The significant victory for Obama, the Senate, and even the whittling away of the house should serve notice to those that would obstruct the will of the People for political gain. It should serve notice to those who would use scapegoating and avoid fact checkers. It should serve notice to those who yell about polarization while turning a blind eye on hatred and vileness being spouted by the Tea Party.
To democrats, this was not a vote on the policies that were passed necessarily, so don’t be too joyful. Too much political goodwill was spent on things that should have waited until bigger problems were addressed. Over the next 4 years we need to focus the voice of the people to let Congress know that we need solutions, real ones, and we are serious. That must ultimately start with bold leadership from Obama, which he has proven he can do when he has confidence from the people.
We must find a way to lead in reducing the deficit by growing new industries without destroying existing business. We must find a way to connect our cities to each other and internally to help spread information, interconnect industries that can utilize each other, and to reduce our dependence on automobiles. We must find a way to grow our energy capabilities of ALL forms and use the models of Brazil and Germany as guidance on how to do so without collapsing our economy in the short term.
We have to find a way to return fiscal solvency to jurisdictions around America so that institutional jobs that have been lost (Police, Fire, Teachers, administrators) can return to work. It is no surprise that over the past 18 months the private industry has roared back, only to be held back from government positions being cut around our Country. If job growth in government positions over the past 18 months had stayed flat, our unemployment rate today would be 5.7% not 7.9%. We must find a way to ingrain fiscal solvency to every county in America and that begins with a culture of doing more with less and getting the most out of every dollar spent.
Most importantly we all have to stop standing on our side unwilling to compromise. There are lots of things that I agree with on both sides of the aisle. Heck, the current ACA (Obamacare) was created out of Republican doctrine of the 90s and based on Romney’s health care system in Massachusetts. I agree that the tax code needs reform to remove unfair advantages to some companies, and specifically to remove ALL tax breaks to companies that ship jobs over seas. We have to give up some things in this battle (both sides) in order to garner the greater good for America.