The Fourth Option (A Centrist Perspective) Blog

Two days ago, I discussed the importance of expanding American workers’ self-perceptions to include images of themselves as inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs. And I stressed the importance of changing their mind-sets in a way that places the options of becoming inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs in the forefront of their daily thoughts. My objective for today was to discuss the role educators can and should play in helping American workers to make these changes? But I realized that my suggestions would probably be easier to understand if I share my thoughts about the concept of the American corporation, before doing so. Now, when I think about the American corporation, I will admit that negative adjectives are the first thoughts that come to my mind: greedy, uncaring, money-hungry, out-for-themselves, exploitive, corrupt, tax-evading, powerful, privileged, dishonest, un-patriotic, un-American, and a few others that I can’t recall at the present time. I suspect that th...

Today, American workers ― especially middle class and working class workers ― are being exploited, and they are aware of it. They know they’re a part of an employment system that has been granted permission, by government officials, to use them. They see and hear governors, senators, congressmen . . . who are against unions, ― organizations that are trying to protect workers’ pay and benefits ― being praised and rewarded for their stance against unions. American workers are working harder and harder for less and less. They are generating more and more profits for corporate America, whose motto has become “Take it or leave it ― and shut up!” The question is “What can American workers do about it?” The answer is “American workers can do many brilliant things about it,” but these things are going to require the help of educators (from pre-school to graduate school), visionary leaders (in all occupations), and most importantly, the American workers. Here is the first of the things that we ...

Why are Americans discourage and pessimistic about our government ― especially at this time when it seems like economic and social conditions are improving? Answer: In my judgment, the answer is simpler than most of the experts think. I believe that most Americans understand that in order to truly reduce our national debt and put our nation on a sound economic path, the president and congress need to evaluate entitlements and all areas of spending; taxes and all areas of revenues; waste, fraud, and abuse of the economic system; and effectively streamline government services. In other words, Americans know that the president and congress need to create open and honest forums in which everything in on the table, and all decisions concerning the national debt are honest and fair. Americans are discouraged and pessimistic because neither the president nor congress has offered a plan that demands this type of thorough, in-depth, authentic evaluation of our government’s financial system. A...

A few days ago, an article in the New York Times entitled Nation’s Mood at Lowest Level in Two Years, Poll Shows by Jim Rutenberg and Megan Tree-Brenan (New York Times; April 21, 2011) described the mood in the United States as negative and unenthusiastic. When other newspapers, like the Washington Post, conducted similar polls, and their data turned-out to be similar to those reported in the New York Times ― All reported that the mood in the United States was very low, most American were dissatisfied with both parties and the president; and Americans believed that the country was moving in the wrong direction ― these polls became the central topic for the major news television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN . . .). These news networks appeared to be attempting to find the answers to the two central questions concerning the polls: First, why are American so discouraged and pessimistic about our government ― especially at this time when it seems like economic and social conditions ...

I. Streets All streets provide answers. Mostly about themselves: slippery when wet, sharp curve ahead, fallen rocks, under construction, traffic merge to my left, not a through way, dead end… Some share their life stories in signs of aging: adjacent badly cracked sidewalks, neglectfully carpeted with weeds, detached from broken steps and missing steps that are too old and in disrepair to reach the decaying mansions that sits boarded-up and as lonely as the apartment buildings that sit across from them, and are vacant of the chatter of friendly neighbors, leaning out their windows, sharing jokes with others sitting on the stoops, while the children run around and play. Rust covered steel and paper mills in the distance tell the story of what once was ― before all became covered in overgrown weeds. The affluent streets flaunt their wealth by adorning themselves with fancy traffic lights, big bold signs with their names on them. The really cool and sophisticated streets, like those that l...

