Tag: Leadership

THE SHUTDOWN CONUNDRUM. IF I WERE THE PRESIDENT

When the president of the United States said in his press conference couple of days ago that you can’t impeach someone who is doing a good job, as you can see from the attached YouTube video, I bowed my head in shame and wept for America.

Why did I weep?

First of all, there is this thing called the law, Mr. President. If you break it, irrespective of the end that came out of your unlawful activity, you will still have to be held accountable for breaking the law. Our president, who is supposed to be an embodiment of the law, just said to the world, that if a robber should rob a bank, regardless of the fact that he/she broke the law by robbing a bank and enriching him/herself at the expense of the public, so far as he/she donates part of his/her loot to charity, that he/she should be let go. Just like that.

How did we get here, America?

Never in the history of these united states have I seen a public servant, much more the president of the United States, publicly, at every given opportunity, undermine the rule of law and obstruct justice. Do you need a laundry list? Of course, you do not.

I digressed. Let us refocus.

Sometimes politicians accuse their colleagues of oversimplifying matters they themselves thought were complex. But the fact of the matter remains that many problems facing our country today are matters that have simple solution. What is/are lacking is the political will to do, but more importantly, the courage to do what is right and easy to do. If our politicians should consider themselves public servants who serve for the ‘general’ public good and worry less about their job security, things will be different today. And do not call me naïve. Because we have a history of statesmen and stateswomen in this country, both living and dead, who have in the time past paid political price for the ‘general’ public good.

Having said that, if I were the president, how do I go about reopening the government in such a way that America will come out a winner, not the democrats, not the republicans, and definitely, not any extreme group.

Border security is very important to this country. We cannot live in a borderless society. And we cannot have people flooding into our country illegally. Furthermore, we cannot continue to allow the flood of drugs unchecked into our country. But that is a story for another day because if there are no demands from us, no market for their products, there will be no incentive for drug peddlers to be flooding us with drugs. And to be candid, these two-bit criminals are not sophisticated enough to be braving our security personnel and technology at our borders. There are people in high places who enable the ease with which these drug peddlers beat our system. The wall is no solution to any of these. They tunneled themselves from Mexico into a vacant KFC Restaurant in San Luis, Arizona. Think about that for a minute. The wall as is currently proposed the president and his supporters, to every sane person, is just a symbol of us versus the other. Complete politics and no substance.

Continue reading “THE SHUTDOWN CONUNDRUM. IF I WERE THE PRESIDENT”

IDEAS IS WHAT REPUBLICANS NEED TO LEAD

Call it manifesto, agenda, or ideas, every leader aspiring for a public office have one, which they market to the people, and upon election, hits the ground on Day One to start its implementation for the good of the people. The Republican Party in the 2012 general election perpetuated hate for Obama and making him a one-term president their agenda. That fell flat. However, repealing Obamacare sold for Republicans in the 2014 midterms and handed them Congress. But repealing Obamacare is not an idea. It is simply an act of  trying to undo a necessary but not-so-perfect program which works well for majority of Americans and replace it with………….nothing.

The Republican Party now controls both chambers of Congress. But it requires ideas to lead. Ideas that can put folks back to work. Not just any other job. But good-paying career jobs. Ideas that can shore up the economy and spur the United States to reclaim from China the #1 spot as the world’s largest economy. Ideas that can make college affordable for all Americans that desires to earn a college degree. Ideas that can rebuild and modernize infrastructure across the country. Ideas that acknowledge that our veterans who put their lives on the line in both far and near countries for the freedom we enjoy deserves to have roof over their heads when they return rather than dwell in homelessness. Ideas that will work for all Americans irrespective of political party leanings, ideology, sexual orientation, race, or economic status.

So far it seems like there are dearth of ideas among the Republican Party fold.

It is easier to outline and in your arguments to the electorate on why they should choose you to lead, articulate your ideas to them before being elected to any public office. It makes the work easier for the public official to lead because he already have a manifesto that he campaigned on and which the population gave him/her the mandate to come on down and implement. So on getting to office, he runs with his manifesto. But when there was nothing that you ran on than vilifying the dude doing something, on getting to office, you may waste your first year in office because there is no clue on what is priority for the people and what is not. There will be many interests clawing for your attention. Political party interests. Special interests. Concerns to retain your seat in the next election cycle, and at the bottom of the list, concern for the welfare of the people and country.

Meanwhile, folks do get lost at the onset on how to lead and the direction to lead a country to. Both smart and dumb folks.  But the good news is that smart people who have caught themselves clueless in the middle of the road do manage to recalibrate their steps and position themselves to implement well thought-out policies for the good of the people. And despite being somewhat lost at the onset, they succeeded at creating a legacy for themselves. I honestly hope, for the good of the country, that the GOP will find their way sooner than later.

 

 

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