An Our Insane World “Shortie”

This is surely something to be marveled at, especially in light of the way the far left would have you think the country is going to hell in a hand basket. Want to bet that we won't hear much about this in the press or the media, but for a few outlets that do balance the news?

Remember, Bush took office just before 9/11, and we've been at war against terrorism ever since, including conflagrations in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is a mighty big reminder of just how strong the US economy really is, what tax breaks did for the poor as well as the middle class and wealthy, and why the doom-and-gloomer liberal elite need to take the next raft to Cuba, or anywhere else but here for that matter, and stay there.

From the Wall Street Journal Online New Alert ...

NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal
Aug. 29, 2006

The Census Bureau reported that 37 million Americans were living below the poverty line last year -- about 12.6% of the population. That's down from 12.7% in 2004, but census officials said the change was statistically insignificant. The median household income was $46,300, a slight increase from 2004.

Last year was the first year the poverty rate hadn't increased since before President Bush took office.

2008 Elections: Expect More, and Get It

The 2006 Congressional Elections will soon be upon us. This means that shortly thereafter, regardless of the outcome, the real run for the 2008 Presidential Election begins. Yes, I know, two years of all the double talk, spin, deflection, and backstabbing seems interminable.

However, we can make this an interesting two years, but it requires a paradigm shift in attitude, voice, and tenacity.

WE NEED TO ASK FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION FROM THE CANDIDATES AND EXPECT THEM GIVE US STRAIGHT, NO NONSENSE ANSWERS.

What do I mean by this?

Well, we’ve all seen politicians, candidates for office or candidates for reelection especially, who are asked a question but act as if it were never asked and talk about something that they feel more comfortable talking about, or about something that they feel they need to get into the debate to make themselves look better. Spin, dodge, deflect.

This is unacceptable, and needs to be stopped.

We need to pressure politicians to answer our questions, and be obstinate about getting them. We need to ask deeper, more penetrating questions.

They need to cater to our needs for information, not their need to get their packaged, spun, poll-guided message across. We need to eliminate “message” from their vocabulary, and have them think in terms of concrete plans, concrete actions, and core beliefs. We need to get under their skin, crawl around a bit, and determine, for ourselves, what they’re all about. If they waffle, we should boot them.

For example, we should ask every Presidential candidate who they would select as their cabinet if elected.

When a candidate criticizes another candidate, or a past action from the current President or past Presidents, we should expect them to tell us what they would do, or what they would have done in a similar situation. We should ask them to justify this by citing past action and speech that would make us believe that this is truly the way they would have acted … and not just an answer that they’ve figured out the American public wants to hear at that moment based on polling results.

We should expect candidates to fully explain poor decisions made by them in the past. We should not allow them to change their minds or waffle … we should make them take a stand and support it. If they made a bad decision they need to own up to it, and not spend time blaming someone, or something, else. The buck needs to stop with them. We need to expect them to take personal responsibility.

We should criticize candidates that will not be straightforward and direct in answering questions. They should be penalized by not getting our vote. And, we should tell them so!

We need a deeper understanding, heard over and over, of what a candidate will do … what their detailed plans are once they get to office. Who they’ll surround themselves with. What they want to accomplish in four years.

With that, we’ll be able to grade them and know if they are worthy of a second term should they be elected.

It’s time we made running for Presidential office the serious matter that it is, rather than the side show that it has become.

And, the media should also be held accountable for asking these tough questions, regardless of the candidate’s party affiliation. They’ve enabled this culture of spin, and they need to stop it.

If not, we should cancel our subscriptions and turn off our TVs.

A Strategic Plan for the US … Why isn’t there one?

Every business in the world has a strategic plan. Every business has a vision of where it wants to be in 5 to 10 years. Every business knows who its target market is, what the needs of this target market are, what it wants to provide this market in terms of products and services to satisfy these needs, and how it is going to make money (profits).

No publicly traded company (one who issues common stock) would be allowed to operate without a strategic plan. The plan is typically generated by senior executive management, approved by the board of directors (boards), and then operational (tactical) plans are put in place to accomplish the objectives of the strategic plan.

Boards can then use the plan as both a road map for approving each and every aspect of company spending and investment, as well as grade the executive management team on its performance.

Most small companies also have strategic plans. I own a small business and we do.

Why then do we allow our government to operate solely on an annual budget?

THERE IS NO STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE US GOVERNMENT!

This thought hit me one day as I was thinking about the gridlock we often see in our Federal and State governments. Nothing of any merit really gets accomplished. If it does, it’s a rarity. Very rare.

The problem we have today is government gets hung up on issues … they spend their time arguing about tactics for political gain rather than work to accomplish any objective other than getting reelected. Just look at the “Nuclear Option” insanity, stalled Campaign Finance Reform, the posturing and positioning over the Iraq war. It’s not hard to identify the problem. There is no common direction, no road map from where we are to where we want to be, no guidelines for decision-making.

Why aren’t we demanding a fix?

Imagine if you will a government that sets strategic objectives, with concrete goals, for the most important aspects of our lives. This would include things like health, education, safety, defense, environment, social services, trade, foreign relations, finance, just to name a few.

Imagine if you will a government that set quantified goals to be reached for these areas. For example:

* To be debt free (no National debt) within 20 years.
* To always operate with a balanced budget (no budget deficits) within 5 years.
* To have a fully-funded social security system within 10 years.
* To improve life expectancy by 1 year every 10 years.
* To reduce greenhouse gases by .5% a year.

You get the picture. These are just examples.

This plan would be generated by a combination of representatives from the 3 branches of government. Maybe by also forming a “great minds” group outside of government to inject new ideas. It would be easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to measure every decision taken against such a plan. It would be no more than 100 pages, all inclusive, with no fine print.

The plan would be updated annually as progress is made, new obstacles are encountered, new important matters arise, or old matters become irrelevant.

State governments could build their strategic plans to do their part to help the Federal government accomplish these goals, and to help themselves accomplish their own regionalized goals.

Maybe we’d once again return to a time when our representatives in government feel it’s an honor to serve their constituencies, work for the good of all American people, abolish pandering to special interests, and get America back on track.

This, of course, takes leadership, negotiation, compromise, and a sincere willingness to work together for the common good. Fat chance many of today’s elected representatives would volunteer to get on board what I’ll officially name:

“The US Federal Government Strategic Plan Initiative”

I’m very interested in your comments on this idea. I would propose that if your elected representatives are not amenable to such a radical change in the way government works you do your best to vote in someone who does … as quickly as possible.

This is a topic that deserves more attention in the future.