MID SUMMER ELECTION FOCUS

One would assume, as the summer winds down, that thoughtful independent voters who have not yet focused on the presidential election or decided on a candidate, will begin to do so in the coming weeks.  Hopefully, as each voter completes their due diligence, they will avoid political commercials, cable news shows and political gossip from friends and family living on the ideological fringes.

 For the undecided voter, picking a president should not be an emotional response (like cheering for the Steelers) or one based on faulty or biased advertising (like buying breakfast cereal). To aid rational decision making, there are numerous unbiased journalists who will be giving assessments of the candidates.  Moreover, several one on one debates will be held before the election.

The candidates, both candidates, deserve measured consideration of their respective records and positions.  Behind the nastiness there are real issues.  I will leave it to others to explain the Romney position.  My view is that Barack Obama deserves to be reelected President, not because he has been an unqualified success, but because given the hand he was dealt, he has been a just, practical and dependable leader.

Obama’s policies, early and often, staved off total economic catastrophe and have avoided Europe’s fate.  He has advocated a sensible plan for increasing revenue and decreasing federal spending.  He has largely disengaged the United States from Iraq and set a firm time table for leaving Afghanistan.  He has kept terrorism at bay, both at home and internationally.  He has shifted our military strategic concerns to the Far East.  Significant progress has been made regarding gay rights and immigration. Most important, the President has passed landmark legislation that finally addressed one of the country’s greatest social problems: healthcare.

 I would argue that Obama’s policies, like those of many other great but beleaguered presidents will pass through three stages before being recognized as the right thing to do.  First, such policies are ridiculed by the political opposition; second, they are opposed by other branches of government; third, given the test of time, they are regarded as brilliant statesmanship. 

Is the economy improving? Very slowly and certainly not on an election friendly timetable for the President.  It is also true that all the troops will not be home by November.  Those who sought to defeat Lincoln at the end of his first term argued he had not yet won the Civil War. Sometimes great presidents and good timing are not destined to dovetail on Election Day. Too many factors are beyond the control of even the most powerful leader in the world.   This is no reason to reject a great president who will only get better. 

POLITICAL DRAGONS ARE DANGEROUS BUSINESS

One must admire Rep. Jesse White’s tenacity.  He is like an energized hobbit, nipping at the heels of the Commonwealth’s dragons. Unfortunately, the dragons pay him little attention or respect.

I agree with Mr. White’s recent commentary that the last minute selective ban on drilling in the South Newark Basin (the Philadelphia bedroom counties) was political chicanery of the highest order.  However, his own attempts to selectively carve out Washington County from the court mandated, constitutional and long overdue tax reassessment process was also pure political theater.  One might question how a small county elected official could author and introduce an unconstitutional selective ban regarding county assessments on the one hand and fight vehemently against a selective drilling ban on the other, but hey…a constituent vote is a vote, even if you are 0 for 2 on the legislation.

The bottom line is political power or rather the lack thereof in the local shire.  Pennsylvania’s political dragons, located along the eastern corridor, are not big on social media and spend most of their time, resting in their lairs.  When the time comes for action, usually in the wee hours of the morning, a short flight over the capital and a snort of flame gets the job done. Clearly the dragons do not want Harrisburg addressing county reassessment problems in the hinterlands of Washington County.  More clearly, these ancient power brokers do not want oil rigs obstructing the view from their mountaintops.

The Court (judicial) wizards, while often slow to act, have traditionally been an effective balance against the dragons.  They understand the fundamental justice of equality in taxation and fair play when the dragons must run for office.  Sometimes a dragon or two actually end up in the dungeon.  Mr. White would do well to align himself behind the shield of law offered by the Court wizards.

 Political dragons have long memories.  The hobbits of the world should beware.  If you are not going to slay a sleeping dragon, make sure you do not become the next meal.  Otherwise, bide your time, move your way up the food chain and hope for a bigger sword.  It might help to be legally and ethically consistent along the way.  Sometimes the good in doing the right thing good does win out over the evil of political expendiency.

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS UNITE !

Our country has an insidious and growing upward mobility problem not garnishing a great deal of attention.  Generational inequality is affecting our young professionals and is making their lives a mess.  The group is too busy working to complain a lot.  Because they are our best and brightest achievers, they do not receive a great deal of sympathy.  I am not discussing the unemployed in their 20s, which is a different issue.  My focus is the well educated professionals in their early 30s, who are reaching their career goals after years of academic rigor.

 While many of these young professional and business graduates have earned a degree and landed a job, the American dream of starting a family and buying a home is often elusive if not out of reach.  The recession has insured that starting salaries and yearly raises are low by historical standards.  Student loans are eating up a larger share of income.  Low mortgage rates are offset by onerous borrowing requirements.  Moreover, child care costs are a large impediment to working and having children.

When my contemporaries were “starting out” in the 70’s, tuition and student loans were low and the first marriage, home and child were no brainers.  The culture told us that as baby boomers, we were entitled to become masters of the universe.  The cooperative economic stars aligned to make it so.  The fact that at the end of our management tenure we drove the bus over a cliff, with billions of surplus assets on board, has not stopped us from insisting on our “just” rewards.

 The economists report that in today’s America, as many as 100 million Americans live in households that are earning less than their parents did at a similar age. In 1980, a year at college or professional school cost in the range of 12 per cent of median family income.  Today the cost is 26 per cent. Pell grants cover an increasingly smaller portion of the cost.

Apart from education, our political and economic systems have dedicated a majority of public resources to those receiving AARP magazines.  There are a lot of us baby boomers, we vote and no politician is about to challenge us.  What is clear is that there are fewer and fewer resources to address systemic non elderly needs.

I believe there are three paths to attack this intergenerational inequality our young people (professional and otherwise) are facing.  First, they need to organize.  “Occupy Wall Street” does not speak to the problem.  Help Us “Un-Occupy Your Basement and Give You Grandchildren” does.  Forming AAYP (American Association of Young People) with a magazine, 30 million members and a few lobbyists would help.

Second, we baby boomers must give up our selfish view on entitlements.  If we want our social contract to be passed to the next generation, we must recognize we will not live forever, even with double hip and knee replacements.  The universe no longer revolves around us.  We need to support rational cuts to retirement benefits, higher taxes on unearned income and reasonable health care end of life policies.  It is time to give back and get out of the way.

Third, our political leaders must adopt modern civilized positions on the cost of education and child care.  The world’s most advanced democratic societies provide both at little or no cost.  After all, our young people are not asking for it all like we did.  They simply want our boomer generation to tidy up its mess and to give back what our parents gave to keep the American dream alive.