Outcomes

If you want a specific outcome to happen you have to be willing to do something to make it happen. If you are not willing to do that something, then you don’t really support the outcome you say you support.

Similarly, if you cannot discuss what you don’t understand about the outcome you say you want to support, then you have nothing constructive to offer anyway. So move on to something you do understand and can have an effect on.

OK, that’s been said. I will now share with you why this is important to me.

I think we are all capable of accomplishing good things in life. I think that most of us don’t allow ourselves the freedom to explore, to question, and to grow in understanding about many issues that we have to manage before we can solve them, live with them better, or improve upon them. Yes, I believe we are capable of doing much better than we do. And yes, I believe we need to gather the humility to admit we don’t understand everything and need to research and educate ourselves more before inventing solutions that will benefit countless others.

There are many issues that bother us when we are confronted by them in the public media. Immigration is not the issue really, but illegal immigration really bothers a lot of people and their reaction to this issue is rampant. Legal immigration is also targeted by many of these same people only because they didn’t stop to notice the ‘legal’ in front of immigration.

Immigration is OK. It is what our nation has been built on. Illegal immigration is the trouble for many. It really isn’t a problem for me although I can see the practical issues raised by rampant illegal immigration. Schools, housing and other social services are strained to the breaking point if the country is flooded by illegal immigrants.

However, there is another side to this coin: we are attractive to millions of people around the globe as a destination in which to live a long life of happiness and freedom. Period. We are the lure to our own problem. And that’s a very positive thing in my mind.

What we do about that is another matter. But sitting on the sidelines and complaining, bitching, and tossing blame at your political enemies is not a productive response to the issue.

Besides, nearly every president has attempted to repair the problem or at least ease it. But congress blocked the way every time. Every time. Check your history to prove me wrong in this statement!

But immigration – legal or otherwise – is not truly the issue. What are the main issues?

Here is a short list:

1. Paying taxes to any government; too many people think the money is wasted and it is a bad deal for taxpayers. It is an automatic reaction to taxation and not a pleasant one!
2. Trusting elected officials; Americans distrust the very people they have entrusted their governments to. Let’s be clear our nation has several levels of government, most of them elected so we have control over who is entrusted with the authority. And yet by definition if you are elected you are a politician and thus not trusted. That’s a lame excuse for casting blame endlessly.
3. Big government is too much government; small government borders on too much as well. There seems to be no limits placed on this debate.
4. Government should be run like a business to make it efficient. 

Here’s a quick response to the short list of issues:

1. Paying taxes is a privilege that allows our nation of freedom to function. To protect the money from being wasted, many controls and checks and balances are provided. These are costly to implement in the first place and raise the cost of all government. But then this cost is the price we pay for control over waste. Get over it!
2. Nearly everything of value in our national life is managed by one government or another. Better to trust each government and get involved enough to understand not only what they do but how they do it. Are you a watchdog that is informed and knowledgeable? The press used to do this function but they are nearly broke and can no longer afford to do this for the public. It is therefore up to the public to do this for themselves. Either get involved and know what is going on or keep your complaining yap shut.
3. Big government is the only entity we can trust and use to handle the really big issues: education standards; international and interstate commerce; highways, bridges, and national networks of transportation; national and interstate banking; defense and military preparedness; natural disasters and public safety; national judiciary, courts and prisons systems, standards of same; space exploration; health research, education and standards of same; and much much more. You really think private parties can do this without waste or greed entering the picture? Really? How naïve!
4. Much of government is run along business practices but its size and complexities makes it difficult to do this. Besides, private business may be in love with its mission, purpose and products/services, but in the final analysis it is in business to make money for its self, its stock holders, and its executives. Greed drives the monster, not power. I’d rather have an elected body with public oversight than a privately owned business running my nation. 

Maybe the actual issue is power. Who has it and why and how can I get a piece of it? If that is the case, then there is a totally different discussion we should be having.

September 9, 2016