Fading Echoes; Diminishing Lights.
Whenever I am asked my opinion of the current state of the civil rights movement, I am forced to pause; it is not easy to describe a crisis so profound that is has caused the most powerful nation in the world to stagger in confusion and bewilderment. Today’s problems are so acute because the tragic evasions and defaults of several centuries have accumulated to disaster proportions. The luxury of a leisurely approach to urgent solutions — The ease of gradualism — was forfeited by ignoring the issues for too long. Confronted now with the interrelated problems of war, inflation, urban decay, race relations, and poverty, and it is tragically unprepared. What might once have been a series of separate problems now merge into a social crisis of almost stupefying complexity. -Take a Guess…
I came across this excerpt only a few weeks ago and if it resonates with you today why? The descriptions of war, inflation, urban decay, race relations, and poverty strike eerily close to home despite being written over 200 years ago. Are you a Veteran who has walked the same patrols in a war torn city for a war that began before you were born? Are you priced out of your home and wondering when bacon became $7.99/lb? Why does the bridge running trains every 20 minutes drip rust as I look at the sky through its holes formed from years of neglect. Outlandish or frighteningly accurate? Concern around our decaying infrastructure can be seen with quick Google searches or leisurely strolls. Who knows, you just might be grabbing a cheese steak and realize our highways are worse off then previously thought. A more tragic and recent example can be seen with Texas. We see the decay of what our Grandfathers built all around us. Why did we never at bare minimum maintain the basics?
The decay of our cities and the strife in American communities are directly connected. It is the decay of the middle class, it is the stagnation of wages despite American productivity increasing, it is as Warren Buffet puts it, Class Warfare. He believes his class is winning, do you agree because I do. This summer we watched or walked in some form of protest and we witnessed as crowds were gassed, maced, and beaten. We witnessed two tactically different responses to the rallies that had people driving cars into crowds and cops stomping on necks. The divides are real. Cleaning a house starts by bending over and picking up your socks; and America needs to start somewhere and I believe it is with a conversation to those in your community — those that live to our left and those that live to our right.
I believe the start point should be where policies create large impact with minimal effort like promoting flowers in your front yard. I propose we create a Government program to plant native flowers in every city and town. I would love to beautify my property with more native species saving the butterflies! The decrease in pollinator species has global impact and everyone loves butterflies and so this is a program that could be vetted out better and possibly pursued. Do you have any ideas that would be minimally invasive while creating large positive impact?
Large Impact, Low Cost. It is possible and we should question how.
If more people helped their neighbors then maybe I wouldn’t have seen the homeless lady with no legs finger herself right outside my office door. I do not want to see that ever again and in fact we should actively do our best, together, to prevent whatever situations led to us locking eyes in that moment. That’s West Side Chicago. Our Nations Citizens should be securing the benefits of living as the richest nation in the world. We should benefit from the fruits of our labor and the technology we excel at. These shanty towns are a disgrace. I refuse to debate the merits of Socialism and the various Freedoms we are offered because no good comes of that. We can talk all day but until there is action it is all just talk, so please lets cut to the chase and make sure we agree on the basics before moving forward.
Beginning this article I asked you to take a guess at who wrote the first paragraph. Those words, posthumously published by Playboy, were penned by Dr. Martin Luther King and they ring as true today as they did in 1969. The Stupefying Complexity sadly still rings too true for how else, or why else, am I unable to prove we have become better then when these words, feelings, and concerns written 50 years ago still echo true? Different Wars, same concept. Still the same systemic issues, only exacerbated through the technology and informational silos we have grown reliant on. The Hippies, Socialists, and Communists have been replaced by new dirty words like Millennials, BLM, and ANTIFA. There is plenty of blame to go around, but why are we still arguing the same conversation as our grandparents? #BiglySAD
After looking at the results we have achieved I can only come up with one answer. American Leadership decided to stop dreaming of better and settled. The issues that our grandparents faced still exist. New problems did not stop growing, in fact more have since been created. Yet, the old ones are still there as well. Leadership stopped dreaming, we stopped leading, we stopped having a strategy.
I do not understand how we have done so little for so many over such a long period of time. I believe that just about all our issues we see in America stem from wealth inequality. With America failing in so many areas we need a total reform of the system. I believe that Government should be ran like a business. There are many perks to profit driven organizations to improve efficiencies. This is good. This is the innovation that has allowed America to succeed. Like a good business we need to identify our Key Performance Indicators. KPI’s are our metrics to demonstrate just how good we are. Across the board American metrics for our future are diminishing at rates never seen before and this is alarming.
I believe it is the lack of leadership that got us here.
