Open Letter to Elected U.S. Congressional and Executive Officials:

Dear [Insert proper form of address for attendee of President Obama's Health Care Summit],

Today as one of our select elected leaders from either the executive or legislative branches of Government, including both houses of Congress and both political parties who meet for a full-day discussion on the state of Health Care and legislative action to address this national need; you once again contributed to the political farce that is our Government. Given the breadth and depth of political power that was represented in the meeting the public could expect to see the typical insight, understanding and intellectual might that such leadership has consistently demonstrated in the past. Yes, once again you enabled nothing of substance to happen. Everyone participating universally replayed sound-bites, made meaningless points, and delivered nothing informed or innovative to the discussion.

This outcome is not surprising, because it is the modus operandi for politicians when they have only one objective driving their actions: re-election; otherwise known as the retention of their privileged positions of power. This objective appears to drain all reason, responsibility and integrity from your character. But even given that, why are you individually and collectively so unperceptive and incapable of recognizing the one underlying fact that would release you from your self-imposed grid-lock of dis-service to America. What stupefying catatonic cause can you offer to explain your complete and utter failure to fulfill your duty, your oath, your promise to the country, state, district that placed their trust in you?

All you needed to do to serve you office faithfully was to present a position and proposal that identified the reason that the Executive and Legislative branches are unable to succeed with this issue is that it is beyond their skills and abilities. Solving the Health Care System’s problems is obviously not something that you, your staff, your lobbyists, or bureaucratic organizations are capable of accomplishing. Your solution then is to offer a solution that overcomes this fundamental flaw. You should proffer the following declaration:

Therefore, let it be resolved that the remedies for the failed or faltering Health Care System are to be undertaken by individuals who possess the talents and abilities to formulate innovate and sound approaches to first arrest the rapidly increasing cost of Health Care, and then to reduce the cost of Health Care as a percentage of the US economy. Further; these solutions will retain high-quality care, extend reasonable coverage to all citizens, and prevent fraud and abuse as key components to the operating principles of the system. Lastly, the plan created to achieve this goal will be presented to the legislative and executive branches for approval without amendment or alteration, and adopted or rejected by those bodies as they deem the proposals acceptable to fulfilling the above objectives.

Then the problems that you have to face are finding the individuals who have the requisite skills and abilities to creating the plan or plans that will provide a path to a sound and secure Health Care System for the United States, and who are not compromised by political or vested interests beyond serving the interests of the people of the United States. This will be a significant challenge, as it is unlikely that you will know of or be willing to find such individuals. But this approach has a better chance of success than the one you are on, since you have not even stumbled upon a single idea that will help solve the problem even though they are not at all difficult to find.

Sincerely, a consistently disappointed citizen.

Tiger, Tiger, Burning Blight

Yet another media circus occurred today. Tiger Woods held a press conference to apologize for his much televised marital failures and transgressions. In this instance the circus atmosphere was delivered by both Tiger Woods and the media, who collectively presented themselves as clowns and buffoons. Tiger was the lesser clown here where he merely came across as a stiff and puppet-ish character. His performance simply reflected someone who really isn’t a polished or comfortable public speaker; at least not when discussing topics outside his own turf. He apologized, asked for forgiveness and vowed to strive to do better. Tiger also implored the media to refrain from intruding into the lives of his wife, children and mother.

Now for the real clowns of the show. The media exhibited their well developed skills of trying to get the audience’s attention by any and every act that might be offered up to the lowest and basest interests that typifies the public’s insatiable appetite for repugnant behavior. I understand that there is a large proportion of the population that seems addicted to seeing other people’s failures and disgraces. But the media doesn’t just prostitute themselves when feeding this appetite, they cultivate it and enable it. You cannot completely blame them for acting this way, since they are paid and paid well to provide the muck to the masses.

And it is in the media’s efforts to squeeze every ounce of vile, vulgar, sordid and squalid measure of their audiences’ attentiveness out of such stories that demeans and disserves the public. To sensationalize these events beyond providing the simple story and facts is unworthy of a society that advocates individualism and striving to making your own way. These principles do not rely upon us degrading others and finding satisfaction in our judging their inferiority. Even if you think it is necessary and important to know about their problems and troubles, it is not necessary to fixate upon and foam at the mouth over every miniscule detail or salacious factoid that can be dug up in a never-ending quest for some way to keep an easily generated new item alive in the media, in order to titillate and arouse the schadenfreude in us all.

