We are at the beginning of the Presidential election cycle. Hundreds of promises are made and broken, Hundreds more are forgotten once the victor takes the crown. It is up to each of us to agitate and lobby to have our concerns acknowledged and addressed. Here is a list of my concerns with reasons as to why and sometimes how these concerns can be addressed.
- The Economy - Employment is up, regardless of how one looks at it. Yes, there are some folks who are still unemployed, but it is still a good outlook since 2008 and the day that Obama stepped into the job. But the wage issue is out there and for what ever reason, some political folks fail to understand that those 90 per centers are the ones who will take that money and plow it right back into the economy to make it work and keep it humming. But they have to feel comfortable doing so. And that means make them feel economically secure and not just living hand to mouth. How specifically, will each of the candidates accomplish this?
- Tax Policy - This parallels the economic issues highlighted above. Corporate inversion, i.e., moving a US company to Ireland, the Bahamas or the Cayman Islands in order to escape paying taxes isn't right. Especially after some companies, like Johnson Controls and Pfizer, have received all kinds of benefits over the last 100 - 150 years. It reminds me of the fellow who was ever so greatful for the assistance of the Church and the Salvation Army when his house burned down and he needed clothing, shelter, and food for his family. But this same fellow refuses to drop a dime in the collection plate or give a moment of time to ring a bell at Christmas. What will each candidate do to address the problems in our tax system?
- More Tax Policy - While we are on the subject of tax policy, let's understand exactly what we are talking about. A good many of these companies complain that the "corporate tax" in the US is too high. "It's 35%" they say. And then there are local taxes, and state taxes. Here is the link and you can check corporate taxes throughout the world. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Tax/dttl-tax-corporate-tax-rates-2015.pdf But that tax is a nominal tax rate. Nominal - that means in name only. After getting all the depreciation allowances, the option write downs and several hundred other special treatments, there are few companies that pay anywhere close to that amount. In fact, there are hundreds who pay little or no tax after taking advantage of government rules and connections. Check this website for a short list: http://moneymorning.com/2015/05/21/chart-u-s-corporations-that-pay-no-taxes/ Or you can check http://ctj.org/search_results.php?cx=005687152319302669205%3A7bxw5yzvdpo&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=list+of+corporate+tax+avoiders There are plenty of sites. All you need do is to study a little.
- Energy Policy - Every body is pretty much aware of couple of "elephant in the room" facts about energy.
b. Petroleum and all of its related forms produces all kind of pollution when we use it. Most cities
don't use diesel powered buses any more in part because of the particulate matter it produces. Other
forms contribute CO2 to the atmosphere and that affects the climate and weather.
c. Our major form of energy is petroleum and it is finite. Sooner or later, we will run out of petroleum. We already have experienced shortages back in the early 80's. Yes, there was an Arab embargo in order to drive the price higher, but the fact is, we were no longer able to satisfy our need for oil from wells in the lower 48 states. Luckily, we discovered some large deposits on the North Slope of Alaska. And since then there have been other discoveries and technological breakthroughs such as fracking. But sooner or later, (and I would bet that at the rate we are using oil on the world stage today, it will be sooner) we will run out of oil. So now,while we have enough oil, we ought to be finding ways to produce efficient, non-polluting, sustainable form of energy. And we should fashion policies to help in the transition from one energy form to the other so that of our corporations, our workers, or our economy suffers. That may also necessitate our giving other nations in the world a helping hand with their energy problems. Remember that we live in an interdependent world, we all are affected.
What will our new leader's proposed energy policy look like?
5. Foreign Policy
a. ISIS, Al Qaeda, Bokoharam - These are three that nearly everyone has heard of, but there are many more. Splinter groups, and minor cells as well as a hundred other groups, both liberal and conservative. Each has an agenda that it is willing to die for; each would like to foist its beliefs and its peculiar form of government on our society. Each presidential contender should have a specific list of steps he or she would take should to maintain our security here at home, maintain our influence abroad, and what will be done to keep us out of war in the Middle East. So far it's all been generalizations with few specifics.
b. Depending on who is speaking, but especially among Republican, there seems to be a heavy emphasis on some kind of military response to ISIS and all the issues that surround the Middle East. Each Presidential candidate ought to be clear as to how and what he will do in response to our current situation in the world. Granted, the world situation changes daily, but there ought to be at least some long range conception as to what steps will be taken with regard to North Korea, China, Russia, NATO, and the war on terror.
6. Domestic Policy - each Presidential candidate ought to have thought through the steps he or she will take in regard to the following:
a. Race relations - we can't afford to have another era like the 1960's. Ferguson MO is just the tip of the iceberg. This is an area that needs a good deal of attention.
b. Criminal Justice system reforms - new Supreme Court Justices. How to make the Court system more efficient and effective. And now with the passing of Scalia, it's time to pick a new Supreme Court Justice. Republicans want to wait until after the election. Bull pucky - do your job in the Senate. They want to "give the people a chance to weigh in on choosing a new Justice." Bull pucky! Right now most Americans can't tell you who the Chief Justice is. 50% of them can't even name who their Senators are from their state. This is a representative democracy. Senators - you have the chance to represent us, and if you don't know us well enough to figure out who we would pick as a Justice, then you don't belong in the Senate.
c. Campaign finance reform - Get rid of the influence of big money in politics.
d. Rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure - highways, bridges, federal parks. I'm still confused as to how cutting the budget across the board gets us better highways, better bridges, new airports, better rail service and deep water harbors. If cutting is the answer, I want specifics, and that includes numbers and how it will affect our economy.
e. Education policy - What will it look like? Nearly every President we have had since the 1950's has proclaimed some grand scheme to improve educational outcomes. Little has been accomplished. What can be done to change that? My belief is that the nation as a whole benefits when better education happens. But better education doesn't happen like the space program or building a road because education deals with people, with kids. And they all, each and everyone of them, respond in different ways to the same teacher and the programs. Politicians and bureaucrats have little if any idea as to how teachers work on a day to day basis. It's part science, part art, and a whole lot of personality and charisma. That is what gets kids going in the classroom.
f. Health care - even though we have made some progress under President Obama, more needs to be done. Health care should be seen as a right of the individual with government doing everything it can to make it accessible to individuals. That does not happen when big medicine and big pharma set the policies. If Congress wants to make Obamacare better - have at it. If they want to change it drastically, that's fine. But quit wasting time trying to repeal it. Fifty failed votes to overturn or repeal Obamacare is enough. That ain't going to happen. So deal with it.
g. Poverty - Too many of our nation's people live in poverty, especially children and single mothers. Presidential candidates need to have specific policies as to how they will address these problems. The policy needs to be comprehensive.
h. Gun ownership policy - No one wants to obliterate the second amendment, but clearly too many wing nuts are walking the streets with handguns under their arm. Registration is not confiscation. And background checks do not take guns out of the hands of law abiding gun owners.
i. Domestic terrorists - Can something be done to curb the number of mass shootings and bombing that have taken place here in the US recently?
j. Immigration policy and immigration reform - it's been talked to death. Each candidate needs a realistic set of guidelines to improve the situation.
These are just a few of the issues facing any new President who takes office. I have my ideas on what should or could be done in most areas, but I am not running. Clearly, it will take more than one person to address all these issues. Clearly, the Presidency is the responsibility of many leaders who agree on an over all philosophical approach to governance. That is what we are determining in each of our elections.
