Dear George,
When you became President, Mr. Washington - were you typically upfront and transparent or did you use detractions and misdirection to accomplish an objective [that might not have been popular or even fair] with most citizens of the new nation?
*Side Note: I'm recovering from Covid myself [OmnicromBA2] and of scientific research interest as well because like Tom Brokaw I too have Multiple Myeloma. Which-'Fellow-Travelers' brings me to my first point of discussion.
PANDEMIC: Covid by any other [variant] name has been/is a flagrant abuse of taxpayer funds and deliberate infringement to every citizen's personal liberty. It has also exposed just how inept management at the CDC [Center for Disease Control & Prevention] and National Institute of Health truly are...[See Jan 9 2021 Blog "Health-Care In America"] With that-for all we know the high [reported] Covid death rate could be attributed to a major CDC failing to address chronic HAI [Hospital Acquired Infections]. People admitted to a hospital are susceptible to a colonized infection [perhaps, from a poorly sanitized ventilator?] Even prior to Covid, 1 in 25 hospitalized Americans actually died as a result of Hospital Acquired Infections.
1. Caused by a swift rise in Federal and State Minimum Wage...Let's look at that. Everyone deserves a fair living wage, but what is a fair living wage? Typically, the cost of living is housing, food, transportation and clothing factored as basics. Then - if the wage of a 40-hour work week [after taxes] can't support those basics the employee's options are a] pick up more hours, b] seek a promotion, c] find a better paying job, d] develop other skills/return to school...BUT the vast majority of any minimum wage job was originally intended for 'temporary' workers like high school and college students . Except for low and mid level management ALL fast-foot, general construction, unskilled labor or part time entry jobs were 'never' intended as sole support for anyone. Those temporary workers were typically under age 21 and still living at home then after graduation from an apprenticeship or college they quit and moved on at which point a new 'crop' of students filled open places while they finished school.
2. Caused by a sudden reduction of oil and gas production...Let's look at that. One of the several dozen Executive Orders Biden reversed only a few hours after his inauguration was the XL Keystone Pipeline. He recently quipped when asked about that in light of rising fuel shortages that; Keystone wasn't relevant because it was 2years out when he took office. True, but it was 2years out--14 months ago! If that project had been left in place production would by now be completed this fall. Keystone aside - as the days and weeks following Biden's inauguration came and went that pipeline wasn't the only transport system of fossil fuel interrupted. There are/were 210 already well established and safely functioning pipeline networks across the United States that also connected to systems in Mexico and Canada. For decades pipelines have been a proven means of providing fuel and heat safely from the oil rigs to refineries to homes and vehicles. And - the 6,000 various petroleum products needed [daily] for transportation of goods and people, the military, road building and maintenance, food packaging and medical equipment and supplies--have all been cost-hijacked because of an arbitrary [Green] cutback in petroleum production....
CLIMATE: Sooo - if each and every one of those concerned environmentalists pushing for a complete block of all future oil and gas exploration and development have stopped using plastic water bottles and disposable diapers and are walking to work or riding a bicycle to the grocery store they have my attention. However-they still aren't approaching even a basic 'transition' plan away from fossil fuels. In fact the pseudo-environment-protectors are [actually] responsible for exchanging one issue for another. The surface and undersea mining of rare-earth minerals for batteries and other techno electric vehicle parts are creating surface scaring and ocean dead-zones. Damaged and replaced wind turbine blades along with damaged, expired and replaced solar panel parts have created an even greater, extended landfill problem. [See Oct 13 2021 Blog "Green And Clean In America"]
Decisions coming from this 46th Administration and this 117th Congress are not even remotely astute politically...Will the millions of illegals crossing the southern border gratefully vote Democrat in all future elections -because- they will magically appear on voting lists, which is why so many Dems object to photo ID and proof of citizenship? [Do drug dealers and human traffickers vote?] Or - will the millions of unskilled, marginally educated illegals become disillusioned because they get stuck with less than minimum wage jobs that too many college educated [legal] citizens won't do? [Perhaps Arizona Governor Dusey will join Texas Governor Abbot adding even more busses of illegals destined to Pennsylvania Avenue - since too many in public office make too many arbitrary decisions with no idea of any Dominio effect.]
N.A.T.O.: Just as Covid exposed the ineptitude of healthcare management in America - the Russian invasion of the sovereign Nation of Ukraine has exposed just how irredeemable the United Nations is and the weakness of NATO. Oh, NATO Members have hurried to 'look' like they're united, but mostly they're in 'butt-covering-mode'. Each nation scrambling to protect their own interests with zip regard for the millions of Ukrainian citizens caught between a government struggling to emerge as a functioning democracy [much like Poland 30 years ago] and a Russian leadership struggling to remain relevant. What IS the rest of the world doing in this 21st Century to truly address Russia and Ukraine? Mostly just watching - which has exposed something else...We now witness weak, ineffective leadership in western countries globally - and don't think each of the decisive dictators in the rest of the world aren't paying attention. Because they are the very event inept western leadership are trying to avoid could become exactly that event.
PRESS/MEDIA: Journalists with CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS-News Hour-Frontline have all been exposed via Trump's time in office and Covid for their single-minded, open favoritism and/or their State-Influence bias... Journalism was 'once' a nobble profession, one I was once proud to claim as my writing launch pad...Now, not so much. [See Jan 15 2021 Blog "Journalism In America"]
2020-US-MIDTERMS: We have "Truth In Advertising Laws", but it's not followed by election campaign ad producers -or- people running for public office - either before, during or after an election... Misdirection, "...the action or process of directing someone toward the wrong place or wrong view...". This is a common tactic in every performance by magicians and illusionists, but it has no place in public office and should 'not' be common practice for those seeking public leadership positions.
Democratic leadership requires a high level of trust. Voters [who are in fact peers] offer to share their collective power in exchange for the management and coordination of all the moving parts with city, county, state and federal affairs. A 'trust' given to the people who were voted into public office - to follow through with integrity. To hold a duly elected public office is not a blank check for personal influence or enrichment - but domestically and globally it's clear that has reached a steep tipping point.
RESPONSIBILITY: In the movie "American President" there's a line at the heart of the entire plot. "To be President is entirely about character." To which I would also add responsibility by those elected and those 'who' elect.
In the 21st Century the vast majority of people truly do not need to be 'led'...We are better educated with access to more information than in any previous century. We can select a career and follow through or start a new business or fall in love and raise a family. The vast majority of people can self-govern; they don't steal from or vandalize businesses, they don't rob or hurt other people, they attempt to drive with prudence...What we simply need is competent executives to 'serve' with strong management skills. That's about it...
We don't need leadership who - 'defund-police' or make masks mandatory for preschoolers or ban the sale of vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2030 or create inflation and supply chain problems by slowing oil and gas production or encourage illegal immigration or supports surface and ocean mining of rare minerals or yields to unions that have depleted education standards and disrupted solid businesses - so they get reelected...
Somewhere in all of this is logical information that WE-THE-PEOPLE have not bothered to research for ourselves. Our responsibility is to know who we're electing then maintain supervision after they are elected and be more informed than those misdirecting us, so we can 'call' them on any slight-of-hand falsehood.
Do we take back our responsibility for transparency control of this still evolving Republic, this unique democratic-experiment -or- do we let it dissolve...What do you want for your America this coming November 2022...
https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195
