Top 10 Issues Facing the Next US President

I'm starting to put together a list of issues that need immediate attention as far as I can tell. As with any of my blogs, please feel free to comment (or add) using the "Comment" link at the bottom right of each post.

Loosely in order of importance:

1) Our Federal Debt - I just heard today that we recently raised the debt ceiling to $9.0 Trillion. Needless to say, our children are going to be forced to service this debt and its not going to be easy. Can you image if you're a child and you inherit HUGE credit card bills from your parents? Unbelievable. It's not about balancing the budget anymore. It's now about running a sizable surplus for the foreseeable future!

2) Foreign Affairs -
-Iraqi War: We need our best and brightest (and most unbiased) in here helping to lay out a strategy that will get them on their own feet ASAP. I know easier said than done, that's why it's on the list.
-Iran: Iran recently threatened the US with "harm and pain" in response to the US involvement in Iran's nuclear arms interests. Same country who threatened to "wipe Isreal from the face of the Earth". Someone with some kind of diplomacy skills needs to pay these guys a visit.

3) Healthcare costs and coverage

4) Education

5) Energy Crisis
- Relations with Arab Nations
- Relations with Venezuala
- Alternative Sources of Energy

6) Domestic Civil Liberties
-Abortion
-Gay Rights
-Privacy
-Upholding the Geneva Convention

7) Housing Bubble and Its Impact on the Economy

8) Retirement for Baby Boomers

9) Preparing the US for the Global Economy - I just started The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman today. First 30 pages are strong. I've read all of his other books which proved insightful. More commentary from his latest as I dig in.

Regardless, globalization is upon us and the US leadership needs to embrace the opportunities and the challenges that it presents.

10) ***I need a number 10*** That's where you come in...

More on ALL of these in future posts. I just wanted to get them out there so that they can season (at least in my own mind, but I hope in yours too).

Do You Trust Our Government?

I must at admit: Until recently, I did.

I'm not a big conspiracy theorist. I don't look for the shooter on the grassy knoll. I generally like to think that our public servants (of all types) are well intentioned individuals, who seek their positions in order to do good by our society and to have a positive impact. Maybe that is the case. Maybe we're just seeing that one man's positive impact, is another man's civil war.

Anyway, I'm sure most of you saw this news: Navy Exchanges Fire With Suspected Pirates (off of Somalia)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Somalia-US-Pirates.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Am I the only one who is starting to hear this stuff and thinking: Who was this exchange with and why are we calling them "pirates"? Could they have been merchants doing trade with a country we're not friendly with? Could the term "pirates" simply be part of the PR management by the government to make it appear that we're attacking "bad people" and we shouldn't question why?

I do realize that allegedly the US ships were fired upon first and that we were able to control the situation with very little bloodshed. In this way, there is a good chance that our sailors over in this part of the world are doing a great job keeping the peace and representing our cause. This is by no means an attack on their efforts. They should, no doubt, be applauded for all they do.

I guess the reason for this post is to reflect my admission that I am now more than ever questioning information that is disseminated to the public by the US government. From what I can tell, I'm not alone. Again, we all have a ton of examples of why this is the case: WMD in Iraq, Iraqi ties to al-Qaeda, lobbying cover-ups, Plumegate, etc.

It truly is a sad state of affairs when you don't believe what your government tells you. I thought that is what the Chinese are dealing with. I thought that access to the truth was something for which nations like ours once went to war.

Not one to sit around and talk idoly about problems, I plan to take action. Action in the form of supporting candidates who I believe will "do the right thing" (hats off to Spike Lee). I plan to ferret out "good" candidates (at all levels) and expose them to my reader base here on my blog.

I also plan to encourage people I know personally who I believe could do great things in politics: LCDR Michael Foley, Hon. Francis Foley, John Pleasants, Alex Collmer, Kevin Cornils… I believe others will come out of the woodwork as I start to establish myself as a focal point for involvement. As a last resort, I will personally become involved if I feel that there are no better alternatives. While I'm not the tallest nor best-spoken candidate who's ever thrown their hat in the ring, I certainly feel that I could do a better job than we're seeing today (at many levels). It also feels as though it's been increasingly hard to find candidates, from both parties, who truly represent the broader constituency of the moderate majority. It is with this low bar - that sad state of bi-polar partisianship and poor leadership - that I am able to realistically consider a life of public service.