Within our church’s walls where we pray Where our hopes and dreams ascend Where our cry for help and strength ascends And the loving memories of loved ones who died ascend Our thoughts of the origin of “the ultimate sacrifice” descends ― in He . The wealthiest and most privileged that ever lived was He . Born in the most extravagant gated-community in the universe was He, Enjoying a life of luxury on the highest hill was He ! Yet He came down, down, down to live among the down trodden―to give And He gave And He gave And He gave His love And He gave His compassion And He gave His wisdom Then He gave ―His life! Which makes me wonder: About those among us, who have so much of evertthing that others among us need, what are they willing to give?

If I had a magic wand that would allow me to prioritize the courses taught in our schools, I would make Social Studies the second most important content area in every school's curriculum throughout the United States. I would place it right behind Reading (number 1), but definitely ahead of Math (number 3) and Science (number 4). Most of this nation's problems are due to the fact that many of us are flat-out ignorant: The quagmire that we're in is due, in large measure, to the fact that a large number of us are socially and politically uninformed. And this makes it easy for those among us, who do not have our best interest in their minds, to manipulate us, and in many cases, to get us to vote against our own best interest! Reading would be number one because our ability to recall, comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize (create, compose, design, internalize), and evaluate are extremely important in a world in which a vast amount of our communication appears as printed w...

The world is a classroom with many teachers, who lived different experiences; learned different cultural, social, and political beliefs; embraced different ideologies; communicated in a wide variety of languages; and looked at life from an open array of perspectives. Some have acquired titles – governor, congressman, senator, mayor, doctor, lawyer, salesman, minister, judge . . . others are assigned labels – bleeding-heart liberals, narrow-minded conservatives, wishy-washy centrist, terrorist, fascists, extremists, militant . . . All of them are teaching lessons that our children are learning. Some are moral; some are wicked. Some are humble; some are pious. Some will teach the truth, and others will teach “the lies.” Some will teach to promote the best aspirations of a participatory democracy, and others will teach to promote thinking that goes contrary to the best principles of our democratic government. All of them are teaching lessons that our children are learning. Individual righ...

Teamwork can only occur when all voices are heard and thoughtfully considered – especially the opposing voices. In any and all environments where the opposing voices are suppressed or silenced: where everyone goes along with the strongest dominant voice – because of fear, intimidation or coercion, the collective action of the group is “group think” not "teamwork!" It is important that we know their distinctions, in this day and age when the buzz word in cooperate America is teamwork , which is considered to be the heart and soul of productivity – the essential ingredient that promotes a “true” spirit of cooperation, enhances morale, and enables the company to function most effectively and efficiently. “We are looking for team players” is the foremost request of company executives; and the American public agrees – the willingness to function within a team should be one of the main prerequisites for employment. To be honest with you, this whole concept of team work and team p...

There is a misconception concerning the size of government, and it is this: If we reduce the number of public employees working directly for the government, we will reduce the size of our big government. Nothing is further from “the real truth.” For although the visual sight of huge government buildings with thousands of employees sitting behind their desk, as a part of an overblown, highly incompetent, wasteful bureaucracy works well in our imagination; in reality, the size of this portion of government is actually the small tip of the overall governmental iceberg: It’s like the visible portion of the iceberg that hit the Titanic; its enormous and dangerous portion lies invisible – hidden below the surface: Government Contracts for unnecessary military equipment, earmarks for needless projects, subsidies to super-wealthy farmers, federal and state legislations that provides American corporations and extremely- wealthy citizens with tax breaks and strategies for avoiding tax payments, ...

Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) is living proof that any government official can get away with creating ignorant policies, as long as these policies provide benefits for the richest Americans. Last week, this great cognitive thinker appeared before the United States Congress and, in a manner that can be only described as overtly hubristic, he presented – No! He boasted and flaunted – his brilliantly stupid ideas in an incredible argument that goes as follows: Wisconsin’s private employees are earning salaries that are far less than they should be paid. Additionally, they are required, by their employers, to spend a large portion of their menial salaries to pay for their insurance coverage and other benefits, like retirement. These workers envy the “higher salaries, lower insurance and benefits costs” of public workers: According to Walker, “They would love to have the salaries and benefits of public employees!” Now, I believe any logical thinking human being, with both oars in the water,...

