Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Government Shutdowns and Children with Toys

I am an avid Facebook user where I find brief daily escapes to interact with friends faith, family, wine, science and other things about which I have passion.  The topic I NEVER discuss Facebook is politics because there is no other topic so polarizing and frankly damaging to friendships as political opinion.  Sadly the inability of the human race to engage in meaningful discussion with the purpose of true solution for the whole of society (particularly regarding anything government....at any level) is at the root of all societal problems.  It is heartbreaking.

Today (October 1, 2013) the Federal government shut down.  It is the first government shutdown in 17 years.  In reality the entire government hasn't shut down as the shutdown does not impact "essential" services (although how what is or isn't "essential" is determined in not clear to me).  I do know that Congress is still "working" while hundreds of thousands of Federal employees are for the time being will not get paid salaries essential for the care of their and their family's well being.

At some level I feel I should be angry about our government's ability to work this out.  After all, they are adults.....right?  However, the reality is....for good or for bad....I am simply numbed to our government's dysfunctionality and if anything find it cynically funny.  This is an attitude perhaps spawned by any real ability to do anything about the dysfunctionality.  Yes, I can write, call, stand on a rooftop and make noise at my "elected" officials.  The problem is I experience enough form letters, spam email, and computer generated voices from people who really don't listen to me as it is.

This current shutdown is largely a tug-o-war about healthcare reform (i.e. "Obamacare").  A core group of republicans want to do away with it while the president and most democrats see the reform as a step towards improving healthcare for the masses.  One extreme tugging against the other with no real desire for compromise.  A snapshot of the human race.  I am not totally sold on Obamacare.  There are a lot of things about it I do not like.  However, it is difficult to argue against the fact that healthcare in American needs to be addressed.  With this in mind the logical thing would be for Congress and the President to roll up their sleeves and begin the process of tweaking the plan to make it better.  Instead, everyone decides to take their toys and go home.  In the end nothing gets done.

It is a mistake to place blame on one side or the other (democrats vs. republicans).  This is everyones fault.  It is the fault of elected officials on both sides for effectively not doing what they were elected to do......govern effectively.  Instead this is a choice to govern by not governing.  It is the fault of the American people.  We as a society do not take our elections seriously enough.  We vote selfishly, with our decisions largely driven by single issues without consideration of the totality of how someone will actually conduct an office.  It may be that we have gotten to the point where the resulting dysfunctionality is cemented in place.

There is, I believe, a fix for all this but I have no clue how it would be implemented.  The fix requires that we change our system to open up meaningful political office to a broader range of people (i.e. non-millionaires) and remove the economic influence of special interest groups.  Both could be accomplished by outlawing private political contributions to campaigns.  Get rid of the war chests designed to support or defeat single selfish issues.  Common forums, accessible to any candidate where we can learn about their thoughts and philosophies would even the playing field and allow anyone with a vision, like it or not, to participate.  Second, be proactive in promoting (even requiring execution of) the right to vote.  My youngest son has often complained about the political climate and my common response is that if his generation actively exercised their right to vote they could change the country.  After all, there are a lot more voters in his age group than in mine.  Could we begin programs that would both educate young voters and promote (actually allow) voting on high school and college campuses?  Universal term limits might be a third change that would help but I need to think about this a bit more.

Okay, I think I have written enough for this morning.  Apologies if my thoughts lacked some linearity...but after all.....these are random thought.

Cheers!

5 comments:

  1. I always tell people, you cannot effect change without voting. It is perhaps the only avenue available in a government entrenched in bureaucracy. Your points are well said and well taken.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here in Australia voting is compulsory. Don't vote and you'll be fined. I'm not sure that people take elections or politics any more seriously though...

