Monday, November 10, 2008

Obama's Opportunity

This is a unique moment and expectations for change are soaring.

Yet the early warning signals seem to indicate that Obama is likely to "stay the course" in too many respects. The President Elect tapped a member of the Clinton Old Guard to become Chief of Staff. The Vice President Elect is a member of the foreign policy establishment. Plans appear in place to increase the troop levels in Afghanistan and maintain the current Administration's Secretary of Defense.

Although it seems that real change could come if the new President has the will and imagination to think outside the box.

Imagine he ends "race, sex and ethnicity" based preference programs. With a Black man in the Presidency does affirmative action really have a place in American society?

Imagine he brings home the troops stationed in Japan and Germany. After all the war they won ended almost 65 years ago and the Soviet threat evaporated about eighteen years ago. Is it really appropriate to enforce a "Pax Americana" on the world any more?

Imagine he endorses a National Initiative to actually give the people the right to decide important policies rather than allowing the current corrupt system to continue without a check and balance. My personal favorite or all the possible forms of National Initiative is at "http://www.ni4d.org" and you can vote for it today. What if the President Elect were to endorse this concept?

These are just a few ideas. You no doubt have others equally outside the box and perhaps better than those offered by The Rainmaker. And, the new Administration has invited us to participate in suggesting audacious ideas. They have created a web site at "http://change.gov" where you can offer your suggestions. Although skepticism is tempting, what do you have to lose by offering a suggestion or several?

2 comments:

Cuthbert said...

You should note that there are two proposals for a nationwide initiative process. The one at NI4D.org bypasses the constitution’s amendment process. Consequently, the Supreme Court will find it unconstitutional. The one at InitiativesAmendment.org complies strictly with the constitution.

Louis Michael said...

Understood, the backers claim that by having a process similar to that used to ratify the original U.S. Constitution: See Article 7. The theory being that once 50 or 60 million citizens cast a ballot in favor of the proposed National Initiative that the Supreme Court will recognize the validity of the new proceedure under the 1st, 9th and 10th Amendments in the Bill of Rights.

I suspect your analysis is probably more realistic. I will visit InitiativesAmendment.org and have a look. I had not previously heard of that version. Thanks