Don't Read Jimmy Carter's New Book (just read this)

Jimmy Carter is a self proclaimed "born again" and "evangelical" Christian. In his latest book, Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, President Carter goes deep on his religious background in order to gain credibility as he attacks the current administration for crossing the separation of church and state line. I think he does a good job of this, but for my personal preference, he goes way too deep on the subject of religion.

That said, there are several interesting things to gleen from his book. Save his extreme religious beliefs, his book reads with the rich flavor of a man committed to America and what I believe we should stand for: embracing the moderate majority.

"The irresolvable differences of opinion on abortion, homosexuality, and other sensitive social issues have been exacerbated by the insistence of intensely committed hardliners on imposing their minority views on a more moderate majority." Well said Jimmy.

Of note, Jimmy Carter is a Naval Academy grad, as is my father, LCDR Michael J. Foley. While President Carter served on submarines during peace time, my father served two tours in Vietnam, flying A-4s off of aircraft carriers. I bring this up only in the context of pride and recognition. I believe it to be important to honor those who have risked their lives serving to keep this country free and to help troubled nations when the UN believes help is needed. His military background is just another piece of credability afforded to President Carter as he condemns the current administration.

Couple of thought provoking excerpts from the book:

On gun control: "A disturbing change in government policy has involved th firearms industry. Supported by succeeding Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, legislation was passed by Congress in 1994 that for ten years prohibited the manufacture, transfer, and possession of nineteen specific semiautomatic assault weapons, including AK-47s, AR-15s, and UZIs. None of these are used for hunting - only killing other humans. More than eleven hundred police chiefs and sheriffs from around the nation called Congress and President Bush to renew and strengthen the federal assault weapons ban in 2004, but with a wink from the White House, the gun lobby prevailed and the ban expired."

Of note, JC is a big hunter, and supports Americans' right to bear arms, but is obviously frustrated that the NRA and gun manufacturers have such a powerful lobby... again the whole vocal minority misrepresenting the interests of the majority. I was unaware that this ban had expired and now share JC's frustration.

On religion in Politics: "Some prominent Republicans have also become deeply concerned about the extraordinary influence of religious groups in their political party. John Danforth, who was an Episcopal priest before representing Missouri in the U.S. Senate, published and editorial in the New York Times (April 2005) that said:

"Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of the Conservative Christians. The elements of this transformation... are parts of a larger package, an agenda of positions common to Conservative Christians and the dominant wing of the Republican Party... The problem is not with people or churches that are politically active. It is with a party that has gone as far in adopting a sectarian agenda that it has become the political extension of a religious movement... As a Senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around."

Amen Rev. Danforth. Amen.

The rest of the book talks of several other issues: the death penalty, sexism, the environment and so on. Again, however, with chapters like "Would Jesus Approve of Abortions and the Death Penalty" and "Must Women Be Subservient" (where he answers that question by quoting Bible Scholars and the Holy Sciptures)... I found the book to be a little too evangelical for my taste.

John Adams on Public Life

If you're looking for an inspiring read on American patriotism, leadership, and politics, might I recommend John Adams by David McCullough. As at lot of you who know me have heard by now, I found it to be a life changing book, the likes of which you don't come across very often.

Below is a quote from the book, where John Adams speaks on Public Life:

"When his son Thomas wrote, expressing an interest in public life, Adams felt he was answering for generations of their line:

Public business, my son, must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise men decline it, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not. A young man should weigh well his plans. Integrity should be preserved in all events, as essential to his happiness, through every stage of his existence. His first maxim should be to place his honor out of reach of all men. In order to do this he must make it a rule never to become dependent on public employments for subsistence. Let him have a trade, a profession, a farm, a shop, something where he can honestly live, and then he may engage in public affairs, if invited, upon independent principles. My advice to my children is to maintain an independent character."

