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CONTROVERSIAL PREDICTION

Here is a controversial prediction. It can be verified or disproved by midnight, Tuesday, November 2.

THE PREDICTION: 50% of those who were members of Congress when President Obamawas inaugurated will not be members of the new Congress when it convenes in 2011.

SECOND PREDICTION---and this is more important to democracy than the first prediction: I predict that the talking heads, the editorial writers and pundits will spend all their efforts trying to divine the political reasons for the voter rejection of so many incumbents.

BUT, one reason for the inability to devine the cause of the “incumbents rejections” is it effects both major parties proportionately. And while the pundits will be spending their analytical talents trying to devine what each losing candidate did wrong, the real answer will be that the angry American voters took their anger out on whoever (incumbents) was associated with the current unplesantness regardless of party or political conviction.

The real lesson to be learned particularly by career politicians is if things aren’t going well, the politicians in power will be kicked out of office even if the problems weren’t their fault.

That will be a very important lesson for career politicians and, if learned, a very important step for the growth of the basic democratic idea. The lesson, hopefully to be demonstrated, is that a politican’s job security and the longevity of his party’s dominance depends on whether a majority of the voter’s believe “that the country is heading in the right direction”. (The most recent polls show that somewhere between 60—80% of the poll respondents said they thought the country was heading in the “wrong direction”.)

Finally, the election hopefully will prove that voters are more sophisticated than politicians typically believe them to be. It really doesn’t matter to the voters that the Democrats made housing so easy to buy that people vastly overextended their credit or that the repeal of the Glass=Stegall Act in 1999 gave the banks the new authority to speculate with people’s savings in new ways. The facts are, that both parties may have been trying to do right, but Congress did not react fast enough when it first became obvious that greed and excess were way too rampant.

TO REPEAT: The fact that the Congress didn’t quickly correct their mistakes is what has created the voter discontent predicted to be shown in the November 2 election.

NOW, if this lesson can be learned, the chances of repeating the mistakes will be somewhat reduced and the case for democracy will be advanced to a new level because elected officials everywhere will conclude that their job security depends almost solely on whether the voters think the country or the state or the county is heading in the right direction with a minimum of graft, corruption and greed. What’s more, the voters don’t care who caused the problem.

I can hope only that this lesson will be learned in an indelible way.

Is the Problem Career Politicians?

Honestly, have you ever seen so much grass roots discontent with our career politicians? Especially with the Congress…

Second question: Would it be better for the nation (and the basic democratic ideal) if we had term limits for all of congress…Senators and Representatives. It could be just like the constitutional prohibition of no more than two terms for the president?

Question three: Would the change to term limits noticeably upgrade the quality of legislation coming out of Washington? Would term limits increase the statesmanship of the whole congress (and through them the whole federal government) by changing the motivation for holding an elective office?

If you answered “NO” to any of the three questions, you probably should skip the rest of this dissertation. Sorry and goodbye.

I answered “YES” to all three questions and here are my reasons, right or wrong:

Reason One: The current system almost forces someone who wants to serve the nation to become a “career politician.” Realistically, how else would a politician get nominated, elected and accepted in the Washington political scene? Second Reason: We force the poor congressmen to start running for another term the morning after he wins each election And where does he turn for the necessary money he must have to get re-elected? The answer is: to people/organizations that want “ear time”, people with an ax to grind and it may not always be in the national interest. In short, by providing the wrong motivation, we have created a legalized and highly-sophisticated system of graft/corruption that is robbing our country of its full potential.

O.K. “ Mr.-Know It-All” you might well say, “ be fair and tell us the negatives.” Well, one is that you won’t always attract the best talent because being a statesman ( vs a career politician) shouldn’t provide any real wealth, just salary. My answer is, I would rather have properly motivated people than the most talented. Our prisons are full of brilliant people who were wrongly motivated. Think—Madoff.

Second negative: Placing term limits and adjusting the length of the term is an extremely complicated constitutional procedure. I agree. …Asking the congress to instigate such a change would be like asking the fox to voluntarily leave the hen house.

But it is not all frustration. I have had many suggestions.

