Where are the Leaders

I'm sorry but I can't sit around and watch what is happening in washington without chiming in. The folks in Congress, and I use the term "folks" to remind us all that they are not special, they are like the rest of us (whether they believe it or not). Anyway, the "folks" in Congress view themselves as leaders of our country...would you agree? I know a little about leaders. I worked for good and bad leaders during my 23 years in uniform. I have lead men in combat and in peacetime, and I have lead organizations since my retirement. I believe I know what leadership is, and the problem is if I were asked, I would classify the actions of those in Congress as the actions of followers, not leaders. Leaders do not follow party guidance at the expense of those who elected them to lead...followers do. Leaders do not sign absolute commitments "I will never vote to raise taxes" in an environment where they are uncertain of the future, that would be called giving in to bullies and that is not leadership...it is what followers would do. Leaders do not build policies and guidance on "making sure that XXX is a one term President, or that this or that person is not re-elected. That would imply that you are willing to discount things done that benefit the country and that is what followers would do. Call me one of the frustrated majority who is not heard but if you need to raise my taxes so my kids have a job then I say ok, let's figure out how to make it fair. Need to increase the sales taxes on certain items? I say ok as long as you can tell me how it helps. My concern is that if we continue to be "led" by followers then we will become the "former world power" and read about the glory days of America in the history books.

The Cost of Gridlock...or...A Billion Here, A Billion There

Well, the bill increasing the debt ceiling passed. Were you surprised? This after a month of some of the most useless political posturing, showboating and name calling in a long time. We have seen our political system degrade to the point that a handful of elected officials who claim a mandate from the people (but actually represent 4 or 5 percent of voters) can hijack a critical issue for our Nation and use it for their own political ends. And the reality is that after all is said and done, the hard work remains. As Charlie Cook put it in an article yesterday in the National Journal, “The stakes are so high and the performance is so utterly disappointing. The goals of most of the debt-ceiling proposals being debated are so modest that victory would really be a defeat in terms of what needs to be done.” In fact what we accomplished was an increase in the debt ceiling of something like .08% from $14.3 trillion to $16.4 trillion in exchange for $2.4 trillion in spending cuts and a additional unspecified cuts of cuts of $1.5 trillion to be determined by a bi-partisan commission before Thanksgiving.

So my question is this. What is the cost of the fighting for what is right for the party rather than what is right for the Nation? Had Congress been able to work together for the Nation what other business would they have been able to accomplish to deal with issues like job creation or next year’s budget to run the Government. Here a re just a couple of points to consider.

· The FAA’s legal authorization expired on June 23d. While no air traffic controllers are off the job, the agency does have has almost 4,000 employees on furlough and has suspended more than 70,000 construction jobs. Since Congress has decided to start a month long vacation a week early the agency will lose an additional $1.2 billion in airline ticket taxes before Congress returns to work on September 8. In the meantime, FAA safety inspectors are using their personal credit cards and funds to pay for airline tickets and hotels to perform airline safety inspections to keep us safe.

· The treasury has spent an addition $1.2 to $1.5 billion in interest to make US securities attractive in the face of Congressional paralysis.

· Numerous government agencies still have not been given a budget for 2011 (which ends in less than 2 months. While these agencies were funded through a continuing resolution through September 30, that means they can only operate at FY10 levels so all of the small companies and entrepreneurs who would have benefited from new work have been unable to receive a contract this fiscal year. Did I mention that small companies are the largest job creators in the US?

Something has to change. I am not sure what it is but as a voter I have a voice. Perhaps we should start from scratch and fill the House and Senate with new faces. Of course some of the new faces were the reason this crisis happened in the first place. Perhaps term limits would help. What about a third viable party? I wish I had the answer, but I don’t. You can bet on the fact that I will be looking for one.

The Kabuki Dance

The more I listen to the political debate (if you can call it that) the more confused I become. When did it become a problem for our President to reach out and talk to us? And by us I mean any of the various group we might use to describe ourselves, like military members, unions, congress, educators, or students. Yes the President, who was elected by all of "us", is going to speak to our children. Wait you say, I didn't vote for him. True perhaps but if you are an American citizen the system used to elect him is yours. We are a democracy! In theory we work together in support of whoever is elected for the betterment of the collective. In U.S. politics if two people or more run for an office someone is going to lose. Unfortunately losing can bring out the worst in people. If it were our children, most of us (I hope) would feel a bit embarrassed and try to discourage the spiteful, vindictive lashing out behavior that would cause us to characterize someone as a sore loser. And yet almost every time I read or watch political commentary I get an overwhelming urge to throw a yellow flag and yell UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT at the top of my lungs. We have lost sight of the healthy, thoughtful political debate that makes many people from other countries look up to us. The recent debate over the Presidents health care proposal seemed to focus more on who proposed it than on what it would mean for America and her citizens. Constructive debate from either side of the isle might have moved us toward a "win-win" solution incorporating the best parts of multiple proposals, and yet there was little of what I would characterize as constructive debate.

Back to the issue at hand. The President wants to talk to our children. I have read the text of the speech and there is no language there to insight our kids to rise up against us. In fact I didn't find anything that I don't think 98% of parents would agree with, and yet there is an uproar of opposition. Is there fear that a man that we do not like because of political party might say something to our children that we agree with? Why was there no concern when either of the President's Bush spoke to schoolchildren, or President's Clinton or Reagan? Oh my gosh I have it ... what if our children actually listen to and are inspired by the Democratic ne'r-do-well. Ouch, they might decide to pay attention, focus on their education and think they can do something important in life. Outlandish! This will never do ... we should protest, call him names like "Hitler wanna be" or something. We could preach hate and ask our parishioners to pray for the death of the president as Pastor Steven Anderson is said to have done from the pulpit of his Tempe Arizona church. Of course he is also someone who could not manage an intelligent answer to even simple questions. Evidently he agrees with nothing the President says just because "I hate Obama".

Ok I'll pull my tongue out of my cheek and get back to reality. I am really tired of those who would "lead" through polarizing a group against the President rather than by promoting respectful, constructive dialogue in the finest tradition of our democracy. I had a boss once who had a knack for seeing through the drama when it was used to hide a lack of substance. he referred to it as a Kabuki dance. Kabuki is a wonderful form of Japanese theater involving of song and dance dramatic stories and lots of makeup. My boss described a Kabuki Dance as "a glorious presentation full of sound and fury signifying nothing."

I, for one, prefer substance over drama.