A Losing Campaign

      As of writing (9:06PM on 11/30/22), 99% of ballots have been counted and I trail by 207 votes (7,215 votes vs. 7,422). Election day was 3 weeks ago and my loss has looked definitive for the last 2, after an early lead disappeared and I watched the late votes go further and further the other way. 

     When I first started this thing, I wouldn't have believed that the outcome would be so close. I wasn't running to lose, but I figured that replacing an incumbent would be a tall task. I guess it's just a matter of inertia - easier to keep the status quo than to change things. The thing that boggled my mind, though, is the number of voters I met that expressed a desire for change. The voters that said things in Alum Rock were not going well, and hadn't been - "It's always been that way," being one of the common things I heard. How could so many people in a community agree that a school district needed improvement, only for every incumbent on the ballot to be voted right back in? Maybe the optimistic way to look at it is that thousands of voters wanted change and were willing to hang their hat on a local high school teacher. Yeah, I think I'll go with that.

     Regardless of how things turned out, I gained plenty of experience along the way:

• Opening a bank account (seriously, this was a pain in the ass that required visits to multiple banks and several dead ends)
• The importance of getting your ducks lined up as early as possible - endorsements, finding other candidates you align with, and organizational backing.
• The necessity of campaign lit - can't just go walking around introducing yourself to people, hoping that it'll stick
• The importance of voter data (which neighborhoods have the greatest voter density, where to target voters, etc. etc.)
• Filing paperwork - I actually don't think I even have this down pat, but the growing pains early on were pretty rough.

      Not to mention working on the nerves of pitching myself to voters - after all, elections essentially amount to getting the greatest number of people to trust you, your background, and your decision making. I didn't succeed at that, but I came a lot farther than I thought I would. & just because I'm not part of the Board doesn't mean I'm not hoping the problems don't get fixed. After all, I ran in part because I have to deal with the consequences of the decisions made by these people. If things were going so swimmingly, I wouldn't have entered the ring to try and make change.  

     Besides personal disappointment, there's also the guilt of letting people down. After losing, it feels like I just gathered  ~$5,000 from family and friends and lit it on fire. It probably has to do with my sense of frugality, but goddamn what a waste. It would be one thing if y'all backed a winning horse, but the sting of losing really has a way of spoiling just about everything.

     Put plainly, losing this campaign sucks. I'll have to go to work for the next 2 years with the likely knowledge that decision makers will continue sending students to Independence severely unprepared for high school. I'll just keep on keeping on because I'm far from finishing the 30 years I set out to teach, but it's so annoying that I missed an opportunity to try and bring about change at a more critical junction of these students' lives. 

     Although my disappointment has been stewing for awhile, I also want to note my appreciation for everyone along the way - every dollar donated, every post shared, every door knocked. I couldn't cross the finish line with enough juice, but I certainly had the support to do so. & while nothing is set in stone, I've already got my eyes set on the next election. It feels a ways away right now, but I know I've got plenty of work to do between now and then. Here's to 2024.

Shit That Just Makes Sense

     In an era that's defined by polarization, I think it's important to spell out my beliefs once in awhile so I'm not just constantly agreeing with "the Left" and disagreeing with "the Right." Also helps to serve as a lil reminder to you all that we shouldn't depend on politicians to generate good ideas and implement them, but rather generate the good ideas and vote in the politicians that agree with us (and/or pressure the ones currently in office). Looking back at some of my old posts, this is really just a continuation of "Backwards Planning Society" (parts 1 & 2). So anyways, here's a list of some real simple ass shit that I think a lot of people can get behind:

     1. Paid family leave. I think it's just intuitive (& pro-life, btw) that people ought to spend time with their newborn children. You can't really say society gives a shit about people if they are forced to give up their livelihoods in order to spend time caring for their children. Miss me with the "if you can't afford to have a kid, then don't"-type argument. That's basically saying only people with money are entitled to participate in what humans have been doing for our entire existence. Which, for the record, is a dumb idea.

     2. Age caps for politicians. If there's a minimum age to serve as a politician, there should be a maximum too. No one thinks it's a good idea for people over the age of 70 to drive - at best, we tolerate it. Why the heck do we accept that these old ass people dictate what society will look like when they won't even be around for as long as everyone else?

     3. Minimum wage needs to be higher and tied to inflation. While I've previously written that the work week should be shorter by now, I would also take this. Anyone who works 40 hours/week should be able to afford, at the very least: the basics + some change. Will this cause inflation? I won't pretend like I know the answer to that, but I do know that:

   - minimum wage hasn't changed for 12+ years and inflation still happened anyways 😂

   - minimum wage increased from 5.85 to 7.25 from 2007-2009 (source) and then just... stopped. Wth?