There is a belief among many of the wealthiest Americans that their wealth was “self made” that they made it on their own through their smarts, hard work, and perseverance. But is this really true? Or more succinctly, is this entirely true? Although it is obvious that in order to succeed in business, you must have a good idea, you must work hard at developing it; and you must have the resolve to stay with the idea – when the going gets tough, they are other factors that play roles in your success. You could not have own this business in a totalitarian country. If you were a women living in some Muslim countries chances are you would have been denied the education that would have enabled you to run a business. And if you were a man living in certain sections of the world, like Africa, your dreams of owning your own business and making riches would have ended at the age of 11 – 13 at which time, an authority figure would have handed you a rifle and forced you to join one of the warring f...

Thinking-Outside-the-Box got fired! Forward Thinking replaced him, as our tour guide on our cognitive journeys. Reasons are still unclear – especially when Forward Thinking takes us on the paths of circles: around and around centuries of history, without being able to recognize the reappearances of reference points and landmark structures, unable to recognize places traveled before, in a different light of day; unable to realize that seasons change by reoccurring: Again the leaves of Autumn will camouflage; again the snows of Winter will conceal, and the steaming heat of Summer will take its turn distracting our attention. Strong winds and dark clouds will create tornadoes and hurricanes, and rising water will create floods of changing tides. They will obscure our vision, interfere with our concentration, and make it difficult, but not impossible, if we remember “We know what's coming because we've been down these paths before!” It’s the lessons learned – and remembered that...

I knew it was just a matter of time before someone, like Governor Scott Walker (R-WI), acting on behalf of cooperate America, would target and try to dismantle the professional public unions. The question in my mind was never “Why are the public unions going to be dismantled?” It was always “When are they going to be dismantled?” So now that the question of “when?” has been answered, I think it’s time I share with you the “reasons why.” Professional public unions or the unions that represent law enforcement officers, fire fighters, nurses, teachers, social workers . . . are organizations that speak for the men and women, who see the impacts of government policies – everyday! While the governor, who slashed entitlements, is seeing increased savings; the teachers in his state is seeing a greater number of students coming to school poorly clothed and hungry; the nurses in his state are noticing that more children and members of the elderly population are freezing to death...

Governor Scott Walker’s First 100 Days Evaluation  Soft Skills (Character Traits) • Honesty Grade: F Remarks: Scott Walker seemed unable to tell the truth. He lied about the cause of Wisconsin’s budget problem, which he blamed on overpaid government employees. He lied about the options available to him for solving Wisconsin’s budget problem –draconian reductions to the wages and benefits of public employees were not his only options. He made a conscious choice to exclude all forms of revenues. The list of his lies is just too long to be noted here. In short, Scott lied about everything. • Respect Grade: F Remarks: Time and time again, Scott demonstrated his lack of respect for state and federal laws, the American Constitution, the citizens of Wisconsin, and himself. He disregarded court orders, violated the “equal protection clause” of the Fourteenth Amendment , insulted, miscast and taunt public workers. • Fairness Grade: F Remarks: Although it appears that Scott has the ab...

We (Americans) are a collective group of citizens who believe in trust. Our spiritual beliefs are based on it. Our intimate happiness depends on it, and our interactions with others are governed by it. We are always trying to find the good in others because we believe that all others are basically good. We want to believe that others are just as civil and as moral as we are. We want to believe it so much that we’re often willing to take the other person at his/her word. There are areas in this country, for example, where folks will tell you that a handshake is as good as a signed contract: They believe that joining right hands and oscillating them up and down makes the agreement valid. Even when there is conflict between us, we want to believe that trust is the key to resolving it. “Let’s lay our cards on the table,” we tell each other. “Let honestly state our points of contention,” we encouragingly state to the other person/s.” Our belief, of course, is that the other side will state ...