Your Congressman Works for You

While the title of this post sounds like an obvious truism, it recently hit me that this is an empowering concept. First, I must admit something: until last month (when having brunch w/ my wife's cousins) I did not realize that I had "a Congressman"! For some reason (call it the Florida Keys public school education) I knew that there were 2 Senators from each state and a varying number of Congressmen based on population... but I guess it hadn't click that each Congressman represented a specific district. Call me slow, but I now feel empowered nonetheless.

Once I learned this simple construct of our political system, I did some quick math: 435 representatives to the house divided by 100mm households (or ~300mm people) means that each congressman represent roughly 230K households (690K people). I realize that I should probably drill down to the state level to get better numbers, but directionally I'm comfortable with this math (someone please correct me if I'm wrong here).

So my congressman represents 230K households. Assuming that most Americans are completely apathetic to state politics (I'll try to get back to you with some data here), let's say that the majority of Americans don't know who their congressman is (I didn't until last month). Of those who do know their representatives, let's assume that the majority do not contact their congressman (or senators) regarding their personal views. You start to get the feeling that if you got hundreds (or even scores) of people to email or write a congressman on a specific issue, you could have a pretty strong voice in influencing votes.

While I know that I'm simply highlighting to most of you how a democracy is supposed to work, I guess I'm spelling it out if for only my benefit. I guess my point here is that I'm starting to feel very empowered.

I leave you with this link: www.congress.org

From here, you can type your zipcode to see your two senators and your (personal : ) representative. You can also sign up to get your representative's votes sent to you in a weekly email. Feels like this is a pretty powerful resource to start to get politically involved in what is taking place around you. I certainly plan to, and I'll continue to post blogs on what I find...

What is this blog about and why should I care?

I, like most of my contemporaries (and the majority(?) of Americans for that matter), have become increasingly concerned about how the Unites States is acting on the world stage. I think all of us like to believe that the US has traditionally been a positive force in helping shape a peaceful, benevolent…

(JPF commentary: I quickly find that there is a balance that a writer must strike between getting thoughts down en masse and finding the perfect words and phrasing that not only capture the exact point, but also make the writer sound sophisticated and smart. I'm going to try to err on the side of the former (bulk thoughts), but I must admit... my ego may slow me down)

(Back to the post)… I think all of us like to believe that the US has traditionally been a positive force in helping shape a peaceful, benevolent, diplomatic global political environment. Of late (last 6 years, no coincidence) it feels as though this stance/position has shifted, not just slightly, but nearly 180 degrees. As I’m sure everyone reading this has a few (scores?) examples or thoughts on the subject, I’ll wait for future blog postings to get into the specifics of my personal opinions or concerns about the current state of politics.

The general point of this blog (if there is one) is to start to air my thoughts on local, national, and global politics; expose my discoveries and my ignorances; and get reactions from people I trust on issues I care about.

I guess a secondary outcome of this blog may be to help empower a group of people (my friends and family for one) to start to become more involved in city, state, and national politics so as to be equipped with the tools and knowledge to effect change as quickly as possible; To get this once great nation back on track. The first of these “tools” is a simple website link. I’ll use this as a transition into my next post…

Blogging is fun and easy (and scary)

This is my first official blog. Does this make me a "blogger"? I guess definitionally 'Yes'. Funny to think of myself as a "blogger".

For those of you who don't blog, if you're interested in putting some thoughts down in a pseudo-public forum and you feel bad constantly spamming emails to your friends, blogging seems to be the thing to do. I was surprised how easy (and FREE!) it was to set up a blog. I only tried www.blogger.com but found it to be so simple that I didn't need to look elsewhere.

The funny thing about blogs is that you don't really know who your audience will be. Obviously when you are typing an email, you thoughtfully consider who you're sending it to. I guess more and more, however, when forwarding emails is just a button click away, you do have to be somewhat conscious of unintended readers getting a copy of your email, but surely sending an email is not as unnerving as the feeling of posting a blog. It feels almost as if you're being "published" (in fact the button you click to post your blog is called "Publish Post"). While this may not be an ominous feeling to some (I'll use this as a segue into my next post), it is for me...

Test Posting

Just making sure this works...
Testing fonts
Thanks for listening.