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This week Thomas Friedman wrote an editorial for the New York Times titled with this famous song by Buffalo Springfield. I could not stop myself from tuning my groove shark account to that famous song. Sadly, I am old enough to remember when it actually played on the radio. Paranoia strikes deep, my be a prophecy that is coming to age in the Wall Street protests, unemployment, default, and what Friedman calls "The Big Shift". Friedman is probably most famous for writing the book, "The World is Flat". This book along with the, you-tube video, "Did You Know" does a decent job of diagnosing the current world hysteria to the speed of change spurred by technology.

Those of you who have read my World History BLOG know that I do not agree that technology does that. Technology is the great equalizer. It can help us to accomplish things in a shorter time. It can stop a bully or increase our income. Over time all technology can do this. It is just in the short term that these types of change cause fear. Ron Paul may see this fear as liberty, but I understand why some people are slow to see the benefits when they are overwhelmed in the short term. Today I was changing the settings on the micro wave to heat my lunch. One of my colleagues was taken back when it looked like I was programming the microwave. This may seem trivial, but her reaction was not unusual. When I tried to explain what I was doing she was not interested in hearing me. She like many have found that the short cuts of technology may  save time in the short term, but in the long term many have found this to make more work for them. When people learn a time saver from technology they have a tendency to pack more into their time and can feel overwhelmed. Ignorance can be bliss or more importantly less work.

Last night I watched the #GOP #Econ debate. I liked the new format of a round table, and I enjoyed the commercials from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. I agree with Michael Smerconish, that perhaps they were the real winners of the debate. For those of you that did not see the debate, the ads showed children complaining how the deficit was going to affect them. I am the grandfather of five grandchildren. I am increasing worried about how our spending will affect their lives. I write this BLOG because I find it therapeutic to write my catharsis as I stop and ask; "hey, what's that sound, everybody look what's going round."

Mitt Romney was the other winner of the debate last night. When he said that he was trying to preserve the middle class he won me over. With out a vibrant middle class no country will stay great for long. Although "Mother Jones News" blasted him for the comment because he defined the middle class as people who make $200,000 I do not feel the same way. The heart of his message is sound. We do not need to concentrate on a flat tax, or elimination of the fed. We need to concentrate on protecting and expanding the middle class. Any policy that will do this is good and, medicine for our paranoia that runs deep. My only regret is that Jon Huntsman did not say it. I am still undecided on who I will vote for. I am not opposed to re-electing our president if he will preserve our middle class.

The middle class needs to be the cash cow that pays for our national security, and all the government services that we hold dear. If we can create tools with technology that expand the middle class, then we can preserve this great standard of living and export an economic system to others peaked in freedom, by balancing liberty with equality.