Flutterby™! : Cubano Politcs 2013-10-23 12:38:58.813171+00

Cubano Politcs

2013-10-23 12:38:58.813171+00 by meuon 2 comments

On this trip I ran into "Joe", a proud politically active ex-cuban whom is proudly a little right of center. Spent a couple of solid hours talking with him. Listening mostly. He summed up something I hadn't understood: Why the cuban/latin culture in S. Florida was so Republican. "We've lived under communism, we came here to get away from it".

While I didn't agree with all of Joe's (Jose?) ideas, I was impressed with his concepts of ethics, his passion and breadth of knowledge. It was the most enjoyable 2+ hours I've spent in an airport. He's considered running for local Miami elections, but like many of us had a good time as a young man and fears he would not be electable. I'd vote for him. He also said many interesting/good things about Marco Rubio (Senator from Florida), and I need to do some research. I loved his spiel about how he was much less corrupt that other Miami politicians and then went on a rampage of the things others have been arrested for.

It really made me miss Friday "chia" lunches with Dan and friends, talking politics, religion, sex, technology, life...

Yes. I totally miss the wide-ranging discussions and varied opinions. I totally miss people well informed on a variety of esoteric issues. I have a few people with whom I have these sorts of discussions in real life, but it never happens as a part of a larger group. And the various online forums that these used to happen on have gradually withered, Twitter is not an acceptable substitute.

Randy Nelson, then of Pixar's Pixar University, used to say "we hire interested people, not interesting people". Chia lunch was a gathering of passionately interested people.

I also love politicians who are proud of being less corrupt than their obviously completely corrupt opponents.

I've tried to start groups like "Chia" several times since moving away from Chattanooga but it hasn't happened. I think "Chia" may have been unique requiring its time period, its setting and, most importantly, its people in our own unique stage of life that we were in at that time.