   - dog shit wages just aren't a good enough incentive to get people to work. Thank God for people a) finally realizing it and b) actively withdrawing their participation

   -  tying it to inflation means we don't have to have this conversation anymore. We set a bar, make sure the bar moves appropriately over time, and voila.

   There you have it - some real obvious ways this country could be better. Now when the heck will the American people start pushing their politicians to clear these (extremely low) bars??

Never Forget

      Every year, on 9/11, it's common to see this reminder: "Never forget." 20 years, 6 trillion dollars, and 900,000 lost lives later, it's worth asking: what do we remember since then?

• That George W. Bush was President at the time, wading into a conflict that would cost all the above and more. This would continue into the presidencies of Obama, Trump, and finally Biden.
  
• Not to let Congress off the hook, Rep. Barbara Lee was the only Congressperson (i.e. the only rep. across the House and Senate) to vote against Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001. That is to say, almost every other member of Congress approved of this extremely costly and arguably completely ineffective "War on Terrorism"
• Not to let every Congress from 2001 off the hook, the US military budget has increased every year except for a brief decline from 2011-2015. That means in 75% of the years since then, the US military budget has grown. How much "winning" did it get us?
  
• Though many Americans felt a sense of unity, there was also a spike in Islamophobia. Imagine being so stupid that you held Muslim-Americans responsible  for 9/11. That's like blaming Japanese Americans for Pearl Harbor (...!). Not to mention the burden borne by those with brown skin and the endless "random" searches they are subjected to.
  
• That federal agents have snuck fake guns + explosives past TSA agents with a 95% success rate - is the feeling of security really worth it when it's provided by an agency that largely fails at security and mostly serves to obstruct our autonomy to travel with relative convenience? Is the "War on Terror" won when we spend ~8 billion a year on the feeling of security, or is it lost because we have succumbed to the fear?

     Those are just some things I think we should never forget. That when America was hurt, we went for ineffective vengeance. That we reacted in anger and fear, not confidence and courage. Instead of justice, we sought destruction. & for all of the death that we dealt, how offended we were just a few weeks ago when a minuscule measure of it was returned to us.

My Retirement Plan

     What would it take for me to quit teaching? That's a question I've wondered on and off, because that's essentially what retirement is. You quit your job because you don't depend on it anymore, and you're free to do whatever you want. & 29 might sound too young to be thinking of retirement, but the common idea seems to be that there's no such thing as too early to start planning (seriously, the most basic recommendation for retirement planning is to plan ASAP). So, what would it take? The answer is pretty simple, at least for me - & probably you too, so long as you don't have a boundless appetite for consumption. 

     I'm a pretty basic guy - I would need housing, food, enough money to travel & gamble,  and last but CERTAINLY not least - I would need some meaning in life. That's everything that teaching provides for me, at least the very major parts. The first 3 parts - housing, food, $ to travel and gamble - can really all just be boiled down to one thing: money. 

     For my lifetime, I would be surprised if I spent more than 3.5 million on all of that combined. About 2 million on a forever home + property taxes for 60 years, 660k for food ($10 meal for the next 60 years, which I think is on the high end), which leaves ... 840k for traveling and gambling - or about 28k/year, for the next 30 years. Again, I'm using high numbers ON PURPOSE - to contextualize how far money can go and to show that, if you mess around with the numbers FOR YOURSELF, you could actually come up with a real, tangible number that would work for you to retire on. 

     Another thing to consider is that my figure for housing doesn't even take Daisy into account - if we were to split that number right in half, my theoretical share of housing would only amount to 1 million and reduce my retirement figure to 2.5 million. There you have it - at a monetary level, I could retire if I somehow found 2.5 million, post-tax dollars. 

     What about the meaning in life? I like to think I'm a pretty customer-facing guy. I enjoy helping others and there's a slew of skills I would love to pick up, so a few occupations I could dive into are: card dealing, bartending, personal assistant, and concierge - those are just some of the many options I'd be open to, and to my knowledge I wouldn't have a particularly tough time getting into those. 

     So, there you have it. My plan is to find $2.5 million and slide into some other job where I get to work with people/get the satisfaction of helping others.

     If that doesn't work out, I can always teach 'til 65, retire to collect my pension (which works out to 96% of my working salary), and hang out until I kick the bucket  - but that's a worst-case scenario 😅.

