Most of the news consists of the SCOTUS review of the health care law. However, since no decision will be made until early June, I think all the hype, smoke and noise regarding the case is a waste of time because no one has any clue -perhaps even some of the justices themselves- as to what the final outcome will be. So, that brings me back to the issue I've been typing about all week: Qualifications required to be President of the United States.
One of the most important issues I've mentioned to date regarding a leader is the ability to recognize mistakes, whether one's own or others, to learn from them and to use the education to try and make things better. That's why I pointed out yesterday, that I truly believe Romney's intimate knowledge of Massachusetts' health care is an asset, not a fault, because today he recognizes that universality in that kind of legislation simply doesn't work.
In that same regard I recall recommending the reading of Tony Blair's book, "A Journey" which was published last September and covers his life, politics and especially his 12 years as England's Prime Minister and the following few months after. And as I noted in my comments back then, I certainly knew who he was, because I saw him frequently in the news, especially due to his close ties to "W" Bush. However not very much else about him.
As I got into Blair's book and learned about what he faced in his political career, what struck me most was the way he approached one of the biggest problems in his nation -the deep entrenchment of social programs in almost every aspect of citizen's lives. There were generations of folks who'd never worked a day in their lives but were continually supported by others who did. And after studying the basics of England's economic system, Blair clearly understood things couldn't go on that way or the nation would soon be financially finished.
After his election to Parliament, and then moreso as its leader, he took each segment of the government's fiscal involvement and began trying to rebuild it. He removed outdated, unaffordable, programs and restructured them to modern standards, in many cases replacing handouts with incentives allowing folks to better themselves with the government's help. However, despite the benefits to all from his improving the nation's economic condition he faced huge opposition from members of his own party. And it wasn't until then in my reading that I found out he was a true bleeding heart socialist all the while representing the Labour Party, later changed to "New Labour" under his watch.
So here we have someone whose experience taught him that if you keep giving everything away with no incentive for people to help themselves, regardless of political belief's sooner or later you run out of funds and no can longer stay above water. And what's worse, creating significant debt to sustain existence leads to total economic failure.
However, Blair also realized that through sound financial management and elimination of programs that made no economic sense whatsoever, the total draining of the system could be averted. And beyond that, none really suffered if they could be taught the value of cooperation.
And so perhaps, the POTUS and Rick Santorum ought to buy a copy of Tony Blair's book and memorize the parts about how to rebuild and reshape a government that hasn't a sound economic basis. Because by turning England's failing economy around and holding social issues in abeyance until they could be afforded, Blair not only saved his nation he had the resources to help us win in Iraq.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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