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Simple
Rules for Powerful Solutions:
Violation
of Simple Rules Creates Problems that Defy Solution
Can
you imagine the Federal Government actually solving a problem?
Imagine
an agency that solved the problem it was created to solve and
announced its success by closing its doors. You may smile at
the thought because you know it
will never happen.
The part of you that smiled, the part of you that knows this is
the case, is also the part of you that will understand that
these simple rules will create powerful solutions.
Our
world has grown exponentially more complex in the last 50
years. Our communication,
technology, medical care, engineering, and bio-tech industries
present not just additional productivity, but life and social
altering alternatives. Our communities have moved from an
agrarian to high tech, from single cultures to socially diverse
societies in my mother's lifetime.
Washington
out of fear of change has added controls to manage this change.
The
problem with this approach of course, is that hierarchal
political structures are outmoded and too corrupted to
manage the complexity of modern life. The political process is
unable to gather information, assess what we need and create a
generic set of detailed regulations that control our lives.
This process would fail even if the law was perfect.. However,
laws are never perfect - they are always corrupted by special
interests. And they are always out of date and need fixing.
However,
there is something the federal government can do.
And that is create and enforce a set of simple rules
that allow us, the
citizens, apply our creativity, genius and good will to ongoing
and evolving problems. We understand our own needs far better
than an ego-driven politician. We are far more creative than an
agency bureaucrat. We can police our own morality on a
community basis much better than a "war on whatever."
We can spend our local money so much more efficiently than
Congress. And, most importantly, we can deal with these
problems much more respectfully of individuals and communities.
When
I get to Washington, my top priority will be to make the
federal government useful to the citizens of America, by giving
it the role it can achieve - creating and enforcing
simple rules that everyone can follow. These
simple rules standardize how we regulate our conflicts with
minimal intrusion.
RULES
Government Creates for Us:
A
Crime is only a crime when you hurt or threaten someone else
Laws
that want to control our morality are intrusive and create more
problems than they solve. What if, each of us could live our
lives as we pleased, according to our own morality? Could that
be so bad?
When
we violate this simple rule, we create a cascade of calamities.
For example, the drug war has corrupted our law enforcement,
overseas governments, funded terrorists by provided easy cash
and has placed more minorities in prison than South Africa did
during apartheid. For what purpose? Illegal drugs are cheaper,
stronger and more available than before the first drug Czar was
inaugurated.
The
purpose of law is to expand individual choice.
The
world used to be ruled by Kings. Royalty believed that citizens
were like children and needed the wisdom of the crown.
Countries with technological power enslaved peoples from more
primitive cultures claiming that those people were like
children and needed white supremacy. Dictators claimed that
they could make the trains run on time if their citizens turned
over power to them. Marxists claimed that individual was
subservient to the common good as they, the elite defined it.
Conservatives
now claim that they know best what is morally right for us.
Liberals claim that they can create programs that although
reduce choice, create a better world.
The
world is changing. Power continues to move from hierarchal
structures to individual freedom and individual choice. The
force of creativity, effectiveness and moral integrity give
increasing strength to this position.
We
no longer desire kings, slavery, dictators or the corruption of
central planning. Yet we still hold on to the delusion in spite
of years of failure, the Washington political culture can make
better choices for us then we can as individuals.
The
simple rule is that individuals make their own choices for
everything. Period. What we eat, what drugs we take, what
financial agreements we create are best determined in voluntary
cooperative agreements. This removes Washington from having to
take the side of one group or the other. As Washington recedes
from our lives, we, the creative dynamic citizens will replace
the ossified bureaucratic structures with living breathing
entities that are designed for our benefit as WE see it, not as
defined by Washington.
RULES
Government Creates for Itself:
Government
Makes Simple Rules, People Solve Complex Problems
This
rule represents the power of complex adaptive systems. What
this means is that people have the most information about what
they want and need and and know the best way to get what they
want. To move beyond their own nose, they need voluntary
cooperation from others and need to appeal to others self
interest to accomplish their desires.
