Back at commencement, at the University of Michigan, Barack Obama expressed his distaste for partisan politics. He told us that it was important to put aside differences and work together for the greater good. His frustrations were clearly symptomatic of the direction of his administration. It has been tough for the President to accomplish his objectives. The continuous oscillation between right and left has not been quelled by Obama's historic election, but perhaps heightened. The problem with this is that we're not making any progress; we are moving from wing to wing instead of forward.
I've been reading about fascism this week and there are some values that I found significant. The nationalistic spirit and the ability to engage people is an essential part of fascism. Also, there was a sense of machismo, at least in italian fascism. There was a strong sense from Mussolini that a weak Lira conveyed a weak Italy to the world. America used to have that masculine snarl to it. That seems to have disappeared. Obviously, the racial aspect of fascism, uniting a race against others, is not something that is just. Nor is genocide. It's not something that would work in the US anyway. Look at Franco and Spain; if anything, fascism divided that country. The idea to unite a people of a nation has significant value to me.
I've noticed is that people take a lot of pride in this country, but there are a lot of tangible things that we do not have anymore. Our manufacturing isn't leading the world anymore. Our technology, our products, they're not the best. We still have intangible rights to be proud of like the freedom of expression which we will always have. However, we need to do better to ensure that people can hold grasp onto these tangible things that instill pride in our nation. In order to do this, we need to provide an environment of success.
The United States is an open nation, a nation that believes in competition and free markets. This is why I get weary when people mention tariffs, quotas, or taxes. Outsourcing doesn't really bother me. If you can coordinate your business where you can have employees half way across the planet, more power to you. Efficiency is important. The costs of hiring are straining our businesses and we need to provide ways to ease this burden. Businesses, particularly those in technical or specialized fields, are looking for candidates with specific qualifications. Truth is that we're not providing our businesses with these candidates, so they have to resort to hiring foreign workers. These foreign workers cost money because they need to be sponsored for their working Visas. This hampers small and medium businesses in particular. The costs of sponsoring these workers and keeping them in the US adds up. This is a more prevalent problem.
Quite simply, we need to provide a better educational system such that our workers are more competitive. We need to provide the technical backgrounds. While the amount of technical knowledge that a person needs has increased, the educational system has not changed much at all. We need to reform education and provide more stringent requirements through out the schooling process. We need to build the workers of tomorrow. We have been greatly surpassed by foreign powers such as India and China because they invest heavily in their human capital. The US needs to give the same kind of investment to education.
Another of my pet peeves is people complaining about the increased cost of healthcare in this country. Have people stopped and thought "may be it isn't the drug company or insurance company's fault?" No, because everyone needs someone to blame. Well, I'm not afraid to point the finger. It's all of our fault. We're exercising less and eating poorly. This is why I call this country a nation of fat cats. We have become complacent. We need to be healthier as a nation. This means exercise, diet, and hygiene. If we take care of ourselves, we take care of our health. The healthier we are, the less we're spending on healthcare and insurance. It's as simple as that.
These are a couple dilemmas that have really struck a cord with me recently. I don't think it would be hard to change. The problem is that the leadership in this country needs to come out and convey this to the public. I'm a blunt and straight forward person. I want to get to the point and I want to share the point. I'll do it myself if I have to.
No comments:
Post a Comment