One suggestion was for voters to agree not to support any candidate running for a third term. The disadvantage would be that it would be hard to organize and publicize. And you may penalize the very party you want to help.

A second suggestion was to write in a name like “ Two Terms” instead of voting for any candidate in the next election. Again the problem is organization but also you likewise might hurt a canidate you would like to support.

But the best suggestion has been to exercise the democratic principle of “the right to petition”. Suppose thousands and thousands of people each got 10 signatures with addresses on a genuine flood of grass roots petitions urging a constitutional amendmentlimiting congressional terms to no more than two. (This could be achieved if every signer would agree to get 10 other signatures on a separate petition)

A suggestion is the petitions be sent to The Heritage Foundation,

214 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002, fax it to them at (202) 879-6333 or through the internet (www.myheritage.org). If you want to call them their phone number is # 800-546-2843

The Heritage Foundation is very moxie about how to get things done politically in Washington and they may find ways, if so motivated, to make sure the petitioners are heard.

But to help the Heritage people along, have copies of the petitions sent or e-mailed to the local newspapers plus, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

If there is an honest groundswell out there in the grassroots, this whole idea should catch fire and spread on its own with such speed that “even the foxes in the hen houses” will have to pay attention. That would be a giant step for all of mankind and additional proof that the basic idea of a democracy is alive and well, because it can update itself to meet the ever-changing challenges of our society.

If you want wording for your petition it can be as simple as

We the undersigned, think that the problem with our country is Congress, and support career limits on Congressmen.

VETERAN’S DAY: “SOMETHING TO BE LEARNED?”

Today, November 11, is Veteran’s Day.

That gives us a license to ask two related questions:

1. Do veterans/citizens of WWII years really deserve the accolade "Greatest Generation"? Some say that generation provided for much of the nation's greatness through the last century.

2. And if true and deserved, how did that generation get to be so "GREAT"?

Well on this Veteran’s Day let’s just accept the “Greatest Generation” accolade as true and go on from there.

Assuming acceptance, you then might ask what enabled that generation to be so “great”? That is the important question. If you can define the source of that greatness, you might then reproduce a “greatest generation” with some repeatable frequency.

Therefore, the answer to the question could be “nation saving” in the extreme.

Here goes:

One element had to be living close or with memories of the depression that preceded World War II. That certainly contributed to thoughts of thrift and conservative spending habits along with self reliance.Also, in the depression there was lots of human compassion voluntarily given which may have provided the genesis for the Marshal Plan that provided a lot of sustained prosperity for the American economy. (We were the only store in town for a long while.)

A second contribution to the generation’s assumed greatness had to do with the discipline and focused unity required by the war effort. This discipline went far beyond early reveille, unending pushups and six mile runs. It extended to tolerating rationing, critical shortages, victory gardens, blackouts and an almost unselfish focus on a common goal not seen since except on fleeting moments like the flying flags after 9/11.

The immediate postwar years saw a terrific rebirth of individual determination. Crowded college campuses accommodated students in Quonset huts, mobile homes and dank basements. The students rushed through college “eager to make up” for lost time. (Few five year plans and Books ranked higher than Beer, generally.) Most of that generation believed entitlements were earned (not just granted) and that was a big factor in the winning psyche of those critical times.

On looking back, this Veteran’s Day, we have to conclude that at least something worked right. If you had to reduce it to today’s “soundbite”, it would probably be:

“Focus, Discipline, Compassion, Self Reliance, and Luck

and maybe a few more clichés that fit-----does “integrity” come to mind?

Meanwhile, we can only say to that generation which is rapidly passing on “Thank you for the example.”Perhaps we will learn something------Something Great!!!

Other Writings with Perspective

NEW! Why Are We On this Earth: A thoughtful perspective on the continual march towards a better world.

Sound Bite Society: What meaning do we loose when we set out to condense our thoughts into a sound bite?

Time for a Statesman: Americans are sick of politicians. Does this forshadow the development of a new breed of Statesman?

Sleepless in Seattle and Everywhere: The benefits of turning American Inventiveness towards our oil addiction are the sleeping pill we need to take.