On
a larger scale, this means everyone is working to get what they
want in the most efficient manner possible. This explosion of
energy and creativity creates complex structures built from
repeated behaviors - each behavior repeated only when it is
successful for everyone concerned. The flexible structure is a
continual representation of the best interests of everyone.
Reward
what works, punish what fails
In
all of our lives, we are rewarded for what works. We soon learn
to stop doing those things that fail and if we don't we run out
of time, money or resources But in Washington, when a program
fails, what do the politicians do? They add fuel to the fire by
trying to fix last years broken laws, they ask for more of the
same program and they ask to spend more money to fix their
failures.. All programs need to have measurable results
attached to funding. If those results aren't met, the program
is automatically canceled. Every citizen has to work for a
living. Every program they are taxed to support should also
work just as well.
Fix
America First
Americans
are the most generous people on the face of the earth. We
voluntarily give billions of dollars to people in countries who
we will never see or never know. This is part of what makes us
a great nation. Let us continue our private and effective
foreign aid. But the government with its huge deficits should
fix America first. We all have this dream that if the United
States sends money overseas that it will fix their problems.
Hey, our government can't even fix our own problems. Foreign
aid has been a destructive force. Let's keep our money home and
fix America first.
Use
force only for self-defense
The
thought that we can create free and open societies in other
countries with the use of force, foreign aid, incentives,
covert activity is amusing at best. Each of these process is
destructive to that very end.
If
we use our massive resources for self-defense only, we can
apply an amazing amount of power to protect us from terrorists
and rogue nations.
RULES
We Create for Government:
Make
government so simple that any idiot could run it
Why
(other than the obvious reason) should our government be
simple? In spite of the intelligence and good intentions of
each individual politician, when you put them in a group, their
IQ drops precipitously. We now have political climate in
Washington that is a race to the bottom of the pork barrel. Is
there any evidence that these headline seeking power hungry
officials can run health care better than disaster relief or
war? There is NONE. So, let's make it easy for them. Keep is
simple by letting Washington create simple rules so WE can
solve problems.
The
More Sunshine, Fewer Cockroaches
Communications
has changed our world. We used to need brokers to take our
stock orders, type them into a special wire, print them out on
the floor of the exchange, walk them out to a broker on the
floor who executed the order. We used to need travel
agents to book a simple flight. We used to need vast libraries
to do our research.
We
used to need local representatives to listen to our concerns,
get on a horse and ride to Washington.
We
now can do all this with a mouse click directly.
With
modern telecommunications, there is no reason why all
legislation can't be posted on the internet prior to voting -
for us all to see and comment and be polled. Special interests
don't want this to happen. Lobbyist will fight this to their
dying breath. Campaign managers who raise campaign funds that
depend on pork barrel earmarks will panic.
We
have demanded full disclosure from our corporations. Let's
demand the same from our legislators. And with that disclosure,
we can keep them honest with our feedback.
RULES
We Create for Ourselves:
Government
can't make me happy ... the pursuit of happiness is my job.
Many
of us want to believe that we would be happier if just the
"right people" were in office. The problem with this
dream is that the right people eventually become the wrong
people. As Lord Acton so rightly said, "Power tends to
corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Rather
than giving Washington the power to force others to our point
of view (an eventually permitting others to force us to their
point of view) let's give Washington the power to create and
enforce simple rules that allow all of us to live our lives as
we see fit.
We
can't command, change or organize others to cooperate in our
ideal world by using the force of law. We can, with our own
creativity and energy, build diverse voluntary communities that
support our values and goals without infringing on the rights
of others to do the same.
You
know how to run your life better than I do:
Despite
the temptation to think we can run others lives better than
they can, the truth is, that even if we could, we can't change
someone else. We can only change ourselves. With this attitude
we can respect the dignity and integrity of the individual.
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