In the upcoming election saga you may want to take the time to pose a series of questions that require simple yes or no answers from the candidates.Open ended questions are never really answered and if you leave any opening for discussion or interpretation you basically play into the hands of those gifted to be glib or non-committal in their response. Do yourself and others justice with a single direct question that merely requires a simple yes or no.
If you are really clever you may construct some series that demonstrates inconsistency or illogical thinking on the part of the candidate. A contradiction can easily occur to an earlier response if there is doubt on the part of the candidate or he can't remember what he said only minutes ago. Or, on a more positive note, you can see just how far a candidate may go on an issue or what may be considered negotiable by the candidate as a compromise with others is needed. Once in office the deal making becomes more obscure and lost in the party politics but at least you can see how they may respond to a particular issue that is dear to you.
You are not asking them to defend a position, because you want to know now their promise, their committment, and how they will vote. You are in cpntrol of the question and they must convince you to vote for them.
Below are some of my favorites that represent crusades I have written about on this blog site.
1. Would you sponsor or support legislation to establish term limits for elected and appointed officials?
2. Would you sponsor or support a direct referendum option for Connecticut to allow its citizens a democratic approach to initiate or change legislation via a direct voter initiative?
3. Would you sponsor or support legislation to amend the State of Connecticut Constitution to redefine the so called "budget cap" wording to fix the misunderstandings now in contention?
4. Would you sponsor or support legislation to provide the State's accounting information as a Freedom of Information service to the public? Such a service must offer the State's check register to identify payee, date, amount, and purchase order reference that also correlates to the originating agency. Trust me, this is a treasure trove!
5. Would you sponsor or support legislation to eliminate or cap the overtime "excess" that is often applied to the last 3 years of employment for calculation of pension?
Be bold and go forth where politicians fear to tread!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Natural Philosophy, Reason, and the Connecticut Budget
In the earliest documentation of western civilization we had the Greeks describing what we now call "natural philosophy". Early writings describe nature as the basis for all acts and a civil society rooted in the so called nature of mankind.
As we passed through the emergence of Christianity, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason to our more modern thinking and philosophy we accomplished a number of major breakthroughs:
1. Moral Codes- Aristotle, Ten Commandments, Chivalry, Golden Rule, self evident rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
2.Higher mathematics as the language of the universe, God, truth, and foundation for reason
3. Extensive scientific discoveries based upon the scientific method
4. Documented and proven laws of nature that are universal and epistemic to our moral society
5.Breakdown of philosophy into disctinct disciplines like political philosophy, ethics, morality, free will
With many examples we can witness the interpretations and outcomes in our contemporary society in the form of secularism, diversity, and moral relativism. We see many times how our society increasingly pursues a social justice goal at the expense of individual rights and undermines the freedoms that we recognize from our definition of a civil society as articulated in the Declaration of Independance, and supported by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The debates over Eminent Domain , for example, are about just such conflicts over what constitutes the "common good".
The so called culture wars debate the relativism of many topics, but often overlook the foundations of our country and its grounding in moral codes, individualism, and capitalism.This baseline allows us a civil discourse, but balance among these influences is dependant upon their relationship to each other. Capitalism is greed, but socialism does't work and never achieves the economic growth that raises the standard of living for all. The "reason" and rationale that we can apply today comes from advancements made largely because of capitalism combined with a benificent social responsibility of motivated individuals.We should know by now how to be inclusive and respectful of all citizens.
As the entitlements grow to a larger base you have to wonder when the scale tips and more people are receiving from those that are giving. With a majority vote the receiving population outweighs the productive population who works to support everyone else, Utopia? Capitalism collapses and our society is at odds with overall security in jeopardy. As Hobbes described in his "Leviathan" we then need a superman, a messiah to promise protection when we agree to relinqush all authority to him. This is the tyranny that haunts the planet and plagues the populations.
As Connecticut considers its budget dilemma the political elite seem to be in denial of the situation and rely upon the special interests and other fantasies to make the decisions. With a lame duck governor and candidates who are likely to remain silent of solutions until the last moments of preelection, if they say anything at all, we are stuck with the Democratic controlled legislature.
Reflecting upon what hasa been stated so far in this blog it would seem reasonable to to:
1. Categorize state general funded programs in the context of Regulation and Protection,Public Safety, Social Services, Public Health, Education
2. Individualize the programs to understand what is defined and what is included. A "safety net" is social justice at work and can include many enlightened factors, but a basic package for basic needs, as justification is warrentred, may be all that can be accomplised, now.
