The Magic Agenda

The Magic Agenda

I was thinking this evening about what I wanted my next United States President to be like. What kind of leader? What focus? I've come up with a simple list of five key areas that I feel need to be addressed soon by the next President.

1. Iraq War and Aggressive Posturing Must End

America was led blindly into a pit from Hell when we were sold the idea of WMD's in Iraq. That initial lie has been compounded since with lie upon lie in increasingly futile attempts by the administration to justify their egregious mistakes. We need a President who will dig us out of that pit. Our troops deserve to be used to defend our Nation instead of in arrogant attempts to build nations. Additionally, we need a President who sees our country as a vital member of the world community instead of the self-anointed leader of the world. Walt Disney was right, "It is a small world after all."

2. National Unification

The citizens of our country are polarized. We've been divided into two camps that despise each other. The political parties feed the boils of division while the media pricks those festering boils. We need a President who will unify this country. We need a true leader.

3. Health Care

Our health care system is broken. Fees are out of control. Prescription drug costs are ridiculous. Care has become compromised. The excluded in society clog the arteries of the emergency care system. I cried last week as my 79 year old father-in-law was forced to wait for treatment in a hospital emergency room for seven hours with the incision from his recent triple bypass leaking blood down his shirt while destitute people with colds, homeless pregnant women, and people with no insurance jammed the room on a Sunday trying to get the most basic treatment. My mother, a very wise and smart woman, planted a value in my soul that directs me to fight for a society that doesn't charge for the basic needs of life. According to Mom, food should not be taxed, shelter should not be taxed, and free, appropriate health care should be available for all.

4. Education

Our public schools are in crisis. It's a quiet crisis that you don't hear much about. Schools are situated squarely between two disparate forces. ESEA, a.k.a. NCLB which is about to be renewed, demands that by 2012 100% of all school children will be able to pass approved state measurements. The penalty for failure (less than 100% success) is that these schools run the real risk of being shut down or having their funding revoked. At the same time, schools are handling a more diverse and challenging school population every year. The numbers of non-English speakers entering our schools has jumped dramatically in the last three years. Yet, these children who can't read and write in English are still expected to pass tests in English by the end of the school year. We are rapidly coming to a point when schools will implode. We need a President who will lead the Congress to develop sane accountability measures and who will provide real, positive direction on the immigration issue, not lip-service.

5. Social Security and the Budget Deficit

The next President will get us out Iraq. Billions of dollars, formerly spent on that disastrous "war" will be free to shore up the ailing Social Security system and to help retire the budget deficit.