The Wrong Guy

Have you ever known a girl who was dating a guy who was really bad for her? The evidence is all around but she is completely blind to it. Instead of admitting what those around her can clearly see, she gets mad at you for telling her.

That’s a lot like talking to Obama supporters. On the one hand, you care about your friend. On the other, it’s hard not to think, you get what you deserve.

Yeah, it’s a lot like that.

What Might Have Been

What would you have done with an extra $2,500 to $4,000 dollars over the last four years? While it’s difficult to pin down the exact amount over the four-year period, there is no disagreement that the U.S. median income has declined, and substantially.

Depending on who you are, here are some of the things you could have done.

Pay off a credit card (or two)

Go to DisneyWorld (or DisneyLand)

Drop in on the kids in another city

Buy a car

Go on a mission trip

Buy an iPhone

Donate to charity

Go to movies

Beer and pizza

Buy a new computer

Pay down a student loan

Entertain – more parties

Eat better

Vacation in Florida

Follow your football team to away games

Download more music and games

Visit a friend in another city

Pay down a mortgage

Visit the parents

Buy a bike

Help a neighbor

Buy a new washer and dryer

Take a skiing trip

Buy new skis

Celebrate an anniversary – in style

Go to concerts

Pay the cable bill

Save more

Pay the rent

Buy new clothes

Pay the utilities bill

Have Starbucks (every day)

Go home for Thanksgiving

Eat more fruit (it’s expensive)

Take the family to nicer restaurants

Fly to Paris

Buy a flat-screen TV (a really nice one)

Buy a Les Paul guitar

Spa-massage treatment

Buy an engagement ring

Get married

Have a baby

Get a puppy

Start a business

Pursue your dream

What would you have done?

Solving Chicago (Rahm…call me)

On August 3, 2007, The Tennessean published my column on solving our education problem here in Nashville. Since the Chicago system seems like it could use a little help, I am republishing the article as a public service. I never got a call from Metro Schools but maybe the Chicago Schools are more desparate. (Rahm…call me).
—-

Since a solution seems rather simple to me, I’ve decided to solve our education problem. I will ask $1 million annually (after tax) for my services. I will not raise that amount in my lifetime. I will need a bank account and a computer. I will put all of the monies devoted to education into the bank account. I will make a list of all students (public and private) eligible to attend school in Metro-Davidson and put them into an excel spreadsheet. I will then divide the total in the bank by the number of kids in the spreadsheet and write a check to each student for that amount. The check will require two signatures, or endorsements. The first will be the student’s parent(s); the second will be the school. The check can only be cashed by a school. A portion of my $1 million will go toward an annual audit of the bank account. That is my plan.

The student and his parent will have the choice of where to attend school (public or private). Schools will compete for the child’s education check. This is how education is done in most of Europe. Since the school must prove its value to the student and his parents, schools will offer incentives to better teachers. Bad teachers will be let go. Schools will develop niches. Some may concentrate on college prep and some on vocations. Some may gravitate towards music and others towards sports. Each school will offer the cores of education – math, science and literacy – because the parents, whose check is the source of the school’s budget, will hold the school accountable for how well they teach. Schools will also have the choice of accepting or declining a student. Because a student knows he must meet certain standards in order to attend his school of choice, education will become a privilege – not a right.

Based on this system, I don’t think we will need “more money for education” for at least ten years, maybe longer. Of course, there will be a period of adjustment while all this shakes out. But I promise you this – students will be better educated, and both students and teachers will accomplish more than they’ve ever imagined. Grades will go up significantly – guaranteed. Instead of being mired in mediocrity, students and schools will be given the key – a choice – to unlocking their unlimited potential.

I will be waiting for Metro Nashville-Davidson’s call. Once my plan is up and running, I will turn my attention to solving healthcare. (Hint: it won’t be more government).

John Shaw

 

Obama is a One Trick Pony

Obama’s plan to create jobs for the next four years is the same one he had the last four years – more spending. First it was his $860 billion ‘stimulus plan,’ then his ‘jobs plan,’ and now, his ‘Invest in America plan.’ The names have changed – the plans have not. They are all the same plan – spending, spending and more spending.

From 2008 until today I have been telling anyone who would listen that the President’s plan will not work and that his Presidency would lead to a “poorer, weaker… America.” Obama promised the moon in 2008. Not only would he fix the economy and unify the country, he would lower the sea levels and heal the planet.

My purpose is not to offend people but to warn them. Obama predicts his ‘plan’ will fix the economy if we’ll give him one more chance. If we do, and if he is reelected in 2012, my prediction is a cataclysmic failure of the United States’ financial system in the not too distant future. Obama could be right and I could be wrong. But I was right in 2008.

So I ask, who are you going to believe – me or the President?

AN HISTORIC PRESIDENCY (QUE SERA, SERA)

AN HISTORIC PRESIDENCY

‘Que sera, sera’

HISTORIC UNEMPLOYMENT
HISTORIC NUMBER OF AMERICANS IN POVERTY

HISTORIC NUMBER OF AMERICANS ON WELFARE

‘Whatever will be will be’
HISTORIC DEFICIT SPENDING AND DEBT
HISTORIC DECLINE IN HOUSEHOLD WEALTH

HISTORIC DECLINE IN MEDIAN INCOME
‘The future’s not ours to see’
HISTORICALLY HIGH GAS PRICES
HISTORIC DIVISION IN WASHINGTON, DC
HISTORIC DIVISION AND VITRIOL BETWEEN AMERICANS
‘Que sera, sera’

Why Quit Now?

