Perspective: How Should We Choose a Presidential Candidate?

Our country is in bad shape due to lack of Presidential leadership. We have been through six and a half years of doing nothing to stimulate the economy while doing everything to “transform” the country via redistribution of the wealth. Constant and repetitive talk about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer or that the wage level for unskilled labor is not growing is not an answer. We have had six years of such asinine rhetoric, and we don’t need four more years of it.  Meanwhile our foreign policy is in shambles.

That we are in such a weak position  is amazing considering our windfall of energy supplies, our leadership in the digital revolution and the worldwide leadership the US had a decade ago that pleased our allies and brought fear to our enemies.

So how are we to judge the candidates in terms of what the country needs? We currently have roughly 20 candidates running for President of the United States, and so far the Republican and Democrat candidates for President of the United States do not have specific and concrete plans for getting the US back on track. Many of the candidates just tinker around the edges or get lost in the weeds of alleged problems which do not require immediate solutions such as the decades old immigration problem and climate change concerns.

The candidate that we want should be able to state unequivocally what the major problems are and would show the proven leadership qualities to make us voters think that the candidate could and would solve them.

 

To start let’s list the major problems requiring immediate solutions.

1. Getting the US economy growing again
2. Dealing with the infrastructural needs
3. Dealing with the bankrupted entitlement programs
4. Dealing with the Islamic Terrorist problem

The Economy

The United States is in the best position in decades to grow the economy and create jobs because of our energy windfall and our worldwide lead in digital technology. Natural gas and the products it contains can reduce the energy of manufacturing and provide low cost building blocks for petrochemical and polymer products. Consequently, manufacturing can be encouraged to return to the United States creating high tech digital technology jobs. Coincidentally, millions of low-tech jobs can be created by converting petroleum fueled trucks, trains and even automobiles and their filling stations to compressed natural gas CNG replacing diesel and gasoline fuels.

Excessive Federal regulations, especially related to climate change, keep the US from capitalizing on these assets. Primarily what is needed is to go all out to develop our natural gas breakthrough and use it to replace other fossil fuels as rapidly as possible.

This can reduce green house gases by 25% and toxic emissions by even higher percentages.

In addition to the above, the tax structure for US manufacturing companies must be made competitive with that of overseas competition.

 

The public would agree, and these programs could be put in place by a new administration virtually at once.

 

Infrastructural Needs

Obviously, roads, bridges, electrical infrastructure, airport and rail facilities need to be kept in good repair. That they are not is unacceptable and requires little if any discussion. If government lacks the funds, that can be changed with the stroke of a pen. The aforementioned infrastructure plan needs to include pipelines to supply our natural gas to markets, and the Keystone Pipeline should be authorized at once. Bureaucratic barriers that impede market growth need to be removed, as well.

I am including our educational system as part of infrastructure. The shortage of high tech candidates for the growing digital jobs is an embarrassment and requires a whole new approach to education. An education system that was designed for the Industrial Revolution of the 1900’s is not what the Digital Revolution of the 21^st century requires. The fact that the Smart Phone contains the up to the minute information of the entire world’s knowledge should give educators a clue how to design and apply the new system.

For perspective, we students of the older system had to go to the school library to look up information in the schools usually only copy of the encyclopedia. Imagine what it would have been like to have had a “bookcase” attached to our desk to hold our very own encyclopedia? Nearly every school kid now has that in the palm of his/her hand. Moreover, it is up to date by the minute. You don’t have to wait for the updated book to arrive at your “bookcase”. Oh, and the information can be accessed verbally challenging whether the reading levels need to be equal for all students.

Another way to judge our educational system is to consider it as a business. Imagine that you are manufacturing a product that takes 12 years on the production line and costs about $100,000 to make. However, only 70% of the product meets specifications, i.e. graduates! How long would you be able to remain in business?

 

Entitlement Programs

The Social Security program was put in place in 1935, and was designed to pay out to citizens at age 65. Interestingly, the life expectancy was only 62 at the time so little would have to be paid out. Similarly, Medicare was enacted in 1965 when life expectancy was 67 years. Today, in 2015, life expectancy is 80 years. An elementary school math student could calculate that a system designed for death at 65 might be in financial trouble if the person lived 15 years longer. The problem gets worse. By the end of the century the life expectancy is expected to be above 100. As an aside, the elementary school math student could provide the answer in seconds with the Smart Phone. A thought for our politicians!

So what is to be done to save Social Security and Medicare? Easy! We can stay on the do nothing course we are on which means that the programs go broke so the Millennials, our grandchildren who are just entering the workforce, have nothing when they retire. Or, we could change the retirement date, or we could increase the amount starting workers pay in,  or both. None of these plans including doing nothing will affect those who have already retired. So, what is the problem? The problem is lack of a leader who will tell it as it is and lead us out of this quagmire!

Dealing With the Terrorist Problem

There is no question that we have a world-wide problem from terrorists. The question is what is the source of the terror? If you cannot define a problem, you cannot possibly solve it, and this current Administration refuses to call it what it is. The terrorist attacks are not “workplace incidents”! Clearly the attacks are caused by or instigated by radical Islamic jihadism, and terror is its tactic! And it is not confined to the Middle East. It is world-wide!

If it is radical Islamic jihadism, the next question is whether it involves all the billion plus Muslims in the world. A cursory inspection reveals that it does not involve the entire Muslim population of the world. But what it does reveal is that the good Muslims are frightened to death. They need someone they can trust to protect them. That requires strong US leadership.

At this point only a strong US president can provide that leadership. That leader could build a coalition of allies from Europe, the Middle East and especially the good Muslims who will want to join in the effort to rid the world of the radical Islam jihadists. Such a president would start by personally persuading the good Muslims to join the plan.

The current President’s unwillingness to lead has cost the US the support of the very Muslims we need most as allies against Islamic Extremism. Muslims in the Middle East, indeed in the world, have been terrorized into inaction by the brutal Islamic Jihadists who live among them. Imagine yourself in their place and you see Christians and Jews being beheaded for their being infidels, and you know that if you, a Muslim, were to disagree with the Islamic Extremists, you too would be called an infidel and treated the same way! Are you surprised that Muslims in the Middle East don’t lead as our current Administration claims they should?

In summary, what is needed in our new president is that he or she be first and foremost be a proven leader! A leader who will face the major problems as the ones that needs to be solved first. The number one problem is that the economy is not growing(worse it has shown negative growth this year). Moreover, this is the problem that is causing the stagnant wages and high unemployment. We need a leader who attacks the lagging economy as the primary problem and talks and acts like he or she understands that and is willing to do something to solve it!!! The solutions are at hand!!! And in the case of energy, switching to natural gas would ameliorate the climate change question, as well!