Wanting it all both ways...

Whether it's discussions about the state or federal budgets, the use of American troops in Libya, or a job search, it seems like we all want things both ways.
In the case of the budget, everyone wants a budget to be balanced. No one wants our government (whether local or national) to spend more of our money than it takes in, but no one is willing to give up what he or she already has to make it happen. Rather, the preference is to have someone else give up what THEY have... because, as we all know, you can't have everything!
In Libya-- critics of the US intervention say it's both too little too late, and too soon (without Congress' undoubtedly lengthy arguments over should we or shouldn't we) and too much. No one wants Ghaddafi to slaughter thousands of his own people-- particularly if we can stop it from happening. Yet, with two on-going wars, no one wants to get involved in a third. So we go in to Libya, probably too late to avoid a stalemate, and try to have it both ways.
As I've searched for jobs on and off over the last year, I've begun to think employers want it both ways, too. They have a need to fill-- and describe the person they'd like to fill that need with required levels of education, experience and personal skills. They want someone with experience, but not enough experience to be a threat to those already employed there. They want someone who is creative and can "think out of the box," but end up hiring the person who did exactly the same job somewhere else-- not exactly thinking outside the box themselves. They can't ask about a person's marital status or family, but clearly would rather hire an unencumbered younger person than a middle-aged worker with a family.
I want it both ways, too. I want to have a fulfilling career AND time for my family. I want to "be there" for my kids, and be everything to my employer. People talk about "balance," as though it were something that--like the tree pose in yoga-- you can achieve with patience and practice... But my fear is that in wanting it both ways, you get none of it.