I can only speak from my experiences to come up with my understanding of the world. I have been fortunate enough to experience plenty of extreme situations offering what I believe to be a very well rounded understanding. Of course I am also stricken by Hubris so what do I know? People always love to hear about my war stories, so let’s start this Red, White, and Blue rock show with by saying I learned a few things real fast when I stepped on the Yellow Footprints on an Island that Creates Marines. Some of the things I learned were about survival, others things were learned in a classroom learning electronic theory which has since been forgotten, but it was the friendships and community is the most important. Growing up with all brothers and spending 5 years in the Corps, with two deployments to Iraq, I will forever know fart jokes are hysterical if done correctly; will literally leave you with shitty pants if done wrong. I keep it light to avoid the dark and heavy. I fear America does not understand just how precarious of a position we are in. Do not thank me for my service, but hear me out as I try to describe why I believe we need to have policies that help those we break bread with. Community are those we eat with. That is our support. That is America being Great.
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” — Peter Drucker
Like life, Management is funny. I’ve seen all types of management from Hazing to Enabling. I can promise you hazing does not work in most cases and have seen plenty of examples where supporting managers lead to phenomenal growth and people happiness. Think about it for a moment, Who was your favorite and who was your “That F*&%er!”. The literature supports my statements. The way you enable your employees; those your spend time with, is through supporting them, offering guidance or avenues to ensure success. The support you offer them will only reinforce your network in positive ways. I believe in President Kennedy when he was quoted, “The high tide rises all ships” speaking in reference to an economic theory where enabling the masses to prosperity. I don’t know about you, but I have never heard anyone say this guy succeeding is ruining my way of life. Wait — scratch that. I have heard that, I have not seen it in reality. The people who say that need to remember Jose is the barback who I tip 35%. Jose is not stealing my job and I like Jose because he knows my burger order. More on that later though, Circling back… If we believe that Government should be ran like a business then it is imperative to find what success looks like.
Every organization has a key metric that shows success at some point in the process. When I was in the Corps I managed $3 Billion in assets and my choices impacted over 1000 employees. My teams choices were designed to positively impact Aircraft Readiness Rates. This in your face number transparently displayed the Percentage of Mission Capable Aircraft. Every single day every single Marine walked past this number. It was our teams job to make that trend upwards. How could we increase that number 5, 10, or 15%? As we walked to work every day, the helicopters, jets, and cargo planes flew with an orchestration I am unable to explain. Every war story is different and I am grateful for those that have heavier stories than mine. We understood what we were working for. It was the aircraft readiness rate, I was reminded of it as I started my shift, left for chow, and again as we entered to analyze the data to determine historical usage which is key for implementing a pull system. As we documented swim lanes and applied process diagram overlays to create future state. Every day we carried our weapons to work, every day we discussed ideas to improve efficiencies, every day we got up to do what so few in America understand. We knew our mission. What is our Governments mission? We brought our ARR up 50%. This was only possible when we discussed work accurately and planned impactful changes with an understanding of why with its pros weighed against the systems worth of potential cons. Let’s understand what winning looks like because either way we are going to spend trillions of dollars so let’s start with figuring out where we can easily find what better looks like.
I believe we can find the key metrics by looking at the big ticket items and finding some universally agreed on rule of thumb. I have always found healthcare interesting and so from my experiences I know nearly 20 cents of every dollar goes to Healthcare in the United States. The Metric I propose we use is Infant Mortality Rate. Right, so… what is that Metric and how does the CIA measure it? Yes — THAT CIA.
The Infant Mortality Rate compares the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per one thousand live births in the same year. This rate is often used as the level of health in a country.
I believe we can agree that we want this number to be low and that having an unhealthy environment from inception to 1 year old is most impactful creating the highest risk.
As I dive into this metric we find America is ranked at 170 according to the CIA.gov. Be wary of Metrics without context. Serbia and Bosnia are ranked 171 and 172 so that doesn’t sound good. They are a country that literally went through a massive genocide and civil war in my life time so that has me nervous being close to them. As we move to the other side of the data I find Macedonia ranked as 160. This is not helping me discover the answer I am looking for. I looked to Afghanistan who solemnly is ranked #1. To offer greater perspective, Serbia and Bosnia are countries that experienced civil war and still maintain a better leading indicator than the United States. Why is that? We spend 18% of our GDP to healthcare. Every single citizen insured or not is paying $11,172 a year for this healthcare outcome. American Citizens usage slowed last year yet with larger hikes in pricing has offset lesser consumption — Meaning we are getting less for more compared to last year. Overall, national healthcare spending rose to $3.65 trillion in 2018, up 4.6% from 2017. That is outrageous, this is pre-pandemic! How is it healthcare rose nearly 5% and yet my boss claims I am doing a phenomenal job earning a 3% raise should I be so lucky. How is it Japan, Chechia, and Slovenia are able to have a third of our deaths? How is it that when we measure the health of our children America is ranked next to New Caledonia and the United Arab Emirates which love their slave labor and Kings. Where the hell is even New Caledonia? Governments with demonstrably better results are orchestrating systems and policies to receive better outcomes for less money. What are we doing or not doing that allows for these countries to receive better outcomes for less money? I do not believe America is so special that we can’t come up with a better idea than with where we currently stand. We landed a man on the moon for Christ sake! Talk about inspirational, Government can be leveraged to do good things. I do not believe our Healthcare problem is so large that we are unable to phase in (or slash and burn) a better system. We can utilize the leading researchers and economists to show us what better looks like. If healthcare policy is your kind of nerdom I emphasize watching this video from FrontLine called Sick Around the World. Is FrontLine #Fakenews? I can’t keep up anymore.
