Another Leadership Opportunity...Missed

Leadership is like good advertising - tough to describe but you know it when you see it. However, examples of leadership usually include a few common characteristics like courage, sacrifice, inspiration, and boldness. We would hope the politicians running the country would display some type of leadership in these troubled times to give us at least a slim sliver of hope that they know what they are doing. However, that rarely happens and, unfortunately, with the filing of his taxes, President Obama missed a golden opportunity to act in a leadership mode for once.

But first, a little background. the President has shown this unhealthy obsession with revoking the so-called Bush tax cuts for those American families earning over $250,000 a year, claiming that they make too much money and they should pay more in taxes to help reduce the deficit. There are a number of troubling problems with his stance:

1) First, no one in any position of power in this country should say an American makes "too much" money if that American worked for it in a hard and honest way. This is the land of opportunity, if you can earn more than the average worker by being smarter or working harder, some politician should not be the arbiter of telling you that you make too much.

2) Second, the President never says that these increased taxes will be directly set aside to pay down the debt and the deficit. The increased taxes will just go to the government and the political class that operates it, which will undoubtedly spend it it on wasteful projects. He would have had a lot more credibility if he set up a virtual lock box for the increased taxes, forcing those increased revenues directly into a Treasury account whose sole purpose is to immediately pay down the debt. Giving it to the political class is no better than flushing it away.

3) Third, even if you raised taxes on those earning over $250,000 in 2011, it would hardly make a dent in the deficit. This year's deficit and the wasteful spending that goes into it will be about $1.5 TRILLION. If those American families earning more than $250,000 in 2011 were taxed at the pre-Bush tax cut level, which is only a few percentage points higher, only about $70 billion would be generated in tax revenue. Thus, if the President got his way, this year's deficit would be reduced by less than 5%, assuming that the politicians in Washington did not spend it.

Obama's obsession with this idea is nothing more than his typical class warfare, trying to energize his base, demonize a set of other Americans, for an end purpose that is trivial in the big picture. Denigrating high earners, giving politicians more money to waste, and ignoring bigger spending and waste issues that would reduce the deficit by far more than 5% is not operating from a leadership position. His obsession is not courageous, sacrificing, inspiring, or bold, it is Chicago style politics. However, wherever he goes, he continues to harp on this relatively minor issue.

Which brings us to his 2010 tax returns, the details of which come from an April 18, 2011 Associated Press article:

• The President reported income of $1.73 million in 2010, down from $5.5 million in 2009.
• He paid $453,770 in Federal income taxes, about 25% of his income.
• He made more than $245,075 in charitable donations, about 14.25 of his income, quite a healthy level of charity.
• His family had a $49,945 home mortgage interest deduction for their home in Chicago, indicating that they are not house poor by any stretch of the imagination.
• Not only are they not house poor, for four years they have no utility bills, no car insurance payments, no homeowners insurance bills, and no food bills. They are living the good life for sure.

However, the President missed a golden opportunity at leadership: what if he had overpaid his taxes to the tune of the pre-Bush tax cuts levels? Now that would have been bold and inspiring, he would have been walking the walk of his obsession, paying more in taxes since he obviously earns more than $250,000. He could have gone to the country and said: "Look, I am doing my part, paying more than I have to pay, paying more to the level of what I told the country they need to do."

But, alas, likely many other blown leadership opportunities, the President blew this one also. If my math is right the President and his family would have paid another $65,000 or so in Federal income taxes if he had operated from a position of leadership. And the U.S. Treasury would have accepted his gift of extra taxes and would have directed it to paying down the national debt. According to the Treasury's website, www.trerasuarydirect.gov, they have had a program for many years that allows Americans to contribute more than they legally owe to pay down the national debt.

The other interesting side note to this whole obsession is the assertion that the President has made more than once that the rich in this country "want" to pay more in taxes. He never provides a source for this data and conclusion, just asserts it as if it is a fact. His creditability takes another hit in this area if you look at the Treasury website cited above. In 2010, Americans intentionally overpaid their Federal income taxes, to help pay down the debt, by about $2.8 million. This comes out to less than $.01 per American. 

I find it hard to believe that rich Americans are dying to pay more in taxes, like the President claims, when less than $3 million a year is ponied up for that purpose. Heck, if only the President had paid to the pre Bush tax cut levels, he himself would have increased the annual size of this pot of money by more than 2%. Thus, I must conclude that even if the rich "want" to pay more in taxes, they certainly have not backed up that "want" with real money and neither has the President.

He filed his taxes just like every other American: not courageously, not with great sacrifice, not inspirationally, and not boldly. A missed opportunity at real leadership. But that should not surprise us. I cannot think of any instance in the past two plus years where he has acted any differently than how he acted on his taxes this year. Not one time where he stood up and faced down the hard choices that would make the country better, more unified, and got it moving in a positive direction. It is just his same old style, typical politics time after time.

Unfortunately, given these trying times, being timid, selfish, not inspirational, and leading from the rear is not what we need today. I will know leadership when I see it and everywhere on our political class horizon I am coming up empty.


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com

Jill Costello: Profile In Courage And Leadership, The American Political Class: Not So Much

I hesitated to do this blog post for a number of reasons. First, I could never do justice to the the fantastically written article the post is based on. The article is entitled "The Courage of Jill Costello" and was written by Chris Ballard. It appeared in the November 29, 2010 issue of Sports Illustrated. Second, I know my writing cannot do justice to the courage and leadership that Jill Costello exhibited during her lifetime. Third, I really hesitated to compare Jill Costello to the behavior of our political class in the same article, the chasm of leadership and courage between the two is unbelievably wide.

