Prioritizing American Problems

I have long studied politics and societal issues and have well-founded theses that I am confident in. Usually, a study of politics is an exercise in futility. Because what we study, i.e., politics, is the problem. Statesmanship is a long-lost art that has abandoned our leaders and potential leaders. Or more accurately, our leaders have abandoned statesmanship.

Our game of politics is exactly that, a game. It’s a game of one-upmanship, “gotcha”, and win at all costs competition – that competition to control the purse strings of America. Make no mistake about it, that is where the real contest lies. Witness the recent exposure of Clinton’s fabrications about Bosnia, 9/11, and her non-existent soccer team; witness Obama’s judgment crisis with the Wright controversy; witness McCain’s flap about Al Qaeda. These are all gotcha maneuverings. Mostly pertinent, but still a contest of personality not concrete issues.

The citizens of America have to really shake themselves, come out of their rose-colored view of our country and realize that we possibly have mortal wounds that require hard choices. And somehow these citizens will have to show enough backbone and organization to convince Congress to act on the most important issues that are quickly becoming crises or have already achieved that condition. The resistance of the American people to the comprehensive immigration bill is a good example of citizen involvement that seriously affected a single issue.

Are you convinced that neither of the parties really concentrate on policies that are of foundational benefit to America, but instead focus on policies and legislation that will get them the most votes in the next election? (I’ll have to make an exception on this for the Republican Party for the last 8 years, because they surely haven’t created policy to get votes – instead, they’ve cut their own throats).

Let’s face it. In America, we have so many issues to deal with that it is impossible to handle them all at one time. No citizen involvement will dictate how we handle all of our issues. That kind of involvement would produce another political party (which may not be a bad idea – but not likely to happen on a national scale).

It is past time that the American people organize and concentrate on what are our most important priorities. We must clearly define and pursue policies, as citizens, that we actually have a chance of putting into effect. We have to do this as citizens, not as Congressmen and Presidents. We need to effect our leaders’ decisions with our input. After all, we know it works but only if a critical mass is reached in the number of citizens involved.

Let’s take a minute view of significant issues that we will try to solve by electing a legislature and a new president (in no particular order):

▫ Ethics reform in Congress

▫ Unethical lobbying and influence of lobbyists

▫ Transparency in government

▫ Wasteful spending

▫ Campaign finance reform

▫ Healthcare

▫ The war in Iraq

▫ Tax issues

▫ Free trade and the global markets

▫ Imminent bankruptcy of Medicare

▫ Imminent bankruptcy of Social Security

▫ A failing educational system

▫ Energy

▫ Spending more than we earn

▫ Immigration

▫ Civil rights

▫ Foreign policy issues

▫ Terrorism

▫ Nuclear proliferation

▫ Infrastructure – highways, bridges, utilities, dams

▫ Economy

This, of course, is not a complete listing of all the problems we face. But it is an accurate compendium of some of the most important ones.

First of all, as citizens, does anyone think that a new legislature or new president can adequately address all these problems? Since most of us would answer “no”, we need to move on to our second question.

Which of these issues is the most pressing? Which of these issues affects the other issues? Which of these issues are dependent on each other?

If we can’t solve all these problems, we must decide which of these issues, if solved, would positively affect other difficult problems? How do we prioritize these problems that need to be solved? How do we gain ground by concentrating on solvable problems and not expend energy and money at this point on issues that will take decades to accomplish, if ever? When you’re in a swimming pool full of alligators you don’t try to beat all of them in the head at once, you whack the one that is doing the most damage first.

My next post will outline the priorities we should concentrate on.

 Part 1 of 7