- Step 23 - establish a panel of smart Americans from various disciplines, excluding politicians, that would do a comprehensive analysis of the current energy situation facing the country today, identifying and quantifying the root causes, leading to the development of several alternatives for alleviating that problem, alternatives that would be voted on by the American public and implemented by the political class.
- Step 26 - establish a panel of smart Americans from various disciplines, excluding politicians, that would do a comprehensive analysis of the drug problem in the country today, identifying and quantifying the root causes, leading to the development of several alternatives for alleviating that problem, alternatives that would be voted on by the American public and implemented by the political class.
- Step 27 - establish a panel of smart Americans from various disciplines, excluding politicians, that would do a comprehensive analysis of the failing public school problems facing the country today, identifying and quantifying the root causes, leading to the development of several alternatives for alleviating that problem, alternatives that would be voted on by the American public and implemented by the political class.
- Step 28 - establish a panel of smart Americans from various disciplines, excluding politicians, that would do a comprehensive analysis of the rising health care cost problem facing the country, identifying and quantifying the root causes, leading to the development of several alternatives for alleviating that problem, alternatives that would be voted on by the American public and implemented by the political class.
- Step 29 - establish a panel of smart Americans from various disciplines, excluding politicians, that would do a comprehensive analysis of the failed immigration policies facing the country, identifying and quantifying the root causes, leading to the development of several alternatives for alleviating that problem, alternatives that would be voted on by the American public and implemented by the political class.
- None of these problems have been addressed by the ruling political class in America in at least the past forty years. Nixon declared war on drugs in the late 1960s and the drug problem has never been worse, especially when you consider the chaos below our southern border with Mexico. We lived through energy shortages with Carter in the 1970s and thirty five years later we still have no overarching and effective national energy strategy. During this time, we have allowed untold trillions of dollars to leave the country and build the prosperity of foreign countries. Although Reagan identified the core problems facing public education in the early 1980s, public education is still a failing proposition for many kids. There are at least ten million illegal immigrants in this country, not all of them just got here. Thus, we have had a failed or no immigration policy for quite some time. Bottom line, the current set of politicians have not solved anything over the decades.
- If you look back on our history as a nation, many of the large, positive changes were not implemented by politicians but by groups of dedicated, smart Americans, groups that knew how to analyze and solve problems based on their specialized education and background. Examples include the Manhattan Project that helped to end the second world war, the Apollo Moon Mission that allowed us to get to the moon first, the Grace Commission on Government Waste that at least temporarily slowed down wasteful government spending, the Social Security Commission that at least temporarily slowed down the approach of insolvency of the Social Security Administration, the Military Base Closing commission that allowed for wasteful or excess military bases to be shut down, and the 9-11 Commission that provided recommendations on how to improve the nation's security after the 9-11 attacks. In all cases, sitting politicians were removed from the vast majority of the decision process.
- As reported many times in this blog, the Federal wing of the political class does not know how to solve the big problems or does not want to solve the big problems, and thus, they work on such trivial legislation to regulate the sound volume of TV commercials, they work to eliminate the advertising of ED products on TV, they worry about how some people wear their pants too low, they spend time debating our college football should decide a national champion , and other non-important issues. This approach discussed above, using panels of smart Americans, is more proactive and puts the decision on what alternative to use in the hands of the people that need these problems solved, the voters.
- From a Constitutional perspective, although we would have Americans vote on what alternative plan they wanted for each crisis, Congress and the political class would probably have to be the final implementers of the plan, given the current structure of government we are working under.
Think about how much better life would be if just these five problems would be solved. Families would be comfortable knowing that their kids were getting a good education. Maybe crime would go down and we would be able to better treat fellow citizens with drug addiction problems. We would have a stable, efficient and low cost approach to health care costs and energy costs. We would have balanced the need for strong borders with a welcoming but selective immigration policy. Life would be pretty good. The best news is that the problems would have been addressed and solved, we would have done it ourselves, and would would not have to wait for the politicians to get around to it which is likely to never happen.
Getting back to the title of this post. "I Told You So...", a few recent publications indicate that maybe people are starting to see merit in this approach of using smart Americans, and not politicians, to solve our problems. In the April 5, 2010 edition of Business Week, writer Bob Nardelli suggested that an expert panel of smart Americans, in his case "business leaders who excel at making decisions that, despite budget constraints, drive growth and job creation", be created in order to alleviate the vexing question of lowering the unemployment rate. Despite spending untold hundreds of billions of dollars, the political class has been unable to reduce the unemployment rate. If you read the details of his suggestions and approach, it is very close to what was proposed in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" in that his panel would question, analyze, quantify and then propose viable and cost efficient solutions. The White House and Congress would only be overseers and check points, not wasters of time, resources, and money.
David Brooks of the New York Times, recommended a similar approach in his April 4, 2010 column as it pertained to the skyrocketing deficits. He would put together a panel of handpicked Senators and Congressmen and women and stick them in a room for six months to come up with a comprehensive and effective deficit reduction program, using whatever resources they needed and whatever ideas looked good. This would remove the whole decision making process from the traditional way of doing business that we all know has resulted in no solutions. Although he would use politicians to sit on "the panel", his explanation in the article, which I will not go into today, on how to make the process has work as tremendous upside.
The status quo is no longer acceptable. The current approach to solving problems in DC is no longer acceptable, simply because it does not solve problems. Nardelli, Brooks, and "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" present a way to get things done now and not several decades later.
Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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