Three Questions: Are the established European Nations in the Early Stages of the kind of decline that spelled the end for Rome and Greece? If so, is there an underlying cause? Can we learn from it?

Finding Humor In Economic Distress: Americans are survivors. Perhaps in part because of our ability to laugh through the worst of times.

Inspiring Motivation

There are millions of stories about what motivation can do. We love motivational stories because we are always trying to motivate someone to do something, including ourselves. This one is special and guaranteed to bring moisture to your eye otherwise called a “tear in the female world”.

This story is paraphrased from a Campbell Soup Retirement Newsletter capably edited by Don Collins of Charlotte, N.C.

The story concerns a high school football player who was, at best, on the third team and played seven or eight plays a game only because of the coach’s graciousness. And the kid really wasn’t very motivated, sometimes skipping practice or otherwise goofing off. Late in the season his team was playing for a high honor (not the state championship, that would be too dramatic) and the team had been racked by injuries and flu, which meant that marginal players had to be relied upon.

This particular player got in early in the game, mainly thru default, and began playing a super game. The coach couldn’t believe his eyes and left him in. First, he made some good tackles and then some blocks. He ran like a demon and, as you would suspect, scored the winning touchdown in the last minute to the roar of the crowd.

When the stadium had cleared and the coach had emerged from the locker room, he saw the hero sitting alone in the stands and the coach asked him why he was crying. He explained to the coach that his father had attended all the games even when the son was in for only four or five plays. He also explained that his father was legally blind and had died during the past week. “ This time, for the first time, I knew my Dad actually could see me play and I wanted him to be proud ”.

Why are you on this earth?

Puzzle for the Day, Month, Lifetime:

Why are you on this Earth?

When you strip off all the barnacles that grow around the many discussions about the “meaning of life”, you finally get down to one basic, unblemished pearl.

That pearl says that the real meaning of your life---or the purpose of individual living, is to help the world move in its haltingly slow walk toward “Perfect”.

If such were not true, why then do all people, animals, insects and even plants have at least two inborn, compulsive urges or defensive reflexes: (1) to survive (self-preservation) and (2) procreation so as to perpetrate their species on this earth for as long as their species fills a role, or a need or is not replaced by a better survivor.

Well, then, you can ask why does the earth have to improve? Who says so?

The answer is beyond all of us, except for two very apparent observations. The first observation is that somehow the creator of the earth had a specific purpose or otherwise we wouldn’t have seen all the progress that has taken place since prehistoric man, for example. The second observation is there is no example ever cited of something created on earth that was completely useless.

So what happens ‘WHEN THE WORLD REACHES PERFECTION?” Answer: It can’t reach perfection!!! Why??? Because as things get better, the standard for “Perfect” rises. The definition changes. It’s possible that the definition of “world” can expand. Even to “universe”.

Try on that idea for size! We are here to help the world move forward, if it’s nothing more than to provide a “need” for someone to fill or a face to feed.

And as the world moves toward “perfect”, it should, by definition, provide a better life for all the world’s inhabitants. Therefore, you are on this earth to help make all people have a better life now and in the future.

So, now, how does that make you feel? More important!?! More worthwhile?!!?

You are!! Hurray!!!

Sound Bite Society -- take a poll

Some say this is a “sound byte” society – that intellectually we exist on dehydrated bullion cubes – no hearty soups with real vegetables and meat.

And – these critics add that because we learn from dehydrated sound bites, our thinking (and conclusions) are equally dehydrated – lacking real heartiness.

Here is a little unscientific test of that criticism. What follows are two articles. The first is a dehydrated “sound bite” of the second – about 1/3 of the words.

Kindly read the first one. Then pause – and ask yourself if it has enough meat to be persuasive – to make you agree or at least be sympathetic to the premise of the article. Then read the second one. Did it do anymore to persuade you – or is it just a waste of words and time? Did the firs do the job as good as or better than the second article? If so, maybe a “sound bite” society is needed in this time-restricted world. If it took the second article to get your agreement, then maybe we can’t count on “sound bite intelligence” to provide the correct answers.

If neither version does anything for you, then same on the writer for lousy thinking or writing or both.