We need a leader.
General Patton was great at leading troops through difficult situations. Winston Churchill steered England through World War II with his "never give up attitude". A leader has clear purpose and is able to get people to unite behind a significant cause.
Your Mom understands leadership. I once commented to her that I wasn't sure about the attributes of a great leader. She responded, "great leaders have followers". Dah! She was absolutely right and it was so simple. I always had this vision of leading troops up a hill (like in the war trying to capture the top of the hill). About half way up the hill I look back and notice that no-one is behind me. Obviously I hadn't sold clearness of purpose.
Our Government just passed a stimulus package that our representatives didn't even read (it was 1609 pages long and they had 24 hours to understand it). We are also spending money to shore up the mortgage ravaged banking system. Then we passed a bill to release government funds to do more stem cell research. Next we assemble a team to revise our health care system. In the meantime we are developing changes to the social security system. Don't forget a complicated "carbon credit" system for our new energy program. Mix in a formula for taxing the rich (who lay off more employees from their businesses because of the uncertainty). If we are bored, we pump tax dollars into a floundering auto industry.
So what do we do?
We "stop"! When you are lost and don't know where you are going, you stop. You stop to get your bearings. Then you develop a plan to get "un-lost". A leader will then sell the plan to all the minions. With clearness of purpose, the leader will take all the people to the promised land. One goal. Clear. Achieve the goal!
I postulate that the biggest single problem we have as a country is the economy meltdown. We need to fix our economic problems and solve them with singleness of purpose. I realize everything we do is interconnected but the fixing the economy needs to be our top priority.
So Grasshoppers, my fond wish is that someone in Washington, D.C. wake up and lead our economy out of our doldrums. Developing a program to barter carbon credits doesn't do to the job.
Is anyone listening?
Love,
Dad