LISTEN TO POD CAST HERE
WE NEED BETTER GOVERNMENT, NOT MORE GOVERNMENT
9/11 Commission pointed to a “FAILURE OF IMAGINATION” in the intelligence community as one of the reasons that our government was not able to detect and prevent the 9/11/2001 attack on the US.
Unfortunately, this” FAILURE OF IMAGINATION” is not restricted to national security. Rather it is the most consistent characteristic of our government at the federal, state, and local levels.
- It is a FAILURE OF IMAGINATION to believe that the US can continue to be the largest ECONOMY in the world without a strong manufacturing sector.
- It is a FAILURE OF IMAGINATION to separate TRANSPORTATION POLICY from ENERGY POLICY
- It is a FAILURE OF IMAGINATION to expect a 19th Century EDUCATION System to meet the educational needs of 21st Century American children
- It is a FAILURE OF IMAGINATION to believe that raising taxes directly or indirectly can BALANCE THE BUDGET without spending cuts
- But the largest FAILURE OF IMAGINATION has been ours, yours and mine. We have forgotten that we are the government as well as the governed. We have accepted the politicians campaign promises and then failed to hold them accountable!!!
- Our FAILURE OF IMAGINATION led to an unholy alliance of PROESSIONAL BUREAUCRATS and PROFESSIONAL POLITICANS. All of their IMAGINATION is focused on one thing. SAVING THEIR OWN JOBS, their own luxurious benefits, and their generous, tax-payer funded retirement benefits!!!
- Joe Scarborough, a former House Member from Florida and current MSNBC commentator recently summarized this condition as the “total corruption of Congress”
- I’ve given up on BOTH political parties
IT IS UP TO US, Small and Medium Business, THE ENGINE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH TO GET INFORMED, GET ENGAGED, and HOLD POLICITICIANS AND BUREAUCRATS, alike, ACCOUNTABLE.
REIMAGINEAMERICA is a FORUM where ENTREPENEURS can GET INFORMED and GET ENGAGED.
LETS WORK TOGETHER TO RECAPTURE AND EXPAND THE AMERICAN DREAM.
THIS IS A POLITICAL RHETORIC FREE ZONE
ALL IDEAS ARE WELCOME BUT TALKING POINTS ARE BANNED
Can the New Zealand Miracle happen in the U.S.A.?
Yes, it can!
If we can convince our legislators to change their approach to governance.
They must start asking these questions:
1. Should government be doing this job?
2. If the answer is yes, can we get better results at lower costs?
3. If the answer is no, don’t do it.
When the answer to Item 2 is yes, remember…
It’s already been done in New Zealand.
Listen to the Honorable Maurice McTigue via the links below.
It’s like emerging from a cellar to breath ocean air.
Part One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpijXhqgOkw
Part Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI4aiZAyzKY&NR=1
Part Three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJvfk5_bilw&NR=1
Part Four
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0X7PnA-Zgs&NR=1
Part Five
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyz0_bgq6gc
Each government agency must be required to justify its existence.
If a program does not accomplish its mission, it must be eliminated.
Government employees must be given real incentives to solve problems
and held responsible if they don’t.
The purpose of Reimagine America is to provide the fact and discussion that allow Americans to make up their minds about what the real issues are and whether they feel their representatives are addressing them –
Time for a call to action –
I am very impressed with your placing the spotlight on IMAGINATION and REIMAGINATION! As far as I can recall, these are concepts rarely used in the American political dialogue.
Mark –
Only thing that is rarer in government than imagination is the willingness to actually do the nuts and bolts work of fixing the problems instead of just pretending its somebody else’s fault!!
Thanks, again for your support!!
Your statement of principles says that you want better, not more government. OK, that makes sense. On balance, I agree that less government is desirable at the federal level. I suspect that some states could do with a bit more government, assuming the revenue stream is there to support it. Some could definitely do with less if “the less” is shrewd, intelligent and objectively based, e.g., California for sure and probably New York as well.