3. When the "what" of the program is defined by mathematics and a scientific method, the "how" the program is executed becomes the next interest.The appropriate mix of providers, contracts, direct state employee involvement, and performance metrics becomes the focal point. Measurements are key to an optimal portfolio for delivery that is cost effective.
4. Government administration assessment provides an opportunity to review the strengths, weaknesses and conflicts of interest tha create fiefdoms, accountability issues, and self serving governance.The "how" a program is executed review should also include this assessment which can address:
* Union contracts and their real contributions to desired program outcomes
* Consolidations to minimize overhead, but more importantly, maximize collaboration and delivery coordination at minimal cost
* Sharing of infrastructure or utility like approaches to address common needs
Why do we have so much government and so many private non profits serving overlapped needs and clients with overlapped budgets, staff, and programs?
As a concerned Connecticut citizen, I hope this helps and perhaps inspires a more thoughtful approach to our fiscal crisis.
As we passed through the emergence of Christianity, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason to our more modern thinking and philosophy we accomplished a number of major breakthroughs:
1. Moral Codes- Aristotle, Ten Commandments, Chivalry, Golden Rule, self evident rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
2.Higher mathematics as the language of the universe, God, truth, and foundation for reason
3. Extensive scientific discoveries based upon the scientific method
4. Documented and proven laws of nature that are universal and epistemic to our moral society
5.Breakdown of philosophy into disctinct disciplines like political philosophy, ethics, morality, free will
With many examples we can witness the interpretations and outcomes in our contemporary society in the form of secularism, diversity, and moral relativism. We see many times how our society increasingly pursues a social justice goal at the expense of individual rights and undermines the freedoms that we recognize from our definition of a civil society as articulated in the Declaration of Independance, and supported by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The debates over Eminent Domain , for example, are about just such conflicts over what constitutes the "common good".
The so called culture wars debate the relativism of many topics, but often overlook the foundations of our country and its grounding in moral codes, individualism, and capitalism.This baseline allows us a civil discourse, but balance among these influences is dependant upon their relationship to each other. Capitalism is greed, but socialism does't work and never achieves the economic growth that raises the standard of living for all. The "reason" and rationale that we can apply today comes from advancements made largely because of capitalism combined with a benificent social responsibility of motivated individuals.We should know by now how to be inclusive and respectful of all citizens.
As the entitlements grow to a larger base you have to wonder when the scale tips and more people are receiving from those that are giving. With a majority vote the receiving population outweighs the productive population who works to support everyone else, Utopia? Capitalism collapses and our society is at odds with overall security in jeopardy. As Hobbes described in his "Leviathan" we then need a superman, a messiah to promise protection when we agree to relinqush all authority to him. This is the tyranny that haunts the planet and plagues the populations.
As Connecticut considers its budget dilemma the political elite seem to be in denial of the situation and rely upon the special interests and other fantasies to make the decisions. With a lame duck governor and candidates who are likely to remain silent of solutions until the last moments of preelection, if they say anything at all, we are stuck with the Democratic controlled legislature.
Reflecting upon what hasa been stated so far in this blog it would seem reasonable to to:
1. Categorize state general funded programs in the context of Regulation and Protection,Public Safety, Social Services, Public Health, Education
2. Individualize the programs to understand what is defined and what is included. A "safety net" is social justice at work and can include many enlightened factors, but a basic package for basic needs, as justification is warrentred, may be all that can be accomplised, now.
3. When the "what" of the program is defined by mathematics and a scientific method, the "how" the program is executed becomes the next interest.The appropriate mix of providers, contracts, direct state employee involvement, and performance metrics becomes the focal point. Measurements are key to an optimal portfolio for delivery that is cost effective.
4. Government administration assessment provides an opportunity to review the strengths, weaknesses and conflicts of interest tha create fiefdoms, accountability issues, and self serving governance.The "how" a program is executed review should also include this assessment which can address:
* Union contracts and their real contributions to desired program outcomes
* Consolidations to minimize overhead, but more importantly, maximize collaboration and delivery coordination at minimal cost
* Sharing of infrastructure or utility like approaches to address common needs
Why do we have so much government and so many private non profits serving overlapped needs and clients with overlapped budgets, staff, and programs?
As a concerned Connecticut citizen, I hope this helps and perhaps inspires a more thoughtful approach to our fiscal crisis.
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