I like the idea of a country having semi-autonomous states. But, the problem is that people in the respective states are opposed to each other on political grounds. The urban areas tend to be left leaning and the remote areas tend to be more republican.

Having people who oppose each other in every part of America has led to tremendous conflict. I don’t think that the left can reeducate the right into “correct” thinking, and I don’t think that Republicans and Libertarians can convince the left to subscribe to the idea of basing opinions on facts and reasoning either. My solution is to have areas committed to particular ideologies.

Traditionally, Texas was a right leaning state. However, due to all of the migrations of West Coast people to other states (often for tech jobs) the state of Texas will eventually turn left. There are many states that are swing states whose political future is uncertain.

I think it might be easier to have parts of states (rather than entire states) with well defined boundaries define themselves into one of several categories. Far left, soft left, moderate, soft right, hard right, libertarian, green, lenient on drugs, lenient on felons, white is right, black is right, or uncategorized. This way people could choose to live in areas where others share their sensibilities in some basic ways. That would eliminate clash.

Additionally, it would make sense if these “areas” had constitutions that hardcode specific types of policies in a way that cannot be undone unless they got a 90% vote. The left leaning areas could mandate a minimum wage equal to exactly half of whatever the median income in that area was. The right leaning areas could have a ban on minimum wage and no rules for registering firearms. The green zones could require that a particular percentage of their energy come from particular sources, and that could be programmed to gradually evolve to a higher percentage over time. The “Black is Right” areas could cater to black business ownership. The white is right area could cater to creating better BBQ sauces. Additionally the left leaning areas could keep schools closed 11 months a year if God forbid there is a disease that only kills the elderly — that makes sense, right?

Using this system, although we still might disagree about Federal leadership, at least we would be somewhat on the same page with our neighbors. And if you don’t like the basic policies of one type of areas, rather than voting to change it, you could move to another area that supports your ideology. Perhaps over time there could be different variations on policies in the various states so you could get that perfect mix of policies in some particular place.

For me, I love Los Angeles, so even though politically it is opposite of what I believe in, at least the weather is good and there is great food and lots of activities. And the things I don’t like about Los Angeles are mostly nationwide problems. The only way to escape wokism is to move to Wyoming or South Dakota and there is not a whole lot going on there.

The Lakota people believe that tribal or clan decisions should have unanimous consent. That way you function as a people. Those who cannot go along with the group traditionally broke off and created their own bands. Although the Lakota clans fought with other tribes, they were on the same page with each other and survived as a nation for hundreds of years. One Lakota elder (the late) Russell Means thinks that the USA cannot survive as a nation because we have no culture, and we are all doing our own thing and have no common ideology. I think he has a point and that point has never been as well understood by myself until today.

I had been dreaming of going to South Central (The Hood) to sample Salvadorian food. I had not been in about 15 or 20 years since I was doing notary work. It used to be a black area, and then it turned into a Salvadorean area. That is how Los Angeles is. Pretty soon the whole city will be Salvadorean…. or perhaps Honduran if the refugee crisis continues. I have been wanting to do this for two years, but never had time.

After my chiropractic appointment on Friday, I had this thought that I should “just do it” even though I would risk sounding like a Nike commercial. So, I went food tasting in Larchmont first. I had my blueberry banana smoothie to get my fruit and berry energy for my health regimen. Then I sampled a piece of lemon cake and chocolate from a cafe. This was in a very poche part of town. Then I went down Western. The traffic was the worst I’ve seen in years. I inched my way down block by block. There was very little to see and no restaurants worth visiting. By this time I was pretty deep in the hood.

Then, a tiny waft of marijuana smoke came in my window — from where, it is unclear. I felt a drugged experience immediately. But, not a marijuana experience. I can’t describe it. I didn’t like it. But, I don’t do drugs and I was sober. It was a heavy, low and distorted feeling. I felt slightly dehydrated and mildly lightheaded as well. After that I felt terror. I had no idea why. I didn’t see that many people on the sidewalk, but the one I saw looked very drugged out. I felt that I was in the wrong place, but thank God during the day. I wanted to get out — and fast. So I turned left and it got more normal again. I drove East and started feeling normal again, then drove North, and then down Vermont. There was a good Asian noodle spot near the university, but they were closed and there was no parking anyway. Vermont was slow going South as well and there was nothing good to see.

After I got back, my psychic said that some 11 year olds were being drugged very close to where I was driving, and they were hired to kill someone. That is why I felt what I felt. I thought the hood was safe now. But, according to the psychic, I shouldn’t be down there …. at all.

So, I guess I am very sensitive to pick up on what other people are doing at least from the vibration. This experience was sort of paranormal, and very disturbing. But, nothing bad happened. I learned never to drive around Los Angeles Friday afternoon. It is terrible. But, Sunday is a good day, and if I ever do another food tour, I will try it then. My papusa dining experience will have to wait!

Many people commanded me to “stop writing about politics.” They really consider themselves to be my personal boss. However, my Biden article about turning mobile notaries into employees or putting them out of work altogether was my most popular article in the last year which proves my point. If people claim they HATE my article, that proves it got at least 3000 clicks while most of the rest of the stuff I wrote seems to get almost completely ignored.

One notary wrote in:
“U-O We have All-Caps-Yelling. I think the way the USA is headed is something to discuss as Notaries Public. Seems the ones who don’t want to discuss this are the ones who don’t want the Truth. It is Not about Politics It’s about a free capitalist society where we can earn a living w/o Gov control. YAY for you Jeremy.”

MY COMMENTS
I spent my entire life not caring much if at all about domestic politics. The only reason I care now, is because the leftists have given themselves permission to butt into my personal life and make it miserable. I was not allowed to go to a restaurant for roughly an entire year, and now I still cannot sit at a bar. If you want to be “safe” then all the most power to you. But, you don’t have the right to tell me where I go and what I can do and then to bash me for talking about politics when I defend my rights.

