Political Year 2012

We are on the threshold of what is guaranteed to be a memorable election year.  And that doesn't necessarily mean a good thing.  At stake are political clout, parochial agendas, and fragile egos…oh yeah, there's also that American way-of-life thing, foreign commitment, and domestic responsibilities.  Although many parallels can be drawn between the Mayan calendar's 2012 and the American Political Year 2012, there are probably greater consequences associated with the American political year than the end of the Mayan calendar.

As the United States stands in the doorway of 2012 it’s a country polarized almost beyond recognition in red and blue.  Okay, so maybe that's an understatement on my part.  Each passing day of hope for common sense and compromise on the part of civic and political leadership is giving way to the bombast and self-aggrandizement of distinct party agendas…and NEVER the twain should meet.  Just listen to ideologues and party leaders on any given day and on any given issue.  There is a hatred there that dips its toes comfortably into the pool of bigotry.  It doesn’t matter what the issue is there is always a political slant--either negative or positive--and none of which is moving this country in a positive direction.

This all concerns me…okay, it scares me.  The daily political reality defines this nation as red or blue, but what happened to red, white, and blue?  Did we have a "Red Dawn" event that I missed?  How did we allow our social growth and development to slip back to the color hatred and ignorance similar of a few generations ago?

Where have these attitudes and standing up for "what's right" gotten us?  For the past year Congress as a governing body has been leadership ineffective--little or nothing has been accomplished.  Although, I must admit, they have become quite good at finger pointing.  But it does become quite tiring to hear blame placed on the President for issues that Congress has the ability to correct.  This isn't a dictatorship, so why does the Congressional finger pointing keep trying to give him that ability?  And as for the President, I really appreciate efforts to help veterans and their families, but the administration probably has a lot more in common with Jimmy Carter than the Reagan years he likes to quote from in recent speeches.

Currently, unemployment is being sustained at levels that are keeping our economic growth floundering on the world market.  Education of our youth has been dumbed down due to cost cutting strategies that large numbers of IT positions go unfilled because many of our citizens are not trained and qualified to handle the job.  Consequently, this leads to out-sourcing the positions out to international markets with populations trained and educated to meet the technological advances.  And the list of issues goes on and on--as does the finger pointing.

Not much longer can the American people accept or ignore what is going on with our leaders.  Like with any family there has to be the ability and acceptance of give and take to be successful.  Hard lining like what we are experiencing is dysfunctional.  Putting the progress of a nation in the backseat to a polarized political agenda is reckless and irresponsible.  And in the mean time these stances continue to drive the train into 2012.  Hopefully, common sense will prevail and the realization will set in that it's not red, not blue, but red, white, and blue that will be the road for our nation's success.

Time to Turn the Page

Last night the US President announced the end of combat mission in Iraqi.  While I applaud his actions, especially with the announcement occurring on my final day in the US Army, it concerns me whether or not it’s being done for the right reasons.

Why the war in Iraq was initiated in the first place is one for historians and politicians to argue and debate in the years to come.  Personally, I am beyond that – too many hours were spent on this particular at the USAWC – now my focus is our extended family that continues the mission in my absence.

The President noted a couple of issues that immediately caught my attention: the “violence will not end” and the remaining US military will redirect their efforts to an “advising and assisting role.”  That being said, of concern is the issue of rules of engagement for the troops in Iraq.  Will they no longer have the ability to adequately protect and defend themselves while in theater?

The President also noted, “We must use all elements of our power.”  That should be a given in times of any crisis – foreign or domestic.  As for “Diplomats, aid workers, and advisors – are moving into the lead,” the question becomes, Where ya been??  Because the State Department was too slow on the upswing of resolving the issues of nation rebuilding as well as a number of the NGOs, the military in many cases had to step up to the traditional civilian roles to put in place civil infrastructure or see to their creation.