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is why at least for young people the voting should be coupled with education. If I were in charge I would indeed make it compulsory.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Perhaps the youth would vote if we actually DID talk about Politics in an inclusive, non-divisive manner where we have the integrity to agree that the course best steered will only come from the diversity of ideas that stem from multiple experiences. And within these conversations, reserve elements that allow a much larger willingness to be completely wrong.
    Einstein said "A problem cannot be solved by the consciousness that created it".
    We live in the most complicated time in all of history. The philosophy of singularity is impossible in our world ecosystem. We cannot live independent of our society. We must rely on others, and often we never know that these folks even existed. As Bill Jolif asked once "Who made your shoes?"

    I think when Einstein used the word consciousness in his quote he was referring to the vast ideas of our collective, diverse and increasing world population. Or, perhaps that he was driving a Mercedes (smile).

    Our individual voice is not impertinent or inconsequential. On the contrary, our collective intelligence, and the speed of light connectivity we have at our fingertips, is likely the only way to solve the immense problems our populations' exponential growth has created.
    Not talking about Politics, is also Not acceptable.
    In our lab at OHSU, we have 2 R01 NIH grants that are in for renewal, and the deadlines are Oct 3, and 15. The furlough has locked NIH (see webpage: http://www.nih.gov/) and jeopardizes the careers of three post-docs in the lab. If the current furlough continues the grants payment distribution order will not be given, period.

    Unfortunately, this exact thing happened to us in 1996 when the furlough extended past the Jan1 grant cycle of that year. This is not Children and toys. We cannot afford to be numb and quiet. The current furlough is inexcusable.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Satchel Paige said, "Show me the man who is afraid to make a mistake, and I will show you the guy I can beat every time."

    As a water Commissioner in Multnomah County, I am a politician, I am tasked to make decisions that affect the health of the folks North of Portland. This past year we have implemented over a million dollars of infrastructural improvements. These have been paid for with community development block grants, the clean drinking water revolving loan fund, and mostly, the water rates of our constituents, that as commissioner, I have the authority to set, raise and lawfully collect. When elected, I adopted and accepted the responsibility of stewardship as well as liability. I have personally opted out of being paid for this position.

    One of the largest problems we face as commissioners is lack of public input. When we set a policy, we must, by law, collect information from the community on how our policy will impact each household. We have the right of eminent domain. We hold public hearings, send out electronic and physical mailings, post signs and even go door to door, as we are a small district. Even still, attendance is minimal.

    When we make mistakes, and we do, it nearly always stems from simply not knowing about a households’ particular needs. When we learn that we made a wrong decision, we make changes, Because We Can. That is our responsibility.

    However, I often hear about our ill policy from rants when folks just blame the government. They could have initiated change if they had just spoken up. But often, in the same conversation, when I say "Sir, when you say Gov't, you mean me”. I hear, "Well I don't talk about politics…".

    There are many opposing ideas among the commissioners, but we know that the best decision resides among us and not by an individual. The system is way too complicated, and we need different experiences and opinions.
    With that said, if one of my fellow commissioners decided that the sole purpose of his/her policy was to prevent any action from happening, I think I would know exactly where to place culpability for the system not changing to meet the needs of the changing, and growing community.

    Failure can be defined as only failure to try, and success, as merely how you cope with disappointment.

    The change of our world means that we need to be able to readily accept that a familiar, time tested avenue, or concept may lead to collapse in the current or future system. Certainly modern warfare has more examples of this that can be counted.

    Similarly, denial of a problem within our current population and economic rate of change can have catastrophic economic and environmental results. We must be willing to change, and accept that we really do not know what might happen next. Mostly, we must be willing to try and realize that if it doesn’t work, we can remodel and try again.

    Avenues of face to face discussion of ideas and beliefs are prevalent, especially in Portland. City Club’s Friday Forum and Civic Drinks, held on Tuesdays, are great places to hear and meet our local policy makers and discuss current issues: http://www.pdxcityclub.org/calendar

    Well, now I have spent enough time writing this morning. KUDOS Don, for opening a forum of discussion. I do hope to see you soon.

    ReplyDelete