get much better participation. Doing our duty is not working as well as it should so perhaps making it more like what we are inundated with now, capitalization, it will improve participation. I know myself an extra $100 to vote would be welcome in every two year cycle. This is just an example to show what voting could be like going forward.
     Secondly, I heard a song again for probably the 100th time since its release in the mid seventies about growing up to realize that opportunity is biased and in less than ways that are equitable. The song, Seventeen by Janis Ian reminds me that growing up for older girls about to reach womanhood is filled with prejudices and despairs. The pressure on older girls to glamorize themselves to even have a chance of some limited happiness is high. Not only are older girls going through puberty much like the boys they are even more so struggling with finances and cultural stigmas. As an older boy I was always under pressure because coming from a large family that was not even middle class and moving around a lot it seemed that even the floor was above my head as an older teenager.
     Lastly, I want to thank all those who have ever read any post I have written. In the more than 16 years I have been doing this I find that as few as 3 people have read a post in a 24 hour period and as many as more than 11,000 have read a post in a 24 hour period. It really does blow my mind, I am no brilliant person but at least I am an honest one with lots of thoughts to share. I don't charge anything for reading my posts nor do I advertise. It is just me and the universe having a conversation once a day. I don't know about everyone out there but I need to speak my mind so that it goes out into the ether as a tribute to what I hope to be and strive like all get out for you to understand.