Backwards Planning Society (pt. 2)

      I hate to say it, but it's been a whole freakin' year since I wrote part 1. More like 5 years, amIright?? Pandemic (& pandemic fatigue) aside, I feel like I've really missed writing. & what better to write about than some of the things that have been laid bare in American society in the past ~9 months? The first part of this post was optimistic - laying out some points that personally seem like common sense, but I know are probably seen as "radical" (which, tbh, is just a sad reflection of society's lack of imagination :[ ). This post will lay out some of my hopes too - but instead of aiming high,  I'm setting out to establish a low bar for American society. Things that we should all - Yellow, Black, Brown, or White - agree on. I never thought it would be necessary to establish a bare minimum for society, but I also never thought that a law enforcement officer would kneel on someone's neck for 9:30 while 3 other officers stood by and didn't do a thing. I never thought Senators would so brazenly take advantage of a pandemic that's killed 300,000 AND COUNTING. I never thought American society would see their politicians come up with trillions of financing, only to provide $1,200 to some of us - and not fire them damn near across the board. So, here we go.

1. Law enforcement should have a higher standard. I'm leaving this one open-ended on purpose because there are so many standards that could be higher. Eligibility standards, in terms of an improved screening process, educational attainment, and whatever else you might think of. Legal standards, in terms of a system that holds them accountable (notice: I'm not asking for us to screw over police officers. If you think accountability is a dealbreaker, then you probably have an orientation toward police officers as authoritarians and not public servants.). Health standards - they should probably get better and more opportunities for mental health maintenance. I could keep on, but I'll leave it up to you. What higher standards do you think law enforcement officers should have?
   
2. Politicians shouldn't profit from office. The salary for Congress is $174,000 at minimum - this is so much more than "enough" that it's offensive some of these people still take the time to insider trade. Median HOUSEHOLD income as of 2019 was ~$69,000. As in, every congressperson makes 2.5x the median (again) HOUSEHOLD income in America. That sounds obscene to me and fits more with the impression that politicians are out-of-touch overlords in America than public servants (unless you think it's normal for a servant to make almost triple the boss... then I digress). 
3. Americans need to hold their elected officials accountable. In the past year, I've realized that I'm with Ro Khanna (House Rep) and think that Senator Feinstein is God awful. I think Sam Liccardo is kinda crappy, but I've learned that the San Jose City Council and the City Manager deserve a lot of blame for the way things are run in San Jose as well. On a national level, it's bizarre that the federal government has provided us with scraps, failed to create a national response to the pandemic (remember when the death toll was supposed to be 200k in the worst-case scenario? I remember), and...... a ton of GOP politicians were elected right back into office. So they could... keep doing nothing for us?? I'm not saying Dems don't hold any responsibility - but the HEROES act has been sitting on Mitch Mcconnell's desk for many moons, so... let's blame that crusty old bastard and the rest of the politicians that fall in line behind him (i.e. every GOP Senator).

          It's not an expansive list, but it's a starting point. It's mind-boggling that I would consider this a starting point, but with all that's been brought to the fore in the past 9 months... I thought it was worth writing about. Hopefully none of this sounds wild to you & we can work towards a future that looks like this in America.

Why "Black Lives Matter" Matters (To Me)

     First off, let's face it: there aren't many Black people in San Jose. Just 2%, according to that source. So whatever you think about Black people, let's face it: you've probably got a really small sample size of experiences to draw from when it comes to Black people. This isn't a criticism - just a statement. & as a consequence, this conversation is probably weird to you. You might be wondering,"Why the heck are we talking about Black people when San Jose hardly even has any...?" That's valid, and I honestly feel awkward typing that out.
     So here's another figure - in a city with so few Black people, the SJPD Use of Force dashboard (click "Subjects & Crimes Charged" tab, then go down to the "Subject Race" pie chart) shows the proportion of instances they have used "force" (I put that in quotes because "force" includes pushing, pepper spraying, and dog bites, just to name a few) on people, broken down by age, gender, race, and even whether they are local or not. Remember how Black people make up just 2% of the population in San Jose? Well, the SJPD has used force on Black people in 14% of cases. Small number, in a vacuum. Think about it, though - that's a factor of seven times their population proportion.
     Let's pause and acknowledge - it is probable that different races commit crime at different rates. For example (& I'll freely admit this is crazy bias of me), I have a tough time seeing Asians committing violent crime at the same rates as other races. Sue me, I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. But even if that were true (that races do not commit crimes in equal proportions), what could the disparity in crime rates be? 5%? 10%? Heck, a 20% different in crime rate across race sounds like a stretch to me. We might be different, but that different? That's a stretch.
     For a group to be over-represented by a factor of seven times their population proportion? I'm no statistician, but that figure just screams that there's something wrong going on at the San Jose Police Department. Open your eyes and do some snooping and some reflection. Could it be that those tasked with serving and protecting us harbor disgustingly vile views on race? Of course not! With that to set the stage, I would like to try and add some nuance to a few notions you've probably come across in the past few weeks. Hopefully, it helps you make sense of things.