In the Q&A session the White House communications office had on uTube following the President’s speech there were a couple of reoccurring questions that probably was on everyone’s mind.  Will the money we have been putting into the war now be used on other things to jump-start the economy? And, How much will ending the Iraq war save in defense spending?

In this time of recession and depression fears these are realistic questions each of us should be asking our elected representatives – especially with elections less than two and a half months away.  But before anyone runs off to play stump the chump with the candidates there’s a couple of tidbits of information to also keep in mind.  One, this war has been for the most part done on the cheap – in terms of money.  In previous wars the nation postured themselves into a wartime footing taking significant amount of funding and materials into the fight. 

While there was significantly more funding available to prepare our military for war from what was allotted prior to 9-11, it was still not at the levels experienced in previous wars.  Of note, the latest weapon, the M-4 rifle, is still not fully fielded throughout the Army; consequently, Soldiers aren’t normally issued the weapon until they are preparing for deployment.  Helicopters lost in the war are not readily replaced, but shifted around from other aviation units not in the deployment window.  Most up-armored vehicles are kept in theater for rotation after rotation after rotation – sooner or later someone is going to have to absorb the cost of their replacement.  And the list goes on.

There are also the post-deployment medical costs that have only just begun.  We the people cannot afford or allow the affects of PTSD, suicide, physical trauma, and other disorders to simply slip to the back pages of everyday life.  These kids stepped forward when our nation called and rode to the sound of the guns to help preserve our way of life.  So, lets not make their care an issue of political contention.

The bottom line, it’s reasonable to assume this war will continue to cost us long after the last Soldier turns out the lights and flies back to the world.

What the President and I do agree on – yes, it’s time to turn the page.

Issues of Transparency

The past 72 hours has been a period where issues of openness have dominated the news.  Although transparency was not the headline-grabbing point, it has found itself the bottom line theme in each of the three cases. 

Dominating this week’s events has been the wikileaks.org disclosure of classified documents pertaining to the current war in Afghanistan.  For the most part this story is much ado about nothing.  The vast majority of military operational intelligence summaries and after action reports outside the United States involves some level of classified status.  And in the case of these reports, they provide a nauseous lineup of abbreviated situation reports, after action reports, and ambiguous speculation of interviewed civilians.  Fortunately, the published information was not at the Top Secret or above levels . . . this time.  According to the media talking heads this is the work of an intel analyst disgruntled with the conduct of the war in Afghanistan.  That’s fine, we’re all entitled to our opinion, but there are means in place to address such issues.  There is a more effective route of protected disclosure better suited to handle the individual’s issues – unless, of course, you are harboring a more profitable agenda than doing the right thing.

The drama continues to evolve with BP as CEO Tony Hayward steps down and is replaced by Robert Dudley.  How did this all happen?  BP’s arrogance and attempt at slight-at-hand damage control proved ineffective for what will no doubt find its way into history books as the worse manmade disaster against nature.  What BP didn’t count on was the ruthless accountability of the American federal, state, and local governments – not to mention the watchdog efforts of the US media.  The petroleum board of directors should have taken the bull by the horns and addressed their problem immediately while simultaneously providing full assistance to the local communities – that’s just what good neighbors do.  More importantly, the multinational corporation should have been upfront with the world as to what they could or could not do, and not hide behind shroud their lawyers and the “we’re here for you” media campaign they recklessly tossed out to the American people.  Having recently flown over the effected area, this mess is going to impact the southern US shores for decades to come – long after BP executives have their lives back.

The 36,000 citizens of the Central California town of Bell are in an uproar over the disclosure of the out of control pay hikes for its city leaders.  A civic government is supposed to be of the people, for the people.  As a result, and especially in this case, there should have been a transparency of actions and accountability to the community it supports.  Then again, how did the voters allow such actions to occur over several years?  Were there no oversight or other checks and balances in place from the citizens or local unions that make up the government employee base?  Am sure this unfortunate incident has inspired an active community involvement in all future government and local political issues.