The Goal for My Work

We are pretty much all in agreement that our federal government process is broken and needs to be fixed.  I think we can also pretty much agree that the main thing we want from our government is an atmosphere of greater civil debate and compromise on legislation that is helpful to our citizens in their daily lives.  We need work on comprehensive reform of our healthcare system to make it conform to the needs of more of our citizens, comprehensive immigration reform, comprehensive tax reform, a balanced budget with commitment to remain in that posture for the long term, comprehensive reform of the social security program to put it on a sustainable financial footing and all of these many things need to be accomplished while staying true to the values we all believe our country should be standing for on the world stage.

I think it is obvious to us all that government is not necessary when we have agreement.  I also think we understand that the purpose of government is to establish laws and regulations to control our society for the benefit of the majority of our members.  It is a process – government defines a process by which we maintain order within our society while we sort out our differences.

We might like to think that when government imposes a law or regulation on our society it will become part of the fabric of our community and everyone will accept it as part of our way of life, but we are human and our disagreements do last.  Sometimes our disagreements are even reinforced and turned into deeply felt anger as a consequence of a new law or regulation and the way in which it is implemented.

My work on my blog site and in my books attempts to examine some of our lasting disagreements.  I am trying to find a continuous thread of events relating to them from inception to the present.  No one should think that I am claiming my work to be all inclusive.  Rather, I am offering a continuous thread of facts with the hope that you, my readers, will fill in some additional details where you think it appropriate.  We might think of it as me offering a skeleton of facts and you adding some meat on those bones at your pleasure.

I am hoping that as we have this conversation we will arrive at a mutual understanding of our disagreements.  It would be nice to think that some of our disagreements would be softened in the process, but even if that is not the case I think we will be better prepared to understand each other and find opportunities to reengage legislatively for the purpose of turning some of our lasting disagreements in the direction of greater agreement.

We turn on the television to watch the evening news and we are assaulted by the dysfunctional content that our politicians have created.  They argue about everything and agree on almost nothing.  In some cases we can trace the disagreement back to the very birth of our nation.

My goal is to chronicle the more significant disagreements that continue to the present.  I offer you a continuous thread of facts from the first evidence of division up to the present incarnation of the debate.  It is my consistent goal to give you, the facts as they have actually evolved up to their current character.  Sometimes the chronology is lengthy and sometimes it is sparse, but as Sargent Friday used to say, these are just the facts and I have intentionally tried to leave out a lot of embellishment because it is that embellishment that provides the vessel for disagreement and anger.  We must learn to commit ourselves to the facts and find ways to embrace them together – as Americans.

The Sausage Grinder is Broken, will you help to fix it?  I beg you to get involved in the conversation.  If you haven’t read A Broken Sausage Grinder; Is Our Government Fundamentally Flawed?, you’re not prepared for the job.

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