What is the point or value in asking people or “experts” if they think that Tiger is sincere in his apology? Is their opinion really of any value? If they agree that he is being real and honest, does that mean he is? If they are convinced that he is acting or lying just for his own benefit, do you think they have some special ability to know what may or may not be in his mind or heart? His apology is meant for you, not for the public-collective. You, and you alone, have to decide to accept or reject his apology based on the merit you see, feel and find in his effort. And you have to use your values in that judgment, including your belief in forgiveness and compassion for others; and from my perspective you have to be confident that you would want everyone else to treat you according to your principles is the same way.

As for the media, I hope that more people will reject the rubbish and putrid fare that they proffer as the best that they can bring to the public conversation. If this is the best that they can do then we should all be looking for quality and top-notch media providers; because you should not be settling for the dregs when the you can easily have the cream. Their success and power is completely granted to them by you. They only succeed if you are willing to pay them. And you do pay them. If you think that you don’t then consider who is if not you?

As for Tiger, he lost my respect and I won’t support him. But I will let him try and earn back my respect.

Politicians Are Special and Not To Be Treated Like Lesser Folks

It should not be a surprise to anyone that politicians are not ordinary typical citizens, nor should they be expected to be treated like run-of-the-mill members of society and certainly not held up to the same standards and legal obligations to which the rest of us are subject. Now it shouldn’t be a surprise, but apparently it is. I suppose that there are a couple of factors that produce this irrational mind-set in the public awareness of what is ‘right’, ‘fair’, and ‘just’. Perhaps I should say that this is due to our public schizophrenia about leaders, rather than the irrationality is behind our perceptions and expectations.

This topic surfaced in yet another news item about a political figure, albeit a in transitional politician, who somehow managed to forget to pay taxes. In this instance, it was Sarah Palin (hence the transitional adjective, as she is in her yet-to-be determine political future state) where she (and her husband) had somehow overlooked paying Alaskan Property Taxes on one of her properties. Given this news story there are the expected partisan positioning, accusations, blustering, and maneuverings to justify/explain or to impugn/question this action or inaction on her part.

My problem is that when these events happen to Republican or Democrats alike, that the public, media, and special-interest group reactions are inevitably more extreme, whether more harsh or lax, than would be expected for the more-common folk. Further, the repercussions to the politicians’ actions are equally unlikely to be on par with the consequences to the rest of us. And here is where it really gets absurd; the consequences for really important matters are oddly less severe, and the outcome of less relevant issues are usually vastly over-blown.

The problem of course resides with those of us who fall into the vast common folks category. In part it is due to obsessive allegiances to one or the other party, as if what behaviors and actions are right or acceptable based on the party that the politician is affiliated with. This is especially true of the individuals who make their incomes based on either party affiliation or ideological philosophy. It’s not that I don’t trust the motives of these people, I trust them absolutely. The problem I have with their motives is that they are self-serving and monetary. If you think they care about the issue, once again I maintain that you are the problem. As soon as the issue turn in a direction that does not help support their financial interests, they pivot to whatever position they need to, to insure that you are likely to continue to contribute to their bank accounts.

So given Sarah Palin did not pay her appropriate Property Taxes, I cannot see why there are two sides to the issue. There should only be one. As to which one you think this ought to be, I really don’t care. But when the next issue of this particular type shows up on the next politician (or ex-politician depending on how you view Sarah Palin) if you wind up on a different side of the coin, then I think you should be willing to stand up and say, “Yes, I am a hypocrite. It’s absolutely true that I really don’t care about fairness, rightness, or justice. I only care about judging people based on whether they agree with me or not. And I don’t really believe in the American principles of democracy and equality.”

Personally I believe that when a politician does something wrong, illegal, and immoral that you can be assured its because they are a politician (Democrat or Republican) and of course they are doing something wrong, illegal and immoral. It’s the only thing that politician do.

Can You Really Call It Juggling When It’s Only One Ball?

In today’s world, with all the mult-tasking and time-sharing that pervades our lives and work; why is it such a problem for our leaders to handle more than one challenge or task at a time? Are these guys that incompetent, that they cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.