1. The BLM movement seeks to defund (or abolish, depending on who/where you ask) the police. 
        This is a "glass half full vs. glass half empty" type of situation. The people calling for this are saying that they want other things to take precedence. It's pointing to the disparity in national and local priorities when local police departments can suppress their own citizens with riot gear while healthcare professionals go without sufficient PPE, teachers have a limited (or nonexistent) budget for supplies, and homelessness still abounds where there is an immense concentration of wealth. "BuT wHat aBoUt CrIme?!!!?" Look, you dope - people commit crimes for a reason, some of them astonishingly easy to understand: they have mental health issues. They don't see any opportunity around them. They've given up on grinding it out because minimum wage is ass when it was originally meant to be so much more substantial than it currently is. So why don't we fix the root problems instead of beating and punishing people when they exhibit criminality?
2. The BLM movement wants to destroy American history in the form of removing Confederate statues and renaming buildings named after notable Confederate figures.
        Honestly? The Confederates were losers - by definition. I don't really know why a significant chunk of the American populace continues to glamorize a group that was roundly defeated and rightfully scorned. Seriously. For people who are so obsessed with WINNING, why do you people (yes, "you people") cling so hard to losers who thought slavery was a good thing?! Get rid of the loser statues. They're a shameful and embarrassing relic of American racism. Did I mention? THEY ARE LOSERS!! Maybe we should erect a statue of Ho Chi Minh next for whooping that American ass. At least he won his conflict against America ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
3. "Black Lives Matter" (More Than Mine?!)
        For those who don't "get" the movement, you probably insert the parenthetical whenever you see the slogan "Black Lives Matter." Let's be honest - you've got it rough, too. Income inequality is God awful right now. In a time when all we've been doing is automating + making absolute leaps in tech for the last 2-3 decades, minimum wage should be higher (anywhere from $12 to $19/hour, depending on who you ask). It's currently $7.25 (yikes!).
        A rising tide lifts all boats, by the way - even if you don't make minimum wage, you should have a vested interest in raising the minimum wage.This isn't a zero-sum game in the sense that you and the minimum wage laborer are competing for the same slices of the economic pie - as is, there's a huge slice of pie that goes to shareholders (dividends or stock buybacks) or the executive board (bloated salaries and golden parachutes). If you campaign for minimum wage laborers to get their rightful raise (last raised to just $7.25 in 2009 - that's strikingly pathetic for the "greatest country on Earth"), you don't think that gives you some leverage? Society will collectively have this conversation: "Hey, grocery baggers start off making $40,000 year (that's a $20 minimum wage) - I think (insert profession here) should make at least (insert amount here) to reflect their fair labor value." Also, notice I haven't said anything about Black people in this paragraph. That's not an accident.
        Viet Thanh Nguyen said it best: "If you think America is in trouble, blame shareholders, not immigrants; look at CEOs, not foreigners; resent corporations, not minorities; yell at politicians of both parties, not the weak, who have little in the way of power or wealth to share."
        If you take a dismissive approach to the movement, you are eating up the bait that the upper classes are setting out for you instead of realizing that defending each other's status based on race (which may feel exclusive if you are anything but Black right now) is just a hop and a skip away from realizing our shared economic status as a unifying force. Let's face it - if you didn't have empathy for the movement before, you probably needed a reason besides, y'know, humanity and civil rights (ya selfish prick).
4. Police simply need reform. Alternatively, when something is broken, you need more money to fix it, not less!
        Honestly, this is just a really drastic case of the sunk cost fallacy. Let me give you an analogy that is comparable: you might have a family member or friend that is... drifting. They are not really sure what they want to do. In this day and age, what's a good bet? Invest in yourself... get an education! (I know not everybody thinks this, and that's fine, but some - scratch that, many people - still do) So, they start taking classes at De Anza. They'll transfer to some CSU or UC in a couple years- maybe 3, since it can be tough getting the classes you need. They muddle along, forgoing meeting with the counselor. After all, they got through high school - how hard could this be?
        Well, fast forward and it's been.... *drum roll* ... 6 years. They're still at it. They've taken classes on/off, but work or "life" just seems to keep getting in the way - and that AA degree? Still not in hand. Transferring? Still out of the question. And so. What should they do? Power on and hope they can muster up the requisite focus to clear requirements at De Anza and then do it for a couple more years in a university setting? 
        With the benefit of hindsight, isn't it obvious that some people just aren't cut out for school (as is currently structured)? Don't get me wrong - there are people who have went through that situation (or similar) and come out on the other side happy and better for it. However, let me remind you that I'm really referring to SJPD - an institution that:

• Has been around for more than 170 years (was formed in 1849)
• Has enough money to spend on riot gear that hardly ever gets used
• Said it was under deadly assault from rocks and full water bottles during recent protests while in said riot gear (I'm not joking - Captain Jason Dwyer said that in a Council meeting. & no, you aren't making a fool out of yourself at all, dear Captain)
• also, if it were actually deadly assault... how come no officers died...? I'll tell you why - it's because the people are expressing anger and discontent, not a desire to kill. Even at their angriest, thousands of protesters can still hold it together better than some (many?) of the officers on the force. Embarrassing.
• Has killed people having mental health crises  (the first 2 cases totaled $4+ million awarded by juries to the families, in case you're wondering how much a cop's mistake costs us taxpayers)
• Shot their own bias trainer, potentially rendering him sterile for life
• Hasn't even come out and admitted that it shot at people who didn't deserve it - because doing so would require honesty and admitting liability, two traits it is... lacking

     Despite my previous analogy, this isn't the case of someone who can afford to take the time to figure out their life. This is an institution that has shown itself to be deeply toxic and drunk off its own power. $450,000,000+ is a lot of money committed to an institution that displays such irresponsibility. I am happy with letting others figure out things on their own time. I am not happy with letting institutions do the same when "figuring things out" includes mistaken killings, racism, and a complete lack of accountability. You want more money? Let me ask you this: why do you deserve it when you can't even handle the excessive amount you already have?
    There's a slew of things I haven't written about that are relevant: white privilege, the perpetuation of a wealth gap that persists across generations, how Jane Elliott can prove that a staggering majority of white people just implicitly accept that a condition of America is that minorities get treated poorly. The list, honestly, goes on. This post is a start, though. Hopefully you understand, at least a little more than you previously did, why Black Lives Matter.

Frugality as Social Activism

     There are many ways being frugal helps me to live out my worldview. It's my stand against pillaging the planet. From a practical point, it makes it easier for me to manage my finances. It's an utter rejection of capitalism that urges extreme, oftentimes mindless consumption. & particularly relevant in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor's deaths, it's a form of social activism.
     How so? Well in a time of extreme wealth inequality, the ways the rich get richer (and the poor get poorer) are these: our money is taken from us (in the forms of wage theft, wage stagnation, and other malfeasance) and our money is given away (in the form of literally any spending). The latter is what I'm writing about - when people give their money away by spending.
     Let me backtrack and acknowledge that "giving away" money isn't a fair depiction. We spend money to get things in return. Where that term does apply, though, is when we spend on non-necessities (full disclosure: I spend on non-necessities. Just probably to a much, much, much lesser degree, lol). Of course there are necessities: housing, sustenance, transportation, and so on. By definition, everything beyond basic needs is just to enhance comfort. Now don't get smart with me talkin' 'bout therapy or some other thing that's life-saving. If it's life-saving, it's a basic need. Morning coffee to cure your crankiness? Extra. Particular brand for clout? Extra. Eating out 3x/week because you don't want to cook? Extra. I'm trying to be really clinical about this - I'm not calling you out saying you're a piece of shit. I'm just reminding you that, by definition, these things are extra.
     How's this tie in to social activism? Well, when you spend in this manner (spending beyond the necessities), you are primarily lining the pockets of shareholders and executive boards. You are directly driving wealth inequality up and helping to maintain the status quo. Money is power - that's indisputable fact. So if you think about every dollar you have as constituting a little bit of your financial army, then you are giving up your financial power in exchange for comfort. I'll say that again - you are giving up power in the name of whatever comfort you're buying. You are propping up mega corporations. Along with that, you are propping up the systems of power that keep them in place by giving them more influence than they already have.
     So, how can you change your spending habits to be a social activist? Well, cut it out. Whatever "it" refers to, to whatever degree you're comfortable with. After a month, you'll see - almost magically - a fatter bank account than you're used to. You could donate it to some social justice org, if it tickles your fancy. If not? Well shoot, just by letting your money sit in your bank account where it belongs as opposed to Jeff Bezos', then you've done something to take power back from Amazon (or Walmart, or whatever other faceless company that has been content to grow fat from American generosity).