My Mandates

Yesterday, I covered what I believe to be the greatest threat to world peace: radical Islamists.

Today, I simply want to list some domestic issues that are long term concerns.

• Ethnic Divisiveness - the positive spin is "diversity", but the U.S. is not "absorbing" ethnic populations as in the past. Rather ethnic groups are seeking to carve out local and national political power based on being "unique"... unique goals, unique needs. This ethnic "diversity" becomes ethnic divisiveness as one "unique" group attempts to gain advantage over other "unique" groups. National goals and needs are secondary to these groups.
  
  
• Education - schools are blamed for the poor performance of students and their parents' lack of interest or involvement. The role of dysfunctional sub-cultures is not being addressed. Universities do not accept an obligation... moral, social, ethical... to help address the root causes of poor performance in elementary and high schools. Universities find it easier to seek government funded programs as the solution to poorly prepared individuals or non-competitve groups than provide guidance and expertise,
  
  
• Excessive Litigation - law is the underpinning of our land, but lawsuits are undermining our society. Real grievences are lost in the blizzard of "snow jobs"... lawsuits with little or no merit enabled by technicalities and sustained by an attitude of "paying back the big guys". The societal costs for insurance, medical care, products and personal protection are outrageously affected by the litigious purveyors.
  
  
• Environmental Extremism - most forms of extremism are dangerous, costly, and generally ill-advised. But environmental extremism is most often counter-productive. By using fear as the primary weapon, legimate concerns about protecting the environment create convoluted actions and responses to the restrictions imposed. False science, such as the "hydrogen energy" efforts divert us from real, responsible approaches to protecting the environment while providing for the needs and growth of society [hint: hydrogen is a "storage medium" for energy... but to create hydrogen gas, large amounts of energy in the form of electricity... from oil, coal, nuclear material... must be expended].
  
  
• Excessive Spending - as a society, we are "borrowing addicts". We spend personally and societally as if there is always going to be "some way" to "balance the books". Our present inability to balance the books leaves us collectively as a nation and individually in financial peril. Most of us are aware of the "budget deficit" and believe "something" should be done about it. Fewer of us are bothered by the overwhelming imbalance of trade... our trade deficit... that continues to grow. We are a debtor nation increasingly in debt to nations that are becoming our chief economic competitors... a dangerous situation.
  
  

We have just endured a year of political mayhem. I suspect that most of us are drained of much of our political energy... not because we have lost interest, but because we have been faced with choices that are too polarized. Most of us feel comfortable in more "centered" positions than our politicians and special interest groups take. Consequently, when we make a political choice, we end up feeling that it is a great compromise from the choice we really want... especially when it comes to the issues that affect our everyday lives and jobs.

That's why I don't feel I've given any politician a mandate... even if I have given my vote. My "mandates" are different from the choices I was given for my vote. Polarization makes for great talk shows... not necessarily great choices.