OK, I understand that the Health Care Reform bill was a big, complex and difficult piece of legislation to manage through the arcane and bureaucratic processes that are necessary to create a bill that meets all the requirements of Congressional legislation. And I can see how a bill that will affect so many facets of and players in the Health Care industries will be difficult to construct. After all, every representative and Senator has to find ways to insert language and requirements that meet the needs of his or her own special interest groups. These elected leaders need to make sure that they have ear-marked funds to specific parties in their constituents’ areas for whatever nominal amount of wasteful spending they could get allocated; or directed funding to businesses so that they will be insured that they will be able to pay out really good bonuses to their executives.

And then everyone gets all excited about jobs on Main Street, and small businesses. And, yes I can agree that jobs are an important part of our economy and society; but are you telling me that while the House and Senate committees in Congress were working on the Health Care Reform bill that that was all that the legislative branch of Government could be attending to? And are you telling me that the President and every cabinet member, and every Government department and agency were inundated and focused only on Health Care Reform?

You and I both know that that is absurd. There are separate parts of the Government that are explicitly set up to oversee and concern themselves with Health Care Reform versus parts that would be focused on jobs. Furthermore, there are elements in the Government who are routinely required to integrate and advise on everything, like the Congressional Budget Office. They don’t just look at Health Care Reform exclusively, they are always looking at everything.

So why are the Democrats and Republicans all realizing that jobs is something that we need to do something about? What where they doing for the last year?

Someone needs to take their gum away!

A New Year, The Same Problems

The President gave a good State of the Union speech last night. It covered the gamut of problems facing the country. He strove to set forth the vision and goals that the country needs to pursue in overcoming its present troubles and regain the strength and robustness that America has attained before by the achievements of its citizenry. The problems facing the President and the country are not unusual ones, they are simply isomorphs of the same problems that America has faced before. That doesn’t mean that most of us alive today have experienced or dealt with the preceding instances of these problems, but these problems are not so new and unique that they would not be solved by remembering what it took to address them before. One of the most essential activities that is part of the solution is sacrifice. The reason that sacrifice is required to deal with our national problems is that at the root of these problems is our own foolish wasteful dissipation.

So given this problem of our own making, it cannot be a surprise that the only way out is going to be to take our punishment, pay our debts and start thinking about what the hell we are doing in and with our society.

Now we can look to our leaders to help us find our path, our resolve, and our courage to undertake this journey. And there is the biggest problem of all. Our leaders! These politicians that have done such a bang-up job to date to actually play a critical role in the creation of our problems. So we can surely expect that these fine men and women will work together effectively to provide the Governmental force to drive us forward.

Don’t hold your breath.

The Supremes Hit A Sour Note

The US Supreme Court made a major ruling today on campaign financing law. They restored the rights of corporations and labor unions to contribute funds on par with any other private citizen. The limitations that had been in-effect that restricted their contributions was deemed a violation of their free-speech rights. This decision reverses a century of Supreme Court established rules that was viewed as protecting the private citizens against the undue influence that corporations and labor unions could leverage against individuals with no-where near their resources. That interpretative view had persisted under Supreme Courts that favored Republican and Democratic appointed members.

So I want to join in with all the rest of you in celebrating this grand victory for the corporations. I have fretted for years at their lack of influence in Washington. Finally, they will be able to choose your legislators and leaders, I mean join with you in helping your choose them. No longer will they be excluded from the back-rooms and closed door meetings that you and I are allowed to attend and that they are not. Wait! I don’t remember any Administration task-force or any Congressional committee letting average citizens into their deliberations (or inequitable distribution of funding). Well at least, they have never let corporate and labor union leaders participate in such meeting either. We have never had to worry about nor heard about the improper influence that Congressmen or Administration officials have allowed corporations or labor unions.

I am sure that this day will be remembered and celebrated in coming years as a re-affirmation of free-speech and basic American rights just like we celebrate the 4th of July. That is if the corporations and labor unions what us to, otherwise they will have their personally selected politicians entertain us with some other critical and essential issue that is of no importance or impact to their interests. Of course, we free citizens can also contribute to the political campaigns of our preferred candidates, who will no doubt pay as much attention to our views as they will to the super-huge donors that are now free to express their views on what is important and what needs to be addressed in legislation and administration of our government.