My question is whether your “better government” concept includes expansion of the federal government in instances where it objectively makes sense to do so, e.g., expanded SEC and/or IRS securities or tax enforcement which would require added personnel. That assumes more SEC and/or IRS government would make sense from an objective, unbiased, non-ideological point of view. In other words, are you willing to walk the walk about “better government” without regard to political or religious ideology, or is your statement of principle a reflection of a preexisting ideological point of view, i.e., conservative? Is Reimagine America based on political or religious ideology, or is it grounded in policy based on unspun facts/reality and non-ideological, fair and unbiased analysis?
As far as I can tell, the only way to reimagine much of anything in politics is to reject ideology and go with unspun reality and neutral, objective analysis and logical policy that flows therefrom. All the other ideological arguments have been made and are in place, i.e., the Democratic party, Republican party, Libertarian party, Green party, Pirate party, Facist party, racists, socialists, communists and Christians. All of those points of view are fully represented as of right now and they have been there for years. The only thing that isn’t represented in U.S. politics today is non-ideology grounded in unspun reality and transparent, honest debate. Every other ideological flavor is there and has been for years, except maybe the Sharia law party (which doesn’t yet exist in the U.S. as far as I know) or bizarre and/or illegal stuff like NAMBLA or hard core anarchist points of view.
In my experience, lots of well-meaning, reasonably mainstream people claiming to want something different and better from politics turn out to mostly fit into the standard two-party, liberal-conservative status quo model of the political universe. If that’s the case here, Reimagine America is probably more of the same and has no chance (zero) to change anything because the status quo isn’t going to change unless it loses a life and death struggle. If not, this could be very interesting, assuming there is some real money behind it to move it forward (like Americans Elect). Money will likely be the key.
Dear Cal Moderate –
I’m not trying to start a revolution here — rather to inform and provoke some thinking — and to make the average American feel empowered and motivated to pay attention and participate!!!!
So, your coments indicated that I am succeeding!!
To me better government is government that focuses both major parties on doing the people’s business!!!!!
Does that include EFFECTIVE SEC regulations, yes — so let’s figure out why 200 regulatory agencies active at AIG in 2008 DID NOT anticipate the collapse coming??
– a banking systems that has A Regulator making rules the average American can understand (Do we really need regulations to save people from themselves — i.e. liar loans?)
– a tax code that incents meeting established national goals and that is applied equally
– the integration of government activities to deliver services equitably — quicker, cheaper, smarter —
– that better integrates the activities and spending of federal and state governments — that better integrates public and private investment
– that honors the concept that the best government is that which governs most closely to the governed
– that employs staff that understand they are stewards of the public purse and spend with great care — at all levels –
But more importantly recognizes that what we Americans have in common, rather than in difference, is more important — That rejects the Balkanization of America — as the Associate Press described the electorate just yesterday –
Reimagining America bottom-line is about getting honest with Americans
– we are the masters of our own destiny
– every action has a reaction
– we, each of us, owns a share of the problem and must be responsible for sharing in the solutions
– the trilogy of we, me, and thee is real — its not all about ME
– we are a federal system in which the Founding Fathers placed more faith in the states — i.e. policing powers. Because they already had had enough of Imperial rule!!
And speaking of honesty — some of my favorite podcast/blog are the Liar, Liar series –
in which I point out that both major parties twist the truth in the pursuit of personal and pecuniary power at the expense of “we the people” –
And, if I can make the reader/listener laugh at the same time — that’s a special bonus !!!
Sigh. I am once again completely misunderstood. Let me give you an example.
You ask this question: “Do we really need regulations to save people from themselves — i.e. liar loans?”
Why ask it that way? How does that help get at the issue? That question is clearly grounded in two party ideology, i.e., republican conservative in this case. It oozes standard republican bias and thinking. A different way to approach that issue asks this: “Is there a net benefit to the public interest in regulations that save people from themselves, e.g., liar loans? Who wins and who loses? What is the cost-benefit? Can the regulation be set up to create a win-win for the stakeholders or at least minimize pain to the loser if doing that makes sense?” If there is net benefit to the public interest, then I want those regulations. If not, then I don’t. Either way, it depends on benefit to the public and nothing else.
Can you see the difference between how you and I framed the issue? You put it in the context of conservative ideology (inherently strongly biased in favor of rejecting regulations) and I put it in the context of asking if such regulations would serve the public interest (no inherent bias for or against a regulation). Those are two fundamentally and profoundly different ways of looking at issues in politics and doing politics in practice. If you disagree, please carefully reread how you posed the issue and compare that with how I posed it. Just think about it without emotion or bias.