Sometimes I hear people say, “Why won’t politicians just tell us the truth and stop lying to us?’ And that’s a good question.
But I think a better one is this: Why should they stop lying to us when so many of us believe?
If every politician kept his or her promise to go to Washington and balance the budget, the budget would be balanced.

There are ways to know if your Congressman or Senator is actually telling the truth.

For instance, the American Conservative Union (don’t be afraid of ‘conservative,’ when it comes to fiscal responsibility) http://conservative.org/ ranks them on actual votes – objective measures of what they are actually ‘doing’ in Washington, not what they are ‘saying’ back home.

A simple example is Senator Marco Rubio (R, FL) vs. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D, CA).  Rubio has a lifetime score of 100. Pelosi has a lifetime score of 2.48 out of 100.

You can read more about how the ACU scores Congress’ votes at their site. I think you’ll find it pretty objective – maybe not perfect – but pretty good.

I guess it comes down to this: If we really want to know the truth, we will find it. But if not, they will keep lying and we will keep believing. It’s as simple as that.

America: Sacrificing Foundational Principles for Transitory Issues

The rule of law is a founding principle. Gay marriage is an issue. A nation governed by law, not men, is a founding principle. Welfare is an issue.

When Congress, with its 435 members of the House and 100 members of the Senate, passed, and President Cinton signed into law, the Defense of Marriage Act, that was representative government. Our elected representatives acted on our behalf and the affirmation that marriage was the union between one man and one woman was the law of the land.

But when President Obama unilaterally refused to abide by the law, that was the rule of men.

When Congress passed, and President Clinton signed into law, the work requirement for welfare, that was representative government and the rule of law.

When President Obama unilaterally took the work requirement out of the law, that was the rule of men.

This dangerous departure from a basic, foundational principle is a primary source of the division we face in America today. Without its founding principles, America would be just another average nation, standing for really not much of anything, its people mostly looking out for their own self-interests.

That so many Americans don’t seem to realize the enormity of such a foundational shift, and how much we as Americans have to lose, tells me one of two things:

Either they don’t know or they don’t care.

Cool?

Why do liberals react to conservatives the way they do? You would think that, as confident as they seem to be of their beliefs, they would be open to hearing other ideas that may not be completely in line with their own. But most are not…I mean, seriously not. Like running and screaming with their eyes and ears covered not.

I could be wrong – but I think it comes down to this:

Liberals view conservatives and everything associated with them as not cool. And they want to be cool. And they are deathly afraid of anything that may convince them to change their mind and become un-cool.

Actors are cool. Accountants? Not so much.

But cool isn’t necessarily accountable. Cool isn’t necessarily responsible. Cool doesn’t necessarily make the hard decisions when failure could lead to financial disaster.

I think it would be cool to face the truth and make the hard decisions that need to be made – before we have to.

Maybe it’s time for liberals to check their courage meter.

“Shredding” Medicare?

How would you like to have the same healthcare plan that Congress has? Under the Ryan Medicare plan, you can. Or you can keep traditional Medicare or pay into your own plan with vouchers to help you purchase it.

But when the talking heads tell you that the Ryan plan will “shred” Medicare, that is not true. Why? Because Medicare has already been shredded for $716 billion dollars. Where did that money go? It went to Obamacare.

Obamacare will destroy Medicare. The Ryan plan will save it.

And let me make this promise. I will never lie to you to manipulate you. If I find that I am wrong about something I’ve said or written, I’ll be the first to admit it.

Get informed. Get involved.

The Social Contracts

Every society has its rules. They are like a roadmap to ‘the way we do things here.’ This is true in both primitive and civilized societies. Sometimes the rules are unwritten and sometimes they are written and highly codified.

Not all rules are created equal. Some rules can promote and lead to good behavior and some to bad. But whatever the rules may be, they are the underpinnings of the society. They are like the roots of the tree. The rules will influence and largely determine the direction and ultimate outcomes of a society.

Good things don’t happen by mistake. When schools, sports teams and companies are transformed from losers to winners by a new principal, coach or CEO, it’s because those leaders introduced new rules – effective methods and principles that, when followed, will produce graduates, wins and successes.

The best rules are free and fair.

Organizations that fairly and equitably reward hard work and doing the right thing will produce a good outcome. Those that reward based on wrong principles will reap something else entirely.

Though not perfect, the American system has generally been the former – its social contracts were set up to reward, fairly and equitably, hard work and doing the right thing. But that is changing.

Examples given:

Consider GM. When a company is in bankruptcy proceedings, by law, the investors (particularly the bondholders) have first right to recover. But in the case of GM the government stepped in. The rules had changed. The bondholders lost most of their investment. And that lesson was not lost on GM’s investors and the investment community at large.

Consider BP. The Gulf oil spill was a tragedy. But what government did next was an even bigger tragedy that will have a longer lasting effect on the U.S. economy. Officials from BP were invited to the White House and came out $20 billion dollars lighter. The Constitution guarantees that government cannot take anyone’s property without due process. But the rules had changed. And that message was not lost on BP and companies around the world.

These are just two examples. I could go on.

By the roots:

The American social contracts have traditionally been based on the rule of law, not the whims of men. Americans have a Constitution and a Representative Republic, not a King. There is no ‘transformation of America’ we can undergo that will make us a better country, a better people or a better society.

These ‘changed rules’ have broken America’s social contracts. They are like weeds in the fertile soil of a fair and just society. If they are not pulled out by their roots, they will do what weeds do – destroy the garden.