He's b-a-a-a-a-c-k
And I wasn't here to greet him ... I'm mortified.
Welcome back, Troy, and thanks for your thoughtful commentary. We needed it.
Your point about compensation of public officials is excellent. I've always assumed we pay our officials well, in part because of the hoopla that surrounds congressional pay increases ... but I was wrong. A couple of weeks ago, I heard that the mayor of a large neighboring community draws an annual salary of $45,000. I offered the opinion that it was really $45,000 plus all he could steal. That got a laugh, but did nothing to remedy the problem.
Your comments are excellent. I'd like to add several of them to the AGREED POINTS in the iBox. The purpose of the agreed points is to develop a coherent set of fundamentals to serve as both a base and a measuring stick for recommendations. I'll list my choices here to encourage discussion before we add them:
* Voting must be a mandatory obligation.
* Students must have required courses in Preparing To Vote, beginning (at least) in the third year of high school.
* Eliminate political parties.
* Establish a hierarchy of public offices and require that candidates advance to higher office on merit.
Additional suggestions for AGREED POINTS are welcome. I urge anyone who disagrees with any of these points to post their dissent so we may consider their perspective.
Your comments on reducing the public expectation of government and the fact that more and more of our daily lives are monitored by our government, are excellent but I'm not sure how to restate them for inclusion as agreed points. In this regard, when we select better representatives, the character of the laws they pass will improve.
It's true that "The problems are intertwined and the solutions will need to be as well.", but I doubt that any solution which does not accept human nature as it is, rather than as we would have it be, will work.
Fred
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
