Advice for President Elect Barack Obama

reply to post by Bugman82


Very good I like that. We have stopped teaching for learning's sake and now teach to take a test... what our children need more than anything is to learn how to reason clearly and to think for themselves.

reply to post by Bugman82

However, (1) the central issue in our problems today revolve around greed. Can you legislate greed? (2) Putting higher taxes on the rich will simply cause higher cost in goods and services.

1) No, you cannot legislate away greed. But being forewarned is being forearmed. In short, it means making sensible rules governing public conduct and enforcing the rules.

2) You have lost me. I don’t see any direct cause of one for the other. The rich never want to pay taxes. But since they are the ones with the money, and who benefit most from government largess, it is only reasonable they should pay more and more taxes. If they are unhappy, let’s give them a visa to Congo or some such place.

I think the primary issue within our country today is education. I work with youth and what I see sickens me. Most don't value the fact that they have access to one of the best educations in world.

Well, let’s qualify that ACCESS. Yes, if your parents had a good education, if you live in a decent neighborhood, if you get to go to a good-to-great K12 system, then you do indeed have ACCESS to one of the best educations in the world. But that remains just a dream for all those who fall short in the prerequisites.

We need to teach ethics in school. We need to teach moral principles and the value of integrity.

I believe ethics and morality are best taught at home. Teachers, administration and staff of every school should reinforce those desirable traits of character by their actions and the way they treat the students. Ethics and morals are best taught by living the example.

If we wait until the children are in K12, it really is too late. Recall the book, “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" by Robert Fulghum?


[edit on 11/10/2008 by donwhite]

reply to post by donwhite


Thank you for your response Don. I didn't mean that we shouldn't put higher taxes on the rich. It simply isn't the end all. I also admit I was probably parroting some propaganda that spoke to my inner conscious.

I highly disagree, however, with your stance that ethics are best taught in the home. I agree that it should be, but it isn't happening.

In 1947, Dr. Carl Zimmerman, a Harvard professor, wrote a book called, “Family and Civilization.” The book was a result of research he had done on 3000 years of family life. Zimmerman gave several indicators of a declining nation/culture.

• An Increased rate of divorce.
• The failure to understand the permanence of the marriage model.
• A looser standard of family as a solution to social problems.
• Lack of respect to parental authority.
• The breakdown of most inhibitions against adultery.
• Acceptance of all forms of sexuality.

Dr. Zimmerman wrote, “As we watch the destruction of the family, so we simultaneously watch the collapse of society.”

huron2.aaps.k12.mi.us...

However much we want to ignore it, we are in a cycle of the failure of families, which in turn leads to the failure of proper ethics within our society. How do we end this cycle? The only place to head this off is in forms of education. I really see no other way but to start with youth who will eventually have families of their own. I understand the issue is much more complex than this diatribe, but I can't see any other light at the end of the tunnel.

My advice to Obama still stands that we must analyze our educational system because it is failing. Ethics is easily taught. The benefits of integrity cannot be denied.

I am a firm believer that to change the direction of our nation we must start with the foundations. Education and family should be top priorities of Obama because that is where the beginning of increased prosperity resides.


[edit on 11-11-2008 by Bugman82]

Very interesting! A S&F for this.

I've read the initial post and skimmed through the rest and have been very interested to read some of the responses. This should certainly be a topic in which we can have respectful discord, as we should all be hoping for the best for our country.

In response to the OP itself, here is what I am hoping President Obama can accomplish (or not accomplish)...

1.) I hope sincerely that Obama governs realistically with respect to our current economic environment. (for example not raising taxes in a bad economy, not trying to socialize everything)

2.) I hope Obama does not surrender our victory in Iraq like he has promised to do. I hope he stays on offense in the Middle East and gets us out of there as victors.

3.) I hope Obama was lying when he said he would slash defense spending by billions of dollars and strip our military of the development it needs.

4.) I hope Obama realizes that nationalized health care is not the system America needs, and will seek to create better choice and affordability for individuals through the private sector.

Really I could go on and on, but I think you see the pattern here.

Basically I am hoping that Obama will not follow through with anything he has promised to do.



Seriously though, I wish him well. I really hope he is successful in leading this country.

I just don't think he will be.

Besides the negatives... you hope he doesn't...

What positive things would you like to see?

Oh and by the way in regards to the military budget I suggest you read this:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Advice for Obama..

There is now way he can do as he says.. There just not feasable.

As for what he should do, 1 get really good security, he reminds me alot of JFK, and to add the fact that he black and has a "Musslumish" name, and the amout of total biggots in this country i fear he will be picked off either by the uninformed biggots or the powers that be.

Biggest thing he could do, end the FEDERAL RESERVE. The FED is the root of all the economic problems , there the ones that caused this entire mess, if interest rates were at what they naturally fall to , these loans and other credit problems would noit have happened, and the banks would not have a safety net like they do now for there mess ups, no saftly net you a bit more carfull.. arn't you.


Wish I could open a business run it into the ground and then ask for a bailout.. must be nice knowing people in high places..

