The Nations Problems-Now Listed For Action

One of the most discouraging items of this problem ridden recession has been the feebleness of the Government’s low energy attempt at fixing the problems. There is a characteristic dance. Democrats propose a greatly lobbied-down correction. This is criticized by a bloc of Republicans. The democratic response to the criticism is to then forget the whole idea and disappear. In spite of the seriousness of the times essentially no action has been taken by Congress.

The nation therefore essentially has given up on the Washington elected government. Neither the Democrats nor Republicans seem to have any driving concern for the citizen welfare. We have been left alone with a large and unanswered need to restore the economy and prepare our country for future global competition.

There is a long list of critical tasks. Some examples are:

Restore a weakened manufacturing sector and balance our trade

Regain control of the financial sector and return it to its proper role

Resolve the paradox of a deteriorating infrastructure with the large unemployment of construction workers

Provide all citizens with an education opportunity suitable for future global competition

Develop an immigration policy that will strengthen the US

Control corporate special interest influences on legislation

Adjust the Department of Defense to reflect changes in threats and warfare.

Establish an equitable trade agreement with China

Somehow gain a functional Congress.

The State of the Union address was a pleasant surprise. Finally the President identified the problems and explicitly recognized actions aimed at addressing them. He pleaded for congressional cooperation and promised to take the issue directly to the people of the country if no cooperation was forthcoming. Let us hope.

A CBS poll taken at the completion of the presentation showed unheard of approval Ninety one percent (91%) of the citizens that heard the speech favored taking the actions discussed.

A Gallup poll analyzed the proposed actions item by item and also showed how strongly the public favored the proposed actions.

The suffering and disillusioned public is begging for action. So far this Congress has taken none. It is doubtful that the current Congress will change its useless ways. Hopefully the items will be brought up item by item so the voters can observe the votes and take appropriate action on Election Day.

Then perhaps the restoration of a great country can begin

American Jobs Act Update

On September 5, 2011, after over 2 yr years of recession and 14 million citizens still unemployed the President announced a $447 billion American Jobs bill which included $140 billion in infrastructure construction work. On September 13 this blog applauded the bills’ focus for finally providing direct help to the middle class. We concluded, however, that it could only pass the current Congress if forced to by strong public support.


On September 20, 2011 Gallup released the results of a detailed public opinion poll on the citizen’s response to the bill. It was overwhelmingly favorable for the bill. The infrastructure element was favored by 72% of the citizens polled. A blow-out 80% favored an accompanying tax deduction for small businesses. The reference covers the results by element and political party affiliation.

It is now October 5 and in spite of numerous presentations by the President the bill has not been submitted to either house by party leaders. No target dates have been set. (Of course, the Congress did have a week of vacation to get in). On Sept 28 the Democrats announced that they don’t have the votes for passage in the Senate and won’t bring the issue to a vote until they do. Republican leaders in the house have called the bill “campaigning” and have not announced a date when they would bring it up for debate,--if they do it at all. Today they announced it DOA.

With trillions of dollars worth of infrastructure work to be done and 14 million American citizens out of work you would think that leaders of both parties would be all over each other to work out a plan. They should want to flood the country with projects that would get the citizens off unemployment and back to value-added work. But you would be wrong.

The question is why would the US Congress prefer to write unemployment checks and watch our infrastructure crumble than provide productive value-added work to its citizens? My only observation is that this is the expected behavior of our current Congress. This is exactly why the latest Gallup poll shows citizen approval of Congressional job performance is down to13% and 9% with Independents.

There are many studies which point to the benefits of an immediate national infrastructure plan. On March 5, 2011 the New America Foundation released a widely distributed evaluation estimating that our inadequate infrastructure was costing the nation more than $192 billion a year in wasted fuel consumption, lost time, additional handling and other delays. As a specific example, this article by USA Today discusses the waste and additional costs that inadequate infrastructure is causing the grain export business.

It is apparent that there are ideologues and special interests that do not want the act to pass, but in view of the public support are afraid to be seen voting against it. Hence every delaying trick available will be pulled to avoid a vote.

What can the citizens do to force a vote when Congress refuses to even consider an issue that is so important to the citizens? Although national referendums are common in municipalities and states there is no mention of them in the constitution. (The Founding Fathers apparently never considered the possibility of incompetence at the level we now have.) In the short term we have only the advisory force of public opinion as determined by the countless political polls. In the longer term we have our 2012 election where we have the opportunity to replace all of the Representatives and one third of the Senators.

Keep up the pressure. What are your representatives doing?

Lets Call a Temporary Truce and Solve the Real Problem

Our Founding Fathers gave us a state-of-the-art governing structure that allowed us the opportunity to build a country like none before. It enabled a system that for the first time could focus on the welfare of its citizens rather than an elitist ruling class.

We were expected to use our best talents within the structure to “establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and to secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our Posterity”, There was a lot of hard work ahead but the enthusiasm for the vision was there to tackle it.

Over the following 200+ years we successfully conducted a continual battle against domestic and foreign forces that would destroy that vision. Although there were ups and downs most Americans felt that progress would allow their children to inherit a country that offered increasing blessings of liberty along with a continuing improvement in general welfare. We became a very special nation that was an example to the world.

This progress has come to a screeching halt. The citizens feel shock and deep disappointment after the disheartening discovery that both the elected government and many sectors of the private economy have no interest in the Founders’ vision for America. They have led a period of governance that is inept and almost completely self serving. A recent Gallup Poll shows that citizens rate their confidence in Congress dead last among 16 critical institutions.

The fundamental problem can be stated simply.

We now have a government that is under the corrupt control of special interests acting to the detriment of United States citizens. The ineptness and self serving greed of our private and public institutions has brought hardship to good citizens throughout the nation, and destroyed our vision for the future.

These destructive forces have pushed their will on us not by an invading army-which we would surely defeat- but by hidden manipulations of our economy and successfully lobbying for damaging foreign national policies. This has siphoned trillions away from productive job- creating work in the United States. The misallocation of resources is bringing the nation to its knees. The result has been billions for the few and financial disaster for the many.

Unfortunately, those few benefitting from the situation have assembled powerful tools.

A two party system that works against our choices for responsible leaders.
Hugh wealth in large corporations and institutions used for the control of the government
Excessive influence through the financial sector
Extensive ownership of the media

They are already using these tools to divert the public outrage away from the fundamental problem into multiple confusing issues to which they are offering self contradicting solutions..

To counter their strengths we have the following

The Constitution power to replace governments
Our numbers
The vision of America we hold with the Founders

The level of effort required to focus and solve the fundamental problem as a precursor to solving the many others is not even seriously on the table for the two political parties.. Drastic actions will have to come from the patriotic citizen regardless of party. The Constitution provides the tools to do this. We need a major change in our government.

This is one goal on which patriotic Conservatives, Liberals, and Independents should agree. A sincere plan to rebuild should be a priority in all party platforms and in the thoughts of voters. Once we have the fundamentals back we can return to the traditional conflicts.