In Search of a Presidential Candidate with a Moderate Agenda

After seeing the possible presidential wannabes, Republican and Democrat, I find myself wanting someone completely different from all of them. On the Republican side, most have not even a whisper of a chance to be the party candidate much less successful in winning next November. On the Democratic side we have a woman who is saying nothing very interesting and a socialist who is, but only because his ideas are so far to the left.

None appears ready to take on some of the real issues facing our country.

While the Republicans are against illegal immigration, none was saying that we must seal our border, tighten our VISA system, and immediately deport those caught sneaking  in, instead of releasing them with hopes of future court dates, until Mr. Trump did. But he went on to say that all here now should be deported and their American born children should not be citizens. The Democratic candidates want full citizenship for those who flouted so many U.S. laws. I would like a candidate who will on one hand secure our border and visa system, require employers to use the EVerify system on all employees, immediately repatriate those caught recently crossing illegally, but on the other, let those who have established roots here stay with legal status but no path to citizenship. I have not heard one candidate suggest we develop a Marshall Plan for Mexico and Central America so that their citizens will want to stay and prosper in their own lands and that some already here might even want to return to their beloved homeland.

None has expressed a desire to reduce our military footprint in the world by closing many of our 700+ foreign bases and for being fully reimbursed by the host countries in which our bases remain. This could save us almost $100 billion a year and make America seem less like an imperialist nation which seeks to control the world. We would also be less likely to be the 911 of the world.

No hopeful is talking about dramatically reforming the federal income tax code to make it much more simple, fair, verifiable and revenue producing. The GOP candidates want to simplify the code but do it to make the rich pay less. The Democrats want the rich to pay for everything. I would like to see a tax code that considers all sources of income equally taxable, that has no itemized deductions or credits, replaced by a standardized deduction, and that has only five or six tax brackets and a lower top tax rate but one that would apply to one’s total income, not just the reduced net after all the itemized deductions and credits currently in place.

We hear no mention of making government more effective in providing services while preventing the massive fraud as we have seen in the Earned Income Credit, unemployment insurance and medical service charges.  Not one has suggested eliminating the penny and even the nickel, coins we never need and which cost more to produce than their worth.

I have heard only one presidential hopeful mention changes in Social Security to make sure it remains solvent, but his idea is to increase benefits threatening its solvency.  I have heard none say that we must crack down on fraudulent payments to recipients no longer with us. None has suggested we raise the contribution from 6.2% to 6.5% while raising the income ceiling from $118,500 to $200,000 nor that we change the way we tax the benefits so that all benefit payments are fully taxable not just 85% subject to tax. Taxes on Social Security benefits go right back into the fund.

And while many have concerns about the Affordable Care Act because of its mandatory individual enrollment, the penalties for non-compliance and the subsidies to healthcare organizations allowing them to charge more, none has recommended changes that would make enrollment voluntary, eliminating penalties. If insurers were able to reject any applicant, it would not have to be mandatory. If applicants are rejected by insurers, they could then get the “public option” which would be government-run like Medicare and Medicaid are now. There would be a share of cost. Rates would decline and subsidies might be unnecessary.  

Neither the liberal Democrats nor the conservative Republicans promised to right a century-old wrong and decriminalize marijuana, until Bernie Sanders did just now, finally..

And there is nothing but silence about ending poverty in our rich land affecting tens of millions of people, including half a million homeless, while much talk is heard about saving the middle class which can barely spend $600 billion on Christmas presents that nobody needs each year and contributes $400 billion to charities. 

No candidate mentions reforming high school curricula to better tailor coursework to student talents and inclinations, substituting courses that are not relevant to many students some that would be.

I have heard no candidate promise to ensure that the U.S. military will stay out of the Middle East conflicts which have no future prospect of being resolved as the countries there are currently configured. I have heard none say that these countries, many of whom were created last century by Western powers after the fall of the Ottoman empire, should be reconstructed to be either Shiite or Sunni but not both. None has called for an independent state for the Kurds.

I think that we need a moderate party with a candidate who is neither just liberal nor just conservative but finds a middle path between both extremes. I believe that we need it very much and very soon.

