Robert Mark White's Space

Change is the most important thing that I can think of that our country needs. We need to change so many things, in so many areas, that it is almost hard to know where to start. I do not want to change things just to change them. I really believe we need to change somethings that are fundamentally wrong in our government.

Where do I begin? I guess the most important change we need is to get rid of professional politicians. Why you ask? Well, when our government officials changed over from being citizens who wanted to contribute to ones who wanted to make a living being a government employee, we all lost out.

Professional politicians have but one agenda, to be reelected, everything after that is just gravy.
unfortunately they are not making enough gravy for the rest of us anymore, and are hogging all the good stuff for themselves.

We have to get back to our leaders being statesmen again. If they can't be reelected to that office, then maybe they will be able to focus on something that needs to be done about our problems.

Statesmen in my opinion, act for the national good, rather than only on what will get them reelected to their office again. Statesmen act for the greater good of our country. They do the right thing for the right reason. Being a statesmen means making hard decisions which are for not necessarily popular back home with the voters but that are the right thing to do any way. If you can not be reelected then that removes the incentives to please everyone and allows you to do the next right thing. One of the guiding principles is that they should represent thier constituence, by being one of them. No special perks, if the folks back home don't have it, they don't either.

So how do we find citizen who will serve rather than be served by their position?

I am not complete sure of how to go about that, perhaps if we settled the campain finacing problem we could find better people to run. So first of all we have to make all campains finaced by government funds. Perhaps we could allow some contributions but we must limit them to say $50.00 and only from private citizens. No corporate donatations, no PACS, and only from constituents of that area. We can not allow outside contibutions so that the statesman are only beholden to thier constituents and no one else. We have to get rid of professonal lobbists also.

Then anyone who can get enough signatures on a petition could run for office. Perhaps there could be some kind of draft or jury duty selection system to help pick everyday people. There would need to be a minium number of people on the ballet, if there were more than 3 then a runoff election could be held, to pick the final two contestents.

I recognize that to leave your job and go serve for a term of a office, that would put a strain on a person so there could be a law, like for national guard duty, such that when you term is over your previous employer has to offer your job back or one similar to the one you had.

Compensation should be approprate for the service done but not skyhigh, the purpose is to support that person and thier family while they serve in the term of office, but not make them millionaires just because the held office. Income would/should be limited, to thier official salary. While they serve they should pay into social security and pay taxes just like anyone else. They should have the same health plan every other government employee has while they serve.

We need to change our attitudes and actions to reflect a more realistic view of what is important in the world. I have nothing against sports or entertainment, but making them heros, and overpaying them makes the real important jobs being done by everyday joes unimportant and unattractive. Solders, Firemen, Police Officers, School Teachers, Scientists, Construction Workers should be our heros. They are the ones making america what is is, not some tv, movie or sports personality. they are not the one we need to think of as our heros. I want my grand kids to trade school teacher cards or scientist cards not baseball cards.

I think we need to put thing that are really important in the proper perspective.
A person who spends 20 or 30 years teaching make a real difference in our world. A grown man who plays a game 12 times a year, should not be paid more that a school teacher. A person who is a Firemen or a Police officer for 20 or 30 years gives much more to our society that a person who sings a song and stars in a movie.

If we teach our kids that service to our country is more important than singing a song, or staring in a movie, or playing a game; then that would fundementally change the hopes and dreams of our children.

Greed is something that we are teach our kids is the right thing to do. when we reward ceo's who are make multi-million of dollars a year by bankrupting thier companies and the citizens of the usa, what are we saying to our kids. Money has value but Integrity is much more valueable than anything we can buy. We need to teach integrity as the guiding principle of our country not greed.

If we are going to acend to the moral high ground and speakout for the weak and oppressed of the world, then we have to stop supporting dictators, and start support democracy. We have to stop killing elected official of foreign government and start praticing what we are suppose to be living. Honesty, Integrity, Service, these have to become our bywords not greed, curruption, slavery.

When we buy goods made in a third world country that doesn't have labor laws to protect the workers we are purpetuating a form of slaverly. I would rather pay more for something that know I supported some kind of corporate greed and living high on the hog while others suffer so i can have it all.

We have to start looking at the long term actions of our actions around the world. Short term gains that hurt others are not worthy of us or them. We should not just talk the talk we should walk the walk.

When anyone anywhere is oppressed and poor, we all are oppressed and poorer for it. We will have to start at home and make these changes here first, then consider the best course of actions to further our cause. Beleiving we are better than anyone else makes us just like everyone else, by making us no better than "them." We have to start beleiving in humanity as a whole species rather than believing we are all different and that some are somehow better than others.

We need a pyshic change. We have to start caring for ourselves as others, instead of just about ourselves. we have to change what we think of as important, and recognize service to others is the most couragous and honorable thing we can do. To paraphrase JFK, "Ask not what you can get out of this but what you can do to make this a better place for others."

We all want our kids to grow up with self esteem, by teaching them honesty, integrity and service they will growup with self esteem and our world will be a better place for it. We need to instill a need for service, for honesty, for integrity in our children then we will have something the rest of the world will want and hopefully we can help them learn it too, But first we must begin at home and change ourselves, our kids, our country, our culture, our hopes dreamds and desires; Charity begins at home, service starts at home, true love means, loving us all, not just the ones exactly like us.

Now that is the kind of Change I think we need. I just do not know how in the world to get it done when we all are better than everyone else and we are all in it for what we can get out of it.

How do you change the hearts and minds of America and eventually the world?

You start with an idea. You tell everyone you know about your idea, and you pray like hell someone listens, and starts telling others. Only you can make the change you want in this world and only by doing it yourself. You lead by example, walk the walk, dont just talk the talk.

Please read this link.
I believe it to be a very important isssue.
http://robertmarkwhite.blogspot.com/2007/07/httpwww.html 

http://www.geocities.com/rmarkwhite

http://www.robertmarkwhite.blogspot.com