My Politics

Politics should not be a spectator sport, and thanks to Twitter, blogs, etc., it's more accessible than ever. Of course the flip side is a bit-torrent of drivel. I leave it to my readers to decide if my blog is wheat or chaff.

With the exception of a brief but revealing internship with a Capitol Hill lobbying group, my entire career has been in business, mostly manufacturing. And notwithstanding the well-publicized crooks on Wall St and the Enrons of the world, the vast majority of businesspeople I've met are at a minimum straight shooters and most are good and decent people. Business is not a bad thing. And the profit motive is one of the engines of a healthy economy, especially for those of us who like to earn a living.

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One hears the plaintive plea all the time: "Why can't we run the government like a business?" I must admit thinking that more than once standing in line at the RMV, waiting for some unmotivated paper-pusher to deign to serve this taxpayer's needs. But the questions answers itself: The government isn't there to turn a profit, and so it isn't a business and shouldn't be run like one. The government exists to serve its citizens at whatever price its citizens deem appropriate.

That begs the question of what government's role is, and my answer is: government should do what no other organization can do better, no more and no less. 

Of course that definition begs many more; a topic for another day.

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I consider each issue on its own merits. I registered independent the day I was eligible to do so and I've never changed. I've voted for Democrats and Republicans in roughly equal proportions, and a few third party candidates too. I hate dogma. I hate the idea that because I belong to this or that party or organization that I'm "supposed" to think some way or other.

I do think that our federal government's role has expanded too much. All things equal -- this is a lesson I've learned in business -- decisions are best pushed down to the lowest level competent to make them, and that includes individuals.

I won't get farther into my opinions on specific issues here. Suffice it to say that my positions cover the spectrum of labels that are applied, often wrongly (see "The Venn Diagram Of Labels" ) to those of us who engage in the discourse of politics.