Making Lives Matter

There has been talk lately about making lives matter. Community members outside St. Louis rioted for more than four months when a young man was killed while attacking a police officer who had stopped him for committing a strong-arm robbery. The people were mad and showed their displeasure by looting and destroying local businesses. They began a campaign saying black lives matter.

So how do we make lives matter?

I think that it starts before the beginning - family planning. Today, half of all pregnancies in America are accidental and 40% of them are aborted. This is no way to make lives matter. Children should be planned by couples who are committed to each other and are willing and able to raise their children responsibly together.

Parents need to display positive role models for their children by living lives that reflect integrity and consideration - lives that matter. Parents are responsible for providing a clean, safe and nurturing environment ensuring that each child gets the best education at school and at home.  Any health issues that arise should be dealt with immediately and not allowed to worsen.

Society is also responsible for ensuring that our children get the education they need and deserve. Teachers should know their students’ strengths and weaknesses and students should have the help they need to get the very most out of their educational experience which in turn will help them develop throughout their meaningful lives. Society is also needed to provide adequate and available medical coverage and facilities to prevent or deal with the onset of potentially serious conditions.

The idea introduced by the President to extend public education to community college, adding two years to the K-12 series, could be a great benefit. It would give students more applied knowledge and skills that could lead to meaningful careers for a comfortable life and help make life matter for the individual and for all those affected by the graduate’s work. This idea has been practiced in Europe for more than a century.

For those who want to go to a four year college, the extra two years of public school could also be used to take all the general education courses required by four year colleges. Students could then enter college as juniors with only two years until graduation, taking mainly courses for their major and minor plus courses they take as electives. This would greatly reduce college costs, enable students to graduate sooner, and would probably get more students to actually complete college.

Life matters when we know what our special talents are and can find ways to apply them for personal and public good. This will help us feel a part of our community, society, culture, and world, not apart from it. People who feel a part of their environment, don’t riot to destroy it. They work to improve it.

The Jewish belief is that we were created in an unfinished, seemingly imperfect, world so that we could live our lives to heal the world (tikkun olam). This pursuit gives our lives meaning.

The challenge according to Eastern religion is to overcome the negative effects of past karma, what we experience as entropy, without creating more. So destroying lives and property to protest loss of life or property is to only prolong and deepen the problem leading to the suffering by creating more disorder/ disorganization/ karma/ entropy. Rioting for months and destroying businesses does not make life matter. It makes life seem to have little or no meaning. 

I believe that it also is important to raise our children with an accepted value system which would include being honest; considering the needs of others; being dependable; maintaining a clean and neat appearance; being non-violent; treating figures of authority with respect; and perhaps, most importantly - doing everything and treating everyone not only as a means, but also as an end.

Society has an obligation to provide a safe and just environment for all of its people. This includes ensuring that all police officers are well-trained in de-escalating potentially violent situations; that they refrain from targeting certain groups; and that they use deadly force rarely, and only as a last resort. A just environment includes efficiently and effectively enforcing laws and prosecuting violations fairly and without bias.

And, I think, that the news media have a significant role to play in making our lives meaningful. We need to be told the whole story as clearly and concisely as possible without editorializing it, embellishing it, sensationalizing it or leaving out important parts. Reports should be objective and be presented without emotion. This kind of coverage would not only provide us with needed information about what is happening around us but it also could show us a model for viewing, understanding and describing our environment - our context.  This would help us make life matter.

As adults, we can make our lives matter by being more concerned about being able to take pride in our efforts, than in our ancestry, affiliation, or our preferences. What we do is a better reflection of who we are than are our names, group memberships or labels. 

Society has a role to play to ensure that there are enough jobs for people who need them and that working people are paid a fair, living wage.  Not earning enough to enjoy the fruits of our labor can make us question whether or how much our lives matter.

I think that life matters when we feel free to express ourselves and also free to keep certain information to ourselves. Our private lives should remain private and not be exposed to invasion or exploitation. When we choose to express ourselves, we can do so thoughtfully and with consideration for the audience. Why waste words on someone who clearly does not care? Why say things that would hurt the listeners by making them feel inadequate? Why bear false witness only to make truth and life have less meaning?

If life is to matter, we need the individual, the family and the community to take responsibility for its maintenance and refinement.

All lives matter as long as we each behave as though they do.