We should have a national day of, “Turning off Cable TV”. We need to ween people off the we are all going to die channels and get people back into their communities actually solving problems.

It’s about the economy. Join your local Entrepreneurial group. Learn about new companies that need support. Find out where your local economy can engage into the global economy.

Our problems do not stem from minority groups or Mexican immigrants.  It’s because we moved all our manufacturing off shore along with the jobs. It’s because we need skilled workers today, not unskilled. It’s because our economy has been on a slow decline since the 1950s.

Yet, we can not look back to the 1950s. The advantage we had at the time is gone – a world devastated by war and rebuilding. The United States economy was the only one intact. Now, we have to compete again. Yet, today, we choose to compete with each other’s opinions about right and wrong – black and white – left and right – forwards and backwards.

Government can not solve the problems.  It can be part of the solution. Here in Indiana, laws holding us back were the inventory tax and daylight savings time. When the State Government repealed these laws, the logistics companies were able to take advantage of the Indianapolis being the Crossroads it always claimed to be. Government has a role. It can work towards the future without disrespecting the past.

This country was built on idea generation like no other in the world. You can still try anything you want here. You can succeed, but you are allowed to fail. Let’s stop arguing about social issues and encourage ideas, investment and creation of new industries. We are the only nation good at doing those things.

My favorite line from John Stewart, “We are not living in the “End of Times”, we are living in difficult times.” Let’s all stop whining and pointing fingers at each other.  If we lose hope as a nation, it’s too late to fix our problems.

Turn off the Cable Television and join a local Entrepreneurs group. If there is not one, start one because the future depends on it.

Paul is the President of Professional Blog Service. PBS works with clients making strategic investments into blogging, social media and search engine optimization.

For the past 6 years, I have participated on an online forum that covers the state of Hungarian Football.  There are a small number of “hopeful” Hungarian Football fans that are waiting for the resurrection of the “Golden Team” of the 1950s.  We religiously follow our beloved Hungarian National Team only to be disappointed every 2 years when they fail to make a major tournament.  The last time Hungary participated in a World Cup was in 1986 in Mexico.

Football is passion and passions brings out the worst or best in others.  The forum is going through the changes that often occur in groups where a choice is asked of its members to be with the forum leader or not.  Members come and go, but now there is a come to Jesus with the remaining members to pledge allegiance to the Forum Manager.

Now, if we follow the pattern of what is happening, it is a common in offline communities for people to become divided.  There seems to be a life cycle that starts with the following steps:

1.  Mutual Respect

2.  Cooperation

3.  Division

4.  Power Grab

There is a “Lord of the Flies” effect that seems to take hold.

Division leads to power grabs by individuals that leads to potential dictatorships for order.

I am going to explore this phenomenon further.  This behavior is not limited to online forum behavior but permeates our lives.  I have seen it in how organizations work too.  Competition breeds cooperation that denigrates into division which ultimately leads to a new congregation forming at another Church.

This common offline behavior can be seen occurring in online forums also.

More to come on this subject…

Jim Young / Reuters; David McNew / Getty Images

Well, it was quite interesting watching the debates last night. Or lack of debate, so to speak. It seems that the debates were really about who could be the most effective at staying on message. There were a couple of times that things tried to be spontaneous. Yet, Biden never seemed to really debate Palin and Palin was just making sure she stayed on her talking points.

Apart from this, I did find there was quite a contrast between the two speakers.

I will give Palin credit for her ability to deliver an emotional argument that lacked any real substance. Her message while trying to appear positive certainly used the age old Republican tactic to communicate that we are all going to die with Obama in office.

Sorry to the Palin fans out there, I just don’t believe she really knew what she was talking about except for the issues around oil. In prepared comments, she did well to deliver a message that instilled the fear and generalities of an emotional argument.

As I was listening to Palin speak, it was conjuring up memories of my past. Then I realized she was delivering her speech in the manner of her Pentecostal roots. Having grown up listening to Pentecostal Preachers myself, the arguments she put forth sounded a lot like a Sunday sermon filled with emotion and fear to a congregation of sinners.

Biden did not seem to want to debate her. He stayed true to his message to challenge everything McCain and not touch Palin. I guess this was probably a smart move on the part of the Democrats. He did come across as a far more knowledgeable about topics than she. My criticism of him was that he did not debate Palin directly.

So, what is next. I guess Karl Rove is the soothsayer of what we can expect from the Republicans in the coming weeks. They will try to exploit some of the facts that Biden stretched to declare them liars, flip-floppers, or some other catchy phrase. Question is, will people listen?

So what was the lesson in all this? Emotions as argument.

In marketing, buying is an emotional event. If we want to sell to the general population, we need to trigger an emotive reaction to the product we are selling. I think Sarah Palin did a good job of selling an emotional argument. I don’t think she had any substance behind what she was saying, but she did a good job of selling fear with a “bless his heart” delivery.

Question is, will this be enough to turn an election?

I hope not because I do not want Sarah Palin to have access to the nuclear codes. Underneath that strong emotional delivery, I just don’t think there is anything there.

Damn….give her credit for marketing to the masses.