However, I decided to go ahead anyway, with apologies up front, if I do not capture the fine writing of Chris Ballard or the courage and leadership impact of Jill Costello.

Jill Costello was a 21 year old junior and a coxswain on the crew team at the University of California when she was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, the most advanced form, even though she had never smoked a cigarette in her life. The survival rate is about 15% for this type of cancer. The article describes the fight that Jill put up against the cancer:

• She put up with 14 rounds of chemo treatments.
• She put up with radiation treatments.
• She put up with aches and extreme fatigue
• She put up with night sweats, skin sensitivity, puffy cheeks, liquid retention, her abdomen swelled, and her ankles and feet swelled up so much that she could not wear shoes.
• She was weak and susceptible to the smallest illnesses such as a common cold that could lead to pneumonia in her weakened condition.
• She took an untold number of pills.
• She self injected herself with anticoagulant that always resulted in an instant new bruise.
• After many chemo sessions she was so weak that she could barely stand on her own.
• She continued her studies at Cal, attaining a 4.0 in her final semester despite having to use a powered cart to get to classes.
• She graduated with her class at Cal.
• She never stopped dreaming of getting back to the Cal crew team as the coxswain in one of their boats.

What impact did Jill have on other people while she was undergoing debilitating treatment:

• She organized a charity run which attracted 5,000 people and raised more than $320,000.
• She spoke at Genentech, a cancer research firm.
• She exchanged emails with a half a dozen cancer patients around the world.
• She was interviewed on NPR as a spokesperson for those lung cancer patients who never smoked.
• When returning from treatments, Jill and her family found mounds of food deposited on their doorstep from friends.
• Her teammates, who had all scattered and left school for the summer when she was diagnosed, remotely put together two videos which they send to her to lift her spirits.
• At the beginning of the spring season, her teammates went out for a two mile run and when they returned they had taken off their sweatshirts to reveal tee shirts that read "Cal Crew Cancer Killers."
• While she was in France looking for a treatment and cure, her teammates shed their traditional Cal uniforms for their race with their most heated opponent, Stanford, and wore special uniforms in Jill's favorite color with the Cal bear logo replaced with a silhouette of Jill. Where the word "Cal" typically was on their uniforms, "Jill" had replaced it. Needles to say, Stanford never had a chance.

Now back to her dream of returning to a Cal boat. On May 16, Jill got into the Cal varsity eight boat, and despite a bloody nose that developed in the middle of the race, led the Cal women's crew team to a victory over Stanford which allowed Cal to become the 2010 Pac-10 champions. On May 19, Jill found out that there would be no cure for her condition, the treatments had not stopped the growth of the tumors in her lungs, bones, and liver.

Despite the bad medical news, she spent the next week or so like a regular coxswain would have and went about the duties of any coxswain. And despite her condition, Jill got into the Cal varsity eight boat and led her team to a second place finish in the nationals. Less than a month later, Jill Costello passed away.

What an incredible story. Jill Costello's courage and leadership is probably unparalleled in any story I have ever heard. She was focused on having a positive impact on the world and her teammates, despite constant and excruciating pain. As a leader, she made others around her better in what they did and who they were. She made courageous decisions to train and race and support her teammates despite chronic pain and fatigue, pain and fatigue that most others would have succumbed to and taken the easy way out. She was a leader in so many ways, focused on positively impacting those immediately around her and many, many more that she probably never met. Unbelievable.

Now, not to diminish this outstanding young lady's fortitude and positive attitude, when was the last time any of Jill Costello's adjectives were used to describe our political class:

• Courage - rarely, if ever, do you find a courageous politician. They will hide behind the spin doctors and campaign managers lest they dare to take a stand that might irritate a voting block. Always best to take the easy way out to avoid the pain and fatigue a courageous decision might entail
• Leadership - rarely, if ever, do you see a politician stand up and tell the country the hard truth about what is reality and then lead the country to face that hard reality. Better not to endanger their re-election chances, the good of the country be damned.
• Focus - when has our political class ever focused on anything? The 40 year old war on drugs is still a losing battle, the 30 year search for a coherent energy policy is still lost in  the woods, we still having a failing public school system, our borders are a joke when it comes to illegal immigration, and a whole slew of problems never get fixed. No focus, no solutions.
• Make Those Around You Better - politicians have called segments of Americans some ugly names over the past two years including racists, un-American, Neanderthals, members of the Klan, "the enemy" and other denigrating names. If we had any Jill Costellos in our political ranks, they would not allow this behavior to occur. A leader would make all of us better people and citizens, like Jill did to those around her and around the world. Our politicians would rather run down others for their own cheap political gain.
• As we sit here today, our politicians are arguing over how to tax rich Americans, a decision that will have minimal impact on a $13 TRILLION national debt. They denied a bid to relieve all of America's small business owners the burden of filing massive and useless paper work associated with the health care reform legislation, not because it was a bad idea, but because they did not have the courage to find and cut $18 billion from a $3.5 TRILLION budget, a .5% cut. Thus, their lack of courage will burden millions of American small businesses for no reason. They are bickering about how to cut the out of control deficit spending since none of them wants to be a true leader and accept the political hits that might occur despite what might be best for the country. No courage, no leadership, no focus.

I wish I knew Jill Costello, Chris Ballard writes about an outstanding young woman. I also wish our politicians knew her,  knew her fortitude, knew her focus, knew her compassion, knew her courage, and knew her leadership. I also wish they would start acting in her spirit for the good of the country, even if it is painful and fatiguing and has downsides to their own personal political careers.


Our recent 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. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/