I would like to have one thing changed in the system however. Since corporations and labor unions have equal status as individuals under the law that given the absence of a corporeal entity who is treated according to the same legal consequences that you or I would, that the CEO or President of these entities be held accountable to the same legal consequences that you or I would. So if the corporation or union was found guilty of a criminal action that would have you or I put to death then as the stand-in individual for these non-living citizens that they would be executed on the corporations’/unions’ behalf.

If this one rule were put in place then I suspect that corporate executives and union leaders would be vigorously advocating that they should not be treated as citizen-equals who can spend money that is not even their own to influence the politics of the country. I suspect that corporations and unions would be willing to trust in the wisdom and judgment of the citizenry and the electorate.

And now that I think of it, why aren’t corporations and labor unions already properly and adequately represented by the citizenry and electorate that well own and constitute these entities. Don’t these individuals already have the right to fund political campaigns and to exercise their right to free-speech?

Isn’t letting corporations and unions participate in politics given some people extra rights, above and beyond those of most other citizens? Is this really protecting my freedoms? Well, as long as I am one of the people benefiting from the advantage and getting more rights than the rest of you, it will be ok with me. Otherwise, no, I don’t approve.

Americans Selecting The Cave - Losing International Perspective

Are Americans increasingly thinking that the best approach to life is to retreat from international affairs? A newspaper item about a recently released Pew Research Center poll provides some indication that a sizeable portion of the current generation (30 and under) is of the opinion that America should “mind its own business internationally” and leave others to their own interests, and that we “should go our own way” without consideration of other nations’ agreement.

While this boiled-down and grossly over-simplified assessment of American opinion regarding how the US should deal with other nations is a broad brush view, it is undoubtedly a telling perspective of how the latest generation sees our place and responsibilities in the world. This generation has grown up in an era where the highly media-covered American efforts and actions abroad have for the most part been very unsuccessful. We get engaged in wars and conflicts that we can quickly bring to a military end, but are then unable to extract ourselves from ever extending follow-on situations where success not only evades us, but we begin to lose ground on the very victory that we thought we had attained. I am not just speaking of the wars in Iran and Afghanistan, but the general conflicts throughout the Middle-East, Africa and Southeast Asia. We have tried and failed to win our wars on Poverty, on Drugs, and on Crime. The current generation has lost ground in education, health care, job security and earning potential relative to the previous generation. And as a nation we are more dependent on foreign entities for oil & other resources, consumer and business goods, and economic stability (foreign investment). We are the greatest nation in the world, a true super-power that is suffering from a debilitating degenerative disease that is sapping our strength and will.

So given all these troubles and astonishing lack of successes, it is no wonder that people are starting to think that America could solve most of its problems if we stayed out of international affairs to the greatest extent possible and if we focused on going it alone doing it our way. This may be an attractive and easily understood approach to want to pursue; but it neither will nor could work out for us. It violates the basic reality that we do not live in an isolatable system.

First to be left alone and to leave others alone requires that the ‘others’ agree to allow you to be left alone. Now while this ‘just leave me alone’ approach has always worked out extremely well for everyone who previously used it, like the Aztecs, the native American Indians, the opening of Japan to the West in 1853, the Roman Empire to the Mongal horde just to mention a few. When someone else has an interest in what they view you as having, they rarely just leave you alone.

Next, the very greatness of America to a large extent is derived from the fact that people came to America to make a better life for themselves. They came to a place where the ‘rules that everyone lived by’ were not rigid and age-old traditions that you could not violate. People found new and better ways to do things and America prospered. We kept taking the next step, seizing the opportunities, enriching ourselves from our creativity, and opening doors that others did not even see as doors. To choose to close ourselves off from the ‘outside’ only limits our access to more opportunities to advance and prosper.

And then there is the most important reason of all to live in the real world. America was created and grew from a spirit that looked outward, that sought the distant horizon, and that truly reached for the stars. Shrinking back from what is hard and difficult, what everyone thinks cannot be done is not the American way. We may have lost focus and have gotten lazy, but to live we must choose to move forward or we accept that we are not the future and let other overtake us. Either we believe in ourselves and our affirmation that freedom and democracy are the only way that we will live; or we crawl away to our caves and leave the world to the fitter survivors to come. You can hide and die, or do and live. It’s your choice.