I also thing Obama should order all classified documents non classified and public knowledge. You want a government that can be trusted, it has to be 100% transparent.

reply to post by grover

Oh and by the way in regards to the military budget I suggest you read this:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

A terrific thread. Thanks for the good link.

Yeah. Like I said its the pentagon's own idea... but if he goes with it the right will try and use it against him in 2012.

reply to post by grover


Don't mean to derail your thread, but I'm expecting to have a lot of things to use against Obama by the time 2012 rolls around. Honestly, unless he surprises me and a lot of other people, I'm expecting the country to be begging for a new President by then.

Like I said though, I hope I'm wrong.

reply to post by nyk537


Well then think hopefully and offer some positive advice.

THAT is what I am drilling for here folks.... advice you would give the new president.

reply to post by grover



As you know Mr G, the Social Security and Medicare Trust funds still have a positive balance. In other words, Republicans cannot lay any of the National Debt on either program. As I have pointed out earlier the largest part of the DISCRETIONARY budget is the Defense Department. Next in size is the annual payment on the National Debt. The VA needs more money but still runs in the high 30s of billions annually. All other programs do not exceed 15% of the total US Budget. I contend that 80% of the interest payment is directly attributable to the Department of Defense.

Some of the others I lumped into 15% like highways, are also part of trust funds that are in the black. I’ve said a lot to say this: We are currently spending very close to $1,000,000,000,000.00 a year on WAR and the consequences of war. AND WE DON’T HAVE AN ENEMY WORTHY OF OUR GREAT WAR MAKING CAPABILITY.

The Reaganite Neo Cons wanted to attack Iran. Then they wanted to RE-START a Cold War with Russia but the EU wouldn’t go for that. China is TOO big for us to attack even over Taiwan.

Now, it’s a given no political candidate - most especially a Democratic one - can EVER offer to CUT the defense budget. Republicans and their lemming-like followers would go MAD! It would take straight-jackets and tear gas or water cannons to slow them. Americans are crazy. Totally Orwellian. Peace is WAR. War is PEACE. We LOVE war. We do not want to be without a WAR. Of course, it is a given we LOVE wars we are wining but we HATE a war we are losing.

[edit on 11/11/2008 by donwhite]

reply to post by grover


Aside from what I have already said I would encourage Obama to follow up on is promise of returning the focus to the war in Afghanistan. More troops and resources are needed to combat the resurgent Taliban . Gates was right when he said that better co ordination is needed between . Since WW2 countries will no longer there troops to come under US command in the same way MacArthur command Australian troops . Returning to the focus of the topic it no use having a diverse array of Provincial Reconstruction Teams that come from anywhere from Germany to New Zealand if there efforts aren't co orientated .

I am doing my best to remain balanced about a guy who has made a lot of promises that will be tough to live up to .

reply to post by xpert11

I would encourage Obama to follow up on is promise of returning the focus to the war in Afghanistan. More troops and resources are needed to combat the resurgent Taliban.

Au contraire. The War in Afghan is UNWINNABLE. Afghanistan is a PLACE and it is NOT a country. It never was. Not in the Western sense we are talking about. For nearly ten years and upwards of 160,000 boots-on-the-ground the Russians first tried to SUBDUE the Afghans but when they could not achieve that goal they next tried to “PACIFY” Afghan and after failing in that, the USSR withdrew.

“More troops and resources are needed?” Needed for what? To add the new heroin producing Afghan to our wrecked ally, coc aine producing Columbia? Is America really just the world’s DRUG overlord? Our soldiers move about freely in Columbia and Peru without permission of either government, killing and burning as they go. And to what advantage in either case?

Obama must not invest much of himself (political capital) into a ready-made quagmire for the West. If politely backing out of Iraq is wise, then all the more so would such a tactic be in Afghan.

The single most important thing for any political leader to know is the LIMIT of his power. Never let your reach exceed your grasp.

Returning to the focus of the topic it no use having a diverse array of Provincial Reconstruction Teams that come from anywhere from Germany to New Zealand if there efforts aren't co orientated.

Can we learn from the past? Reading recently about the British East India Company I learned the typical length of stay in India by leaders of the Company was 15 years. In America, we usually stay 10 months in a HOT zone like Iraq or Afghan. Our soldiers are counting the days before they depart from the FIRST day they arrive. Hardly any American knows the local language. And fewer make any effort to learn when they are there. We are not equipped linguistically, historically, psychologically or culturally to CONQUER and OCCUPY any non-white non-Christian country. We are acting more like the minions of the United Fruit Company and Amserican Surgar Refining Company than Boy Scouts out to teach dummies how to fish. In Hamlet, Shakespeare has Polonius to say,

This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man



[edit on 11/12/2008 by donwhite]

reply to post by E-ville

Advice for Obama . . As for what he should do, 1) get really good security, he reminds me a lot of JFK, and to add the fact that he black and has a "Musslumish" name, and the amount of total bigots in this country I fear he will be picked off either by the bigots or the powers that be.

Biggest thing he could do, 2) end the FEDERAL RESERVE. The FED is the root of all the economic problems , there the ones that caused this entire mess,

I also thing Obama should 3) order all classified documents non classified and public knowledge. You want a government that can be trusted, it has to be 100% transparent.

