A ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Is this what “Make America Great Again” really looks like? Let’s take moment to look a little deeper.

Here we are, embarking on a frantic new path……with new leaders and new directions. Set aside for a moment your personal Trump feelings ……be they adoration or disgust. (There seems to be little middle ground.) Instead, concentrate on where this path we have chosen for ourselves may take us. (Let’s not forget that our entire population, all of us, had a part in making that choice.)

As hard as it might be to imagine, let’s focus on circumstances that might produce a degree of agreement among our citizens. For instance, I am guessing that most of us believe that our great nation ought to face up to its nagging debt problems, both public and private. Beyond that we ought to rein in the cost of living, and bring a living wage and adequate housing to more of our people.

Assuming that we could agree on those broad objectives, are tariffs, deportations, and removal of government agencies the way to accomplish those goals? I don’t know. Truth is, no matter what I think of our new leadership at this early stage of the game I am not smart enough to know what will work and what won’t.

So let’s start at the beginning. Are there things that ought to change? We have already noted a few possibilities. Beyond those broad goals, who among us would be surprised to learn there is some level of fraud and corruption embedded in our multi-trillion dollar government……things that ought to be weeded out? I for one take that as a given.

But now the question is……will this new team of intrepid corruption fighters solve any of those problems, or simply plant a new crop of ‘bad seeds’ in the dirt they have uncovered? Again, I don’t pretend to have those answers, but you know what they say about history repeating itself.

If you are like me you have spent a lifetime, perhaps a long lifetime, observing our government in action……how it worked, and how it impacted its citizens. Though the names and faces kept changing, the way things were done was usually quite predictable. 

But now……perhaps for once in our lifetime……it feels like everything is changing. We seem to be setting off on a road less traveled. You and I may judge the results as better or worse, but they are definitely different. What are we to make of that?

Rather than judging our new leader by his personal traits, what he says, and who he brings to his team……may I suggest that the minimum test we ought to hold him and his government to is their ability to address and achieve the goals that most all of his constituents accept as desirable outcomes for a UNITED States of America.

So how shall we gauge the efforts of these new ‘crime fighters’? I suppose there are many ways to measure governmental results. But rather getting bogged down in ‘government babble-speak’ I would suggest that we take a moment to note some of the societal ills that most of us, on either side of the aisle, would like to see addressed…..things like the following: (In no particular order.)

• Contain inflation
• Strengthen necessary social support systems
• Help unite our divided population
• Avoid mass layoffs
• Increase the minimum wage, which has been $7.25 since 2009
• Deal with housing & rental costs 
• Institute a fair and orderly immigration/asylum system
• Assure Social Security and Medicare programs
• Plus any others items on your personal list.

It seems to me that is how he ought to be judged. That is what we deserve.