7 WAYS TO CHANGE PUBLIC POLICY DEBATE FOR 2012

 

In my previous blog I talked about how Wall Street is controlling public policy debate. So the question is, “What are the right questions to ask concerning the current state of American and world affairs?” Further, can we achieve greater independence on this Independence Day if we, the people control the discussions? Let’s change some of the fundamental questions and see how we get totally different answers.

1. How do we find more oil? This is the wrong question. When asked in this way we get, “drill baby drill.” Or, ease up regulations, open the Tundra, claim the Arctic so that when it melts we have first rights, etc. But if we ask, “How do we eliminate fossil fuels and base our lives and economies on ‘truly’ renewable and clean energy?” the discussion is totally changed.
2. How do we reduce the budget deficit? The simple answer, when asked this way, is to stop spending and pay back the debt. Unfortunately, unless you evaluate the effectiveness of programs, the result becomes a farce as the focus is on dollars and not effectiveness. But, if we ask, “What programs are worth keeping and what is the best way to improve the efficiencies, effectiveness and usefulness of those programs?” we now begin a discussion of substance and not dollars and sense.
3. How do we privatize health care and get government out of the insurance business? Easy, make people buy health care or go without. Instead, let’s ask, “What are the most effective, efficient and reasonable ways that we can provide for the health care of all citizens?” and the answer is different.
4. How do we eliminate illegal immigration? Not quite as easy but increase border patrol, deport all illegals and maybe even build a wall or two. Or, “How can we best integrate and reduce the negative impacts of illegal immigrants as well as control the rate of immigration?” Again, the nature of that debate is different from the first.
5. How do we reduce the size of government and get those bastards off our backs? The answer, for some, is to slash and burn government payrolls and make government business friendly. Perhaps we should ask, “What do we really want from our governments in this complex world and how do we get there?” You see, as we enter this new age we must revisit fundamental issues and really see where we want to go.
6. Aren’t our schools out of control and our kids getting dumber? Answer, fire the teachers and create charter schools. Okay, this is a major beef with me. Our public education system created the most powerful nation on earth. Yes, it had/has problems. But for some reason we decided to swamp the whole thing rather than fix the leaks. So the real question might be, “Why is our educational system in such turmoil and what can we do to correct it?” Changing times requires changing models, but clearly, all of the so called ‘innovations’ are not working. Time for a national discussion.
7. Aren’t scientists wrong about this whole climate change thing? Therefore, do nothing and it will all sort out. Wrong answer. The real question is, “How do we best help reduce the effects of environmental abuse, help end the 6^th great extinction, and prepare people for what is surely happening?”

I could keep going on but hopefully you get the point. The way the question is framed determines the debate and the answers. Too often of late we have allowed the very, very few and the well-to-do to ask the questions. Is it no wonder the world about us collapses while we are not even talking about the right issues? If, we, the people, start asking the politicians the right questions, maybe we can force them to get back on track and actually represent us for a change. Happy asking!

PRESIDENT BUSH: IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB

The Bush Administration can best be described as opportunities lost. With the jackals nipping at his heels in these final months of his presidency, George Bush had the opportunity to raise the bar in the upcoming election, but failed to do so. As both Democratic and Republican candidates search for the magic button that will whisk them into the White House next fall, the President had a major opportunity to set the agenda for national debate. Like the fickle weather of month of March, he came into his presidency like a lion, but is going out like a lamb.

The President’s last State of the Union Address could have set the tone for national dialogue and might have even saved some semblance of a positive legacy. Instead, we simply got more of the same rhetoric that has fallen on deaf American ears. Lame duck office holders frequently have major opportunities to strike a tone that would move election debates into more positive territories. Instead, they usually end up with an attitude reminiscent of managers who throw in the towel as their fighters appear on the verge of defeat.

The President focused his speech on war, terrorism and recession. On all three fronts, the U.S has been fighting losing battles. A war that could have brought positive change to the Middle East has been disastrous due to lack of vision and gross mismanagement. If the President had just listened to the voices of our brave troops and of the people in Iraq, we might have been on the verge of peace, rather than catastrophe. If the President had listened to the cries of the people rather than the demands of mega corporations, terrorism might have been a mere footnote in the history books. If the President had listened to the opinions of more advanced thinking economists and environmentalists rather than the dinosaurs of corporate thinkers, perhaps we would now be buying alternative energy products and boosting our lagging economy. Perhaps that will be President Bush’s greatest legacy; he failed to listen to new voices.

President Bush represents all that is wrong about corporate economies that are more concerned with profit than creating a sustainable market system based upon sound economic, social and environmental principles. Bush represents the end of an era, perhaps even the end of an age. Think what would have happened if the President placed a real challenge before those seeking to stroll the rose garden.

Is it possible that the President could have actually molded the presidential race in his own image? Having failed in so many areas, he could have actually shaped both domestic and foreign policy for the next decade. Rather than try to merely justify what he has done, he could have proposed a set of sweeping policy and legislative proposals that would have to be addressed by political candidates. He could have proposed sweeping changes in environmental policy; challenged the scientific and technological communities to develop solutions to global warming; proposed sweeping health care reform; put forth a major revamp of our failing educational system; postulated real dialogue about immigration concerns; overhaul our foreign policy; taken a major stand on issues like Darfur, the Middle East, and China. So many opportunities were possible, but so many opportunities were lost.

In retrospect, President Bush did do the nation a great service. He showed us what was wrong with America. He showed us that when the people sleep, the government awakens. He showed us all that was wrong when you abandon your friends and allies in order to pursue a self-serving agenda. He showed us, once again, how our apathy leads to humanitarian tragedy. He showed us that the pursuit of wealth with disregard for the environment that provides that wealth is global suicide. He showed us that if we do not pay attention and become “comfortably numb,” we lose our freedoms and possibly the very planet that sustains and nourishes us. He showed us that corporate greed begets economic disaster and even threatens our very lives when we put profit over safety. He showed us that walls not only keep others out, they also keep us in.

Even though he garnered my vote in his first term, I will not miss President Bush. He has brought us to the brink of economic, environmental, social and foreign policy disaster. Perhaps it is a positive thing that he will leave as a lamb. But one thing is certain, the U.S. needs the return of a lion next fall; one that will see all that was done wrong, and take immediate steps to correct the errors of the past eight years.