Regardless of how you feel about the recent election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States, you have to recognize that he is inheriting one of the most difficult set of circumstances since FDR in 1933. He has to face:
- A spiraling stock market and weak economy with jobs disappearing at an alarming rate.
- Two wars whose cost are siphoning off this weakened economy.
- A federal budget that has been in deficit spending and totally out of control for eight years
- Underfunded and underperforming schools
- An unprecedented environmental crisis
Whatever your feelings about John McCain, you have to give him credit for the tone and content of his concession speech. He is absolutely right. This is a time of unprecedented national crisis. He is absolutely right that we need to come together and work together to resolve these issues in a bipartisan manner.
I hope he will be instrumental in leading the effort on the Republican side of the aisle. I hope President Obama will reach out to him and try to work with the Republicans, leading the Democrats in this spirit of bipartisanship. We need a spirit of national unity to address these problems.
Our status as a superpower is threatened. No nation can be a power without a dominant economy. Right now our power is based on limitless borrowing. With the economic crisis deepening around the world, this pool of borrowed money will soon dry up.
Regardless of where you stand politically, you have to be in favor of:
- A strong economy with good jobs that will stay here in America.
- A federal budget that is under control and that invests in America first.
- A strong and effective education system. This is the foundation of the middle class and the middle class is the foundation of a strong America (economically and socially). An educated workforce is the kingpin in the inventive and entrepreneurial capacity that has made America great.
- Energy independence. Energy independence makes us stronger economically and reduces our political and economic dependencies on hostile and unstable regions of the world.
- Infrastructure. America's infrastructure is crumbling. Roads, bridges, electrical grid, and Internet are all in need of maintenance, replacement, expansion, and updating.
That's a lot of common ground! This is something that should excite us, all this common ground! The four points above could easily occupy any President for at least one, maybe two, terms. If you don't like the idea of a President Obama, then wouldn't it make you feel better if you knew he was occupied with issues that you could agree on?
Don't get me wrong, I think the charge of socialism is an idiotic one. But, if you think he's a socialist, then wouldn't it make you feel better to know that Obama was occupied fixing bridges, helping Detroit retool to make the next generation of fuel efficient cars, and fixing our schools? The alternative, in your mind, might be that he erect statues to Karl Marx on Constitution Ave in DC, I guess...
So if we all agree that there is a crisis (pick one), and we all agree that it needs to be solved, then can't we all compromise in that spirit and come up with solutions and actions that effect Americans directly? Jobs, the economy, and the environment can all be addressed with the same initiative - the Green Economy.
A Green Economy would:
- ... invigorate the auto industry, making jobs and helping the environment by producing cleaner, more efficient cars.
- ... create jobs by building out a whole new infrastructure for distributing electricity ("the grid")
- ... in addition to weaning us from foreign oil, a $700 billion a year drain on our economy, the new electrical grid would create jobs in order to maintain this new grid. These jobs would be outsource-proof. A Chinese worker cannot maintain a distribution station in Nebraska.
- ... create jobs in the manufacture and research of new technologies like wind turbines and solar panels. With proper tax incentives we could make sure that these jobs stay in America over the long haul.
Notice how these points all feed into each other? The jobs created by a new auto industry help the economy and the environment by producing a whole new wave of efficient cars.
The creation of a new, clean, and renewably-based electrical grid creates jobs and helps the environment by distributing energy gathered from wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal sources.
All of this reduces oil consumption which has the dual effect of helping the environment and removing a major strain on our economy.
All of this would both spur and be spurred by a necessary boom in research. This would stimulate our universities and education system, creating the next generation of scientists and engineers who will be the future of American innovation.
All of these points are completely non-partisan in nature. Republicans and Democrats alike can come together around this core set of principles to do what's right for America and Americans.
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