This is not about politics, it is about basic civil rights which never used to be a political issue. All Americans used to value rights — but, something has changed recently and now Americans are anti-Freedom, anti-democracy, and only like the word democracy when it is used in some twisted way to support some bizarre leftist agenda.

If the politicians would let Notaries do what they like, and let people hire and fire according to their own contracts then I wouldn’t have anything to say about politics in this blog — other than jokes. But, this is no joke. It is real, and in California many have permanently left the state specifically because of this issue. Freelancers moved to Arizona not because they have any love for Arizona, but because they could get freelance work there and continue to make a living.

It is so interesting that the majority of those who comment are violently angry with me for supporting the idea of a free America. Maybe you should all get together and create a 2nd America where nobody has any freedom or ability to make a living — you’ll be very happy there I’m sure — until you come to your senses which might take a very long time.

Many Notaries ask me how to find a Notary mentor. I used to know people who did teaching and mentoring. But, they are all getting so old. I don’t know who to recommend. There are several issues here.

ISSUES WITH MENTORS

1. If you get a mentor who is near where you live, you represent competition for them. Even if they are the best in the world and you are brand new, you will eventually get better and take some market share from them.

2. If you get a mentor who is far, then how will you ever be able to meet with them?

3. Ideally, you want a mentor who is about an hour away so you are not in direct competition with them.

4. When I call people who are being mentored, whenever I ask about their skill set, they immediately tell me all about what their mentor knows and how great their mentor is. That is all very wonderful if I am going to hire their mentor, but not if I am going to hire the new Notary. Answer questions about you based on you. If you know nothing, be up front about that otherwise you would be a very slippery person who knows nothing vs. an honest straight forward person who knows nothing. People who hire notaries can see through all of this type of BS and none of us have patience for it or like it. Real answers to real questions please.

HOW TO FIND A MENTOR

NNA used to publish a list of mentors. I don’t know if they still know people who do this.

You can call the most experienced notaries on 123notary and see if any of them will help you. You could call local ones, or people far away with high placed listings.

The NNA claims that social media is a good place to find a Notary mentor. Facebook groups, forums, etc. I tend to agree with that idea. However, people who are busy and successful don’t always show their face on social media because they are too busy working so that they can keep being successful. Meanwhile, people who are not at all successful often spend all of their time on social media, sometimes bashing other people who spend their lives being productive (especially in the notary world.) Carmen and I are very familiar with that type of social media user.

Carol Ray knows many people in the business and might be able to help. She runs Notary2Pro which is an agency that trains Notaries.

Asking leaders of notary organizations (other than myself) might be a great idea. I know people who teach or used to teach, but I don’t know if they are mentors. I just emailed a few to ask if they do it or know anyone who does it. But, the various leaders of Notary organizations might know all sorts of people doing all sorts of things and there are many organizations out there.

HOW TO SCRUTINIZE A MENTOR

Not all people are experts at all things and not all experts are available or helpful. So, how do you find a good mentor? You could find someone 1000 miles away who is good at answering questions. But, that doesn’t help when you want to shadow someone. On a brighter note, if someone doesn’t want you shadowing them, they have to tell you to your face as you can’t “shadow ban” someone who is with you in person. You should ideally either have a company who can micromanage you and walk you through your first several signings, or find a local mentor you can tag along with for three to ten signings.

The mentor should know:
1. Local notary laws
2. Signing agent procedure
3. How to handle situations
4. How to explain the documents, initialing, the right to rescind, document recording, and basics about title, escrow, and lending.

Since you presumably don’t know anything about signing work or situations, you can see if that person knows how to be a good notary at a minimum. But, you won’t know if they are a good signing agent since you don’t know what to ask them to verify that information. You can ask questions about various notary signing topics and see how thorough or intelligent the answers are. However if you are at the stage where you are ready for a mentor, YOU need to be an expert at your state notary law yourself. If you are going to use your stamp even once, you could end up in big trouble if you do something wrong — so know your stuff!

It would be a little like me hiring someone to be a rocket scientist — I wouldn’t know what to ask them since I know nothing about rocket science.

IF YOU ARE A MENTOR
If you actually are a mentor and are willing to deal with new people and their insecurities, you can respond to this blog post! Additionally, if you know where to find a mentor, shares your comments as well.

Somebody wrote a very interesting comment on a blog post a few days ago. She said she would prefer to be in a bad neighborhood than in a good area with sex offenders.

But, I think her comment makes no sense. Sex offenders could be anywhere and tend to be anywhere. The question is, under what circumstance would they do something to you?

If you were on the bus, would they start molesting you? I’ve heard stories. If you are walking down the street, would they start following you or making comments? If you are in a bathroom, would you be safe?

The fact is that I don’t know where sex offenders normally do their offending. I know that date rape is common. I think sex offenders tend to do their magic when they already have you behind closed doors.

So, if you are doing notary work in a good neighborhood, the only thing you have to worry about is the signers being sex offenders, and perhaps getting into an accident.

If you were in a bad neighborhood, you would also have to worry about the signers being sex offenders, getting into an accident, and being killed by the local gangs or crack addicts. I think there is more that can go wrong in a bad area.

SUMMARY
Being in a good neighborhood does not increase the chance of being confronted with a sex offender. On the other hand, it doesn’t decrease that chance either. There is no way to know if you are around sex offenders because they don’t walk around with a sign on them telling the world that they are sex offenders. But, if we lived in an ideal world, perhaps they would — or better yet, there wouldn’t be any sex offenders in an ideal world unless you are a 60 year old woman whose husband ignores you and you dream day and night about encountering a sex offender. It happens, but only in jokes written by Eastern European females.