So Yes, I believe Governments should be ran like a business in that we should pursue metrics that can show progress for bettering the lives of its citizens. The fact is America Stagnated in our Greatness. We have been without a National Strategy for decades.
Today’s problems are so acute because the tragic evasions and defaults of several centuries have accumulated to disaster proportions. The luxury of a leisurely approach to urgent solutions — The ease of gradualism — was forfeited by ignoring the issues for too long. — Dr. MLK
I believe we need to have metrics that that Government should pursue. I believe that the Great Works made America great. I feel like if there was some way by promoting a low cost high impact project like planting native flowers to help the honey bees and monarch butterflies through organizing Government programs with competitive wages we could help bring an understanding back to the Citizens of this country that we can do good things when we bring our people together. We built Great cities together and we need to rebuild a Great nation together. This is only possible by leading with a strategy. Citizens should demand elected officials to coordinate policies whose gains are very beneficial with visible direct impact connections. When we allow our leaders to frame underperformance as someone's fault we abandon the ability to discuss results in a measurable way.
Why is it Ikea can have a legit food court that works and my Government can’t agree that spitting on each other is bad during a pandemic? Like what is this a mall of furniture? Well it is actually sustained competitive excellence. Strategy is the craft of figuring out which purposes are both worth pursuing and my American arrogance tells me anything is possible so let us dream big!
I need someone to tell me why I am not seeing our Government stepping up in front of its people saying “By 2030 No American will die of Cancer, I do not want lung cancer. I do not want to hear of brain cancer. I do not care if it is graphene nano-bots or CRISPR gene editing that accomplishes this mission. I want American Ingenuity unleashed on the 600,000 cancer victims a year. If you have an idea I want to fund it and I want to brain drain the world by making America a leader. I want every idea explored and every project funded. (We have printed 20% of our money supply in 2020 alone and funded a Generation of Warriors to fight a war built on lies. We have proven money is just funny numbers and if we attack a problem let us use metrics to show our success forward. OK maybe not this part) Let us hear the stories of crazy one in a million cancer survivor stories as we pursue a better future — and then add in a butterfly, because coordinated Government efforts helped the prevent the further decline in pollinator species.”
Somewhere in the pursuit of earning more money we lost what it meant to be an American that did good because we are good.
What happened America? Where is the American Optimism? Where is the westward bound spirit that built these cities; that built this country. I argue that The Moon Landing is the last time America had a win. I have thought about this for many hours and while writing this article I wondered what Googles thoughts were for American Achievements… Well, here they are:
Cell Phones & the internet while great at increasing productivity and an exchange of ideas I would not consider that an American win. The productivity wage gains earned through the new tools never trickled down. Cell phones and the internet were a lot of nerds doing abstract work. Overall, people did not care(afford?) about until they had an iPhone connected to Facebook which allowed for the microtargeting of advertisements to sway public opinion eventually leading to a seismic shift and polarization of every topic. Weaponization of communications is as old as paper battle plans. Next we have Machine Guns and Submarines, Jesus Google, C’mon! This list sucks and I like my list more because it helped those that I break bread with. Kennedy, who dramatically accelerated the Space Race in 1961 once said, “The High Tide Rises all Ships.” Perhaps he was onto something. We must help our neighbors as we move through these turbulent times and that starts by implementing policies that help those to our left and right. Our Government requires strong leadership. Strong Leadership requires a strategy to move forward. The strategy to move forward is to have a top down implementation that benefit the grass roots. America needs a win and America needs a strategy so how do we do that?
The answer is bold Government in such a way that it benefits those to our left and right. The answer is that we need to see someone argue that we are America, we demand to have a better life! I am not asking for a moon base (I kinda am…) but I want to see someone say something Bold. I want to see our money go to something big and good. I want to see a Nation so Great that it becomes the envy of all others. I want a Nation that when the smart kids from India look at a globe (Do they still have those?) and say I want to live there because they are building the future. I want to share in the Pride of being an American like I share Esprit ‘de Corps with My Marine Corps Brothers and Sisters. We need a mission for good that is marketed as such. It needs to be discussed. It needs to benefit the people that live on this land. It needs to help out your neighbors. Cleaning a house is as simple as picking up your socks, but making the choice to clean the house can be difficult. America needs to make the choice to pick up its dirty laundry and break bread with her neighbors once again.