1) I hope not. Anyplace has its share of extremists. There is only so much you can do to prevent another November 22 tragedy.

I hate to remind, but beginning with Lincoln, Garfield was shot, then McKinley was shot, Teddy Roosevelt was shot but he survived, FDR was shot at, the killer missed and killed the mayor of Miami, and of course JFK was killed by LHO. Then Gerald Ford - surely one of the least controversial presidents - narrowly escaped TWO attempts in the space of a few weeks, and last, Reagan was snot bur survived. America sounds more like a sub-Saharan third world country!

Hey, the NRA salivates! It wants everyone to carry! Guns! And More Guns! Life NRA style.

2) I don’t understand this hyperbole against the Federal Reserve System. America’s CENTRAL BANK. You cannot have a nation state without a central bank. Alexander Hamilton under George Washington organized the FIRST central bank. He managed to pay our national debt and gain for America one of the best credit ratings anywhere in the world.

Andrew Jackson, apparently for a personal vendetta, KILLED the central bank. We limped along until after the Civil War when as many as 300 banks around the nation were printing money. It was a gold-mine for counterfeiters. You just can’t do business like that.

Finally, after a half dozen serious bank panics - i.e., bankruptcies - the 16th Amendment to the US Con was adopted in 1913 permitting the Federal government to tax incomes. The US was armed with a reliable source of income. It created the new Federal Reserve System to manage the money. That came just in time too, as the First World War began in 1914 and the US joined in by 1917. We could not have done that - spent all that money - without a CENTRAL BANK.

The Federal Reserve System is owned by private banks. It is managed by a Board of Governors and a Chairman who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. It is financed by a small assessment on the member banks. Private ownership, government oversight! A great combination that has worked for us since 1913.

Frankly, I think Fed critics owe us TWO things. 1) Explain what they would replace the Fed with, and 2) give some rational reason for wanting to end the Fed.

3) I have read that 300,000 people in the US Government are authorized to classify documents. There are so many different classifications that it takes a PhD to know them all. That same source said only 10,000 are authorized to DEclassify secrets.

Some secrets are understandable. Take the Valerie Plame case. By OUTING her as a CIA agent, the nations where she worked - Niger in particular - can put together who is a DOUBLE AGENT working for our CIA by looking at who she dealt with and etc. All such people will be under suspicion and some may suffer for that. Another understandable secret is tactical military information. Obviously we don’t want the adversary to know what we plan to do tomorrow.

And other decisions like to increase or decease our Strategic Reserves of petroleum which would effect the price of crude oil on the open market. And etc. But 90% of the classified material could be opened to the General Public with no unfortunate consequences. IMO.

PS. Are you from Vanderburgh County Mr E-ville?

[edit on 11/12/2008 by donwhite]

reply to post by Bugman82

I agree with many ideas presented here. However, I think the central issue in our problems today revolve around greed. Can you legislate greed?

IMO greed is at least as old as sex. No, I cannot legislate greed out of our human nature. But I can intelligently protect us from its predictable consequences. I’m not about to throw up my hands and say, Que Sara, Sara.

Putting higher taxes on the rich will simply cause higher cost in goods and services.

That may be, but to me it sounds too much like the perennial prattle over raising of the minimum wage. Anyway, we can deal with one problem at a time. Look at the following top bracket income tax rates I selected from the past: 1920, 73%; 1930, 25%; 1936, 79%; 1942, 88%; 1960, 91%; 1970, 70%; 1982, 50%; 1989, 28%; 2000 39.6%; 2003, 35%. From the Joint Committee on Taxation, Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, JCX-54-03, May 22, 2003. Located by Google as “Historical Highest Marginal Income Tax Rates.”

I think you can make a case - an hypothesis - that HIGH rates encourage morality and LOW rates bring on GREED!

I would advise Obama to analyze our education system. I think the primary issue within our country today is education. I work with youth and what I see sickens me. Most don't value the fact that they have access to one of the best educations in world.

Yes, and I suspect he will. But are you proposing we indoctrinate or propagandize the students or is this called harmonizing their expectations in New Speak? I live in Jacksonville which has a black college - Waters College - that teeters on bankruptcy. How does Waters College stack up to say, Harvard or Yale? Would you suggest attending Waters is good enough for some? Should they VALUE their access to Waters but accept denial of access to Harvard or Yale?

We want better schools? Well, how about DOUBLING the annual outlay for the schools then? More teachers, higher paid teachers. Better buildings and associated services. How about a HOT meal in the AM and another in the PM? And I’m not a Reagan-ite who counts ketchup as a vegetable either. I’m talking healthy and tasty meals. FREE. To students, teachers and staff.

We need to teach ethics in school. We need to teach moral principles and the value of integrity. Education is the foundation of a nation. We need to ask ourselves is our foundation built on sand or rock?

Mostly I agree with you, Mr B/M82, but morals should be taught at home and in school by example more than by lecture. Education is the foundation of the nation. Did you know the 1785 Northwest Ordinance set aside every 16th section for public education. That was before our county got going in 1789. And from that we get the name, Land Grant Colleges.

[edit on 11/26/2008 by donwhite]