{"id":15916,"date":"2014-11-09T09:54:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-09T14:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.albany.com\/imho\/2014\/11\/guest-blogger-todd-tesman.html"},"modified":"2018-06-28T09:58:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T13:58:34","slug":"guest-blogger-todd-tesman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.albany.com\/imho\/2014\/11\/guest-blogger-todd-tesman\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger: Todd Tesman"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><i>Following is another Guest blog&#8230; this one from local business owner and Rensselaer County legislator, Todd Tesman. He posted it as a comment on my last blog entry, but I thought it deserved its own space. Some politicians are hacks, some are true public servants; this is one of the good guys.<\/i><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Less Behind<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As we move away from the past election, we weigh the winners and the<br \/>\nlosers. Numbers? Numbers worked in some cases where campaign strategies<br \/>\nutilizing demographics, population databases, sophisticated software<br \/>\nprograms and information mining like those used by the Democratic Party<br \/>\nin the 2012 presidential campaign that resulted in what should have<br \/>\nbeen an impossible win. Are we further ahead or less behind? The<br \/>\nRepublican Party declared the victor but will the citizens, those that<br \/>\nparticipated, volunteered enormous time and efforts in the days, months<br \/>\nand even years leading up to November be as victorious? If victory<br \/>\nmeans the return of our guaranteed freedoms, less intrusion and a move<br \/>\nto restore governance to it&#8217;s original intent then yes, we are<br \/>\nvictorious, but that is doubtful. Indeed, less behind.<\/div>\n<p>There was clearly grassroots efforts that made the difference in many<br \/>\nraces but like New York&#8217;s gubernatorial race, not so much. As I<br \/>\nparticipated in the efforts myself attending rallies, joining groups,<br \/>\nrunning for office, going door to door, displaying my displeasure with<br \/>\ncurrent administrations at my home and business, I was clearly not<br \/>\nalone in these efforts. But who joined me? Yes plenty and many of those<br \/>\nwere even more determined than myself but additionally there were those<br \/>\nthat claim opposition to the very benefits of big government they<br \/>\nenjoy. Government employees yelling stop but only after they&#8217;ve<br \/>\nretired. Union members crying foul but only after their contracts had<br \/>\nbeen settled with rock solid benefits and salary increases. Homeowners<br \/>\nthat scream stay away when they have subsidized solar panels on their<br \/>\nroof. Gun owners demanding their rights are being infringed upon but<br \/>\nonly after they have been denied purchase after a back-round check. Are<br \/>\nwe ready to endure what we claim to demand or are we too self righteous?<\/p>\n<p>The only way our promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness<br \/>\nwill ever return to reality is if &#8220;We the People&#8221; are truly ready to<br \/>\npractice what we preach. Self governance means to participate in that<br \/>\nprocess. Self reliance is not the same as self righteous. Greed is<br \/>\nfound through out our society not just for the rich one percent.<\/p>\n<p>Freedom isn&#8217;t free just like true independence won&#8217;t be easy.<br \/>\nOpportunity is the absolute cure for what we lack in our inner cities<br \/>\nand society but involves hard work, dedication and true determination.<br \/>\nProsperity is in the eye of the beholder when measured by needs versus<br \/>\nwants. Success will be for all to enjoy but not all will achieve. Are<br \/>\nwe truly prepared to get what we are asking for?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following is another Guest blog&#8230; this one from local business owner and Rensselaer County legislator, Todd Tesman. He posted it as a comment on my last blog entry, but I thought it deserved its own space. Some politicians are hacks, some&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Guest Blogger: Todd Tesman - In My Humble Opinion: Albany Political Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.albany.com\/imho\/2014\/11\/guest-blogger-todd-tesman\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Blogger: Todd Tesman - In My Humble Opinion: Albany Political Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following is another Guest blog... this one from local business owner and Rensselaer County legislator, Todd Tesman. 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