In politics, I could not possibly care less about anyone’s political or religious ideology, left, right, center, Christian, Jewish, or anything else. Ideology has failed in politics and its time to move on to something different. My original question asked if Reimagine America was going to be based on UNSPUN facts and smart, UNBIASED analysis with as little deference to ideology as humanly possible. Your response (and my experiences elsewhere over the past 5 years) tells me it just isn’t humanly possible at present. Americans are simply not ready for reality politics. Reality is too harsh and unsettling. We will stick with the cramped reality-distorting ideological boxes the two parties, the press and nearly all of the rest of the public live in and that’s it.
This is so discouraging. Even people who honestly want to change politics in some helpful way cannot see how powerfully crippling but subtle ideology actually is. They are trapped in their little boxes. Again if you disagree, let me take the liberty of asking this: What are you? A republican or a Libertarian? I bet you are one of those two, or you were until your Reimagine America epiphany, e.g., when was the last time you voted for a democrat for president? On balance., your comments telegraph where you are coming from. Or, am I mistaken? If so, my apologies for being so brash.
Regardless, I do wish you well and hope this leads to something good. I really hope that there is something here I cannot see. The two party status quo is a failure and desperately needs fixing. Trying anything is better than doing nothing.
Dear CalModerate –
You are missing the point –
Liar loans — the win/win is for them not to exist. That means that go back to the only practice my parents or I ever used in buying a house. We went to the bank and told them how much we needed and they said OK — give me the last 3 years of tax returns to prove your income, have your employer fill out this form re: future employment and current income and then we will determine if you “qualify” for the loan!!!!! Help me to understand your bureaucratic “value add”??
When the Post Office spends millions of dollars on TV advertising rather than investing in technology, tools etc — to compete with organizations that don’t get monopoly rights and subsidized rates — where is the value add?
After a decade of bureaucratic hand-wringing — Medicare and Medicaid still blew through $66B in fraud and overpayments –
They’ve finally figured out that surety bonds would reduce fraudulent payments to Medicare store fronts — but they still can’t figure out how to actually write the regulations to collect the bonds –
How about the fact that Ernst and Young found 101 Material Deficiencies in HHS financials after 10 years of work on new Oracle financials systems –
Where is the value add?
Why does Congress pass new laws and create new agencies and never go back and test their effectiveness? Its been 2 years since Consumer Protection Agency set up shop and is banking more Consumer Friendly???????? Show me the Value Add?
Is it that you can no longer charge your marijuana on your Mastercard –???
Who I vote for — that’s my business
I won’t ask you who you vote for — either
In reality I rarely vote FOR someone —
It’s usually a question of figuring out the lesser of two not such hot choices!!!
If government where really here to do the people’s business — really smart folks would be less reluctant to get into the electoral process —
That’s the objective –
OK, I think my point comes across pretty clearly. I am not going to fight this out with you any more. BTW, I don’t mind telling you presidential candidates I voted for since the primary and general in 2000. No democrat or republican.
I still bet you are a republican or libertarian. It just comes out in the way you frame the issues. I am an independent, a republican before that, independent before that and democrat before that. See, that didn’t hurt. And, it was of some interest wasn’t it?
Good luck with you effort to change the status quo.
What do we do from here?
What would be more effective? …more compelling to most?
My knee-jerk reaction is to say that we double down and begin teaching everyone who voted for Obama why we did not. So I took a little first step on our website this morning after a night of restless sleep: http://smallbusinessschool.org/
If you can’t follow that link, among many other links, here is what I said:
“Obama/Reid: Balance the budget. Reduce the debt.
If you voted for Obama, please read this.”
That link goes to this page: http://smallbusinessschool.org/page2866.html
In all my anxious moments this morning I landed on your site for the first time and I was impressed enough to slow down and drop you this note. Please, please, keep up your very fine work.
-Bruce
PS. Of course, we all know at least one person who voted for Obama. Unfortunately, being from Massachusetts originally, I know many more than ten. Having lived in California, I know more than 20. The old family home is in Maine, so yes, I know more than 30. I have a little work to do!