What Can the President Do?

Now it seems that Washington has reached the end of the Big Buzz and the cameras are drifting away from the scene of the non-event. The snow has blanketed the capitol in more ways than one. A new future is brewing and I think some of those who were leading the wolf pack are now concerned for their future in politics. I think it is too early for Republicans to gather around the carcase though.

In the end of the discussion, if that ever where possible, it is the country that is most important. It is not the survival of any particular party. It seems that which ever party is in command at the moment, they always get a little arrogant and forget about the people who elected them.

So, what can the president do, now that the fire from the election is burning low. He can get down to the business of running the country the way it was meant to be run...with three branches of the government, with checks and balances. There is little glory in sitting behind a desk and making things happen without the continuous news flashes and the glory speeches. Doing the business of the country is what the chief executive does.

He has three years to get down to business. Sometimes a president just needs to be quiet for a while and study the situation. Sweeping changes make news but they are not always the best way to go. Do some simple concrete things that need to be done. I could think of a few but I am not in charge up there and do not want to be.

People and Cars Everywhere

The new Republican Senator from up north, when asked about future plans for president, said to give him some time "...I haven't even been down to Washington yet." So, he is in for a surprise. He should take his truck and put on bumper guards.

I have had the misfortune of driving in and around D.C. It is nightmarish. I could not help but wonder if the driving frenzy on the roads also drives the attitudes in the halls of Congress. They are bound to be in a bad mood by the time they get to work. No wonder Biden takes the train. Even D.C. drivers would think twice before bullying a train. (I think.)

I am building to a point. Getting something done in D.C. must be like working in a room where there is standing room only or in the crowd on 'black' Friday. It is just too crowded.

My solution to this problem is workable in our day of advanced communication. I would suggest moving some federal agencies out of D.C. altogether. For example, the Agriculture department could be moved to the Midwest where a lot of the farming goes on. If they want to tell the president or Congress something, they could send a couple of reps out. The department of Natural Resources could go even further west, perhaps to Montana. And so on!

I think it is a good idea. It would not have worked in 1776 but it would now. Even those in D.C. probably talk on their berry phones anyway.

Changing Washington

Changing Washington is my title and I immediately thought "Yeah, In our dreams." I will continue anyway.

If we ever expect to change Washington, I believe it will take a long term effort. Of course, many think we do not have a long term left. In case we do, those with conservative values must encourage children to go to law school and get into politics. While conservatives rested in the Reagan years and other conservative victories, liberals were getting educated (on paper anyway) and attained positions of power. They smoked their pot right into the House of Representatives, judge ships across the nation and other positions of power.

Encouraging children to go into politics seems cruel and it does require a strong personality to endure such a career. Some children should not be encouraged to do so. When I think of telling them to go into politics, I think of telling them to go play in the freeway. Of course we would not do the latter.

My point in bringing this up is that while voting right is always important, we have many times been reduced to voting for the lesser of two evils. Our vote will not count as much unless we have a quality candidate to vote for.

So, it is an idea that leaves us with years of 'more of the same' to deal with. All I can say is keep a backpack ready and the deadbolt locked. The road ahead is going to be bumpy.

The Mess We're In

Sometimes you have to stretch the memory to get to the root of things. Way back before Bill Clinton left office, he lifted the regulations on Wall Street. It was in his last days so the change took place in the Bush administration. That was about the deal of insuring those risky Wall Street bets on the risky loans for people who could not afford the houses they bought. They bundled the loans and sold them to investors who posted them on Wall Street and got more people to invest. If you understand that, you are probably hiding your money in a mattress, if you have any money.

Next, the Democrats took over Congress about the time Bush was reelected. With Pelosi in charge, they blocked every piece of legislation the president sent to them that would help the country. Government was almost at a standstill for several years. Why would a Democratically controlled congress block even good legislation? The answer is to make the Republican president look bad and pave the way for a Democratic candidate to get elected president. Maybe some think no political party would put the country at risk to gain power in Washington DC. Maybe pigs fly too.

The housing problem is little different than the Savings and Loan disaster of a few decades ago. The associations stretched the bands of the market and it snapped leaving many in financial distress. That also cost a bundle. It was not caused by a failure of the system but was a result of greed.

Here is the danger we face. The government is putting up the money (which they don't have) to prop up companies that played the stock market (with money they did not have) and lost. Who did have the money? The citizens of our country had the money and trusted it to Wall Street. That's like giving a monkey a banana and telling it to not eat it. The danger is that instead of a free enterprise system, we are slipping into a socialist system where everyone depends on the government for everything. In the free enterprise system, you take your chances and if you loose, you start over. In the socialist system, you take your changes, and if you loose the government gives you back the money you lost and takes part in the company. We all know how good the government is at making a budget balance.

The problem is if you give a teenager all the money they need, they will never go to work and become responsible citizens. If the government gives the companies all the money they need, they will never take responsibility for their actions. Since when do we reward crooks who run crooked companies, well, since just a few months ago. Probably a lot of the people giving away taxpayer money also lost money in this mess and are trying to recoup it by building the companies back up.

Our country prospers only when the government minds their own business.

Whose to say that we can't do without the stock market anyway? Everything doesn't have to be national or international. If banks did their job, businesses would have the expansion capitol they need. The stock market is a trumped up casino where people bet their few thousand that they can make a million off it.

Three Parts of Government

It should be remembered that in our country we have three parts to our government. Although we elect a president to fix things, congress still has to approve a lot of what he does. Of course, the supreme court does what they do, quite badly, I must add. Anyway, a president does not get to do everything he says he will do while on the campaign trail (unless you have a congress that cannot think for themselves and just says 'me too'). He must abide by the constitution whether he wants to or not. It's the law. Also things look much different once he is in office. He must be careful about making rash statements. On the campaign trail, he can say the wrong thing, say whoops and go on about his business. Not as president. His words are action.

Of course, he can't just up and load everyone on a ship and leave Iraq. The departure must be orderly and must include security for the people there. The candidate may have thought he could but the actuality of the situation is much different.

As president, he is not just dealing with the hot button issue of the day, like on the campaign trail. He must look at American interest worldwide and try to do a balancing act that does not always work. He can't sit in Washington and say stuff that makes everyone nervous 'out there'. No matter who it is that sits in the chair, he either considers carefully or chaos will erupt.

So, we have three branches of government and I like it that way. If a president could do anything he wants on a moments notice, he would be a king and not a president. We went down that road long ago and decided against it.

Little tricks.

Speakin' of Countin'

We had an old mule one time back on the farm. There wasn't much cotton picking or corn picking to do, we had already done that, so I was out in the woods with the mule trying to snake up some firewood. I must have been twelve or thirteen already and weighed at least seventy pounds so that old mule was no match for me. He probably wouldn't a pound over two thousand. I got the harness on him and hooked up the single-tree with the dogs (hooks for the logs) dragging on the ground and a hammer in my hand. I got him backed up to the log and started driving the dogs into the downed tree. It was my first time but I knew to put the dogs on three sides so the log would pull and not roll. Now my dad was a logger from way back and that old mule knew him. That old mule also knew how many times my dad swung the hammer to get the dogs in the log. I took too many swings and the mule lost his patience. He took off to the woodpile and stopped. 'Now what was that all about, he forgot the log.' I chased after him and we tried again. On the same number of swings, the mule headed for the woodpile. This time though the log was attached enough for him to drag it with him. It took me a while to figure it out but that old mule was counting my swings by the ping it made when I hit the dog with the hammer. A countin' mule, now that is something. Wall Street and Washington both could use an old mule like that.