          Picture a military fort or a military base with 21,000 active duty personnel. They are one hundred percent employed, with each one getting a pay check every two weeks. Approximately 40 - 50 percent of them that are married with children, so the government provides them with additional funds for family support. Visualize the economic impact they bring to the local communities as they buy cars, homes, clothing, furniture, garden equipment, car insurance, home insurance, televisions, VCRs, cable, gas, utilities, school books, toys, children sports equipment, restaurant food…      Now, let’s shift our attention to the base (itself), with its buildings, roads, and grounds that are maintained by local civilian workers: carpenters, plumbers, masons, electricians, ground keepers, parks and recreation personnel… Notice the base’s social services, consisting of social workers, psychologists, doctors, gymnasium and recreation sp...

         House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., unveiled his 2012 budget plan last week. He named it " The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise ," which suggested to me that Chairman Ryan is really confuse: I don’t believe “the path to prosperity” leads to poverty, lower paying jobs, greater economic burden on the middle class, and increasing the medical cost for seniors. And I certainly don’t think that “this path” was ever “America’s Promise,” so how can Chairman Ryan restore something that never existed? ( It makes me wonder "What are the contents of his “tea” at the Tea Parties?")      Additionally, Chairman Ryan carefully avoided cutting certain items from the budget. One of them was defense. In tomorrow’s blog, The Hidden Stimulus Packages in the Republican States, I will begin to explain why he did so.

          Mark this day and mark it well, “Friday, April 8, 2011, for this was the day that the United States of America became divided beyond rhetoric. This was the day on which the United States officially became a divided nation – in words and in deeds: We will never again be “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!”From this point onward we will be “every man for himself and, maybe, God for us all!” Perhaps, it was President Abraham Lincoln who said it best more than 150 years ago “A nation divided cannot stand!”      Our nation isn’t just divided; it is fragmented in ways that are beyond repair, and it is fragmented by forces that will not permit repair. A fragmented United States cannot compete against other nations – bigger nations, like China, Brazil, India, and Pakistan that are becoming better educated and increasingly unified. No team has ever defeated a formidable opponent by horning its...

         Leadership is a required course in the United States military. Every American who served (or is serving) in the army, navy, marines, air force, and coast guard studied (or is studying) it. I taught it for 20+ years in the army, and studied it from 1969 to the present. I guess this is my round-about way of telling you that there are millions of military personnel and veterans who will verify and reinforce the points I am about to make about leadership.      First, excellent (or strong) leadership is perhaps the single most important factor for creating success in organizations, companies, corporations, or democratic governments. Second, excellent leadership is built on sound, fundamental principles; and finally, the same principles of excellence that create success in organizations also create success in corporations, and democratic governments.      So, what are the excellent principles of leadership? T...

         I will the address the fourth incorrect assumption in education: Reward the outstanding teachers by giving them more money.      I asked myself “What am I to make of this?” In the past 14 years, my wages have fallen more than 12% below the wages of other workers with similar education and skills. Giving me a few extra dollars today for the outstanding job I have done for the past 14 isn’t a reward; it is a portion of the back payment that I should have getting all along! Besides, the crafters of this “brilliant” idea missed the point: No one enters the teaching profession, at any grade level, with the belief that they are going to make a great deal of money. In fact, most of us enter the teaching profession with the understanding that we will be working 10+ unpaid hours every week, and this will put a strain on our social life, our marriages, and our family life – especially if we have school age children   ...

          Today I will discuss the third most common myth in education: Public schools are not providing our children with high quality instructions, especially in reading and math, and as a result, our students are falling further and further behind the children in other countries.      People who make this argument tend to be republicans, like Governor Walker (R-WI), who makes this argument as a justification for privatizing schools. Often he and his fellow republicans will cite the achievement of inner city kids, whose achievement increased following their enrollment in charter schools, magnet schools or parochial schools. What they don’t know is the fact that the data is skewed for the following reasons: Charter schools, magnet schools, parochial schools, and other private schools carefully screen their potential students to ensure that those factors that guarantee student success are in place : All teachers, including priv...

     Today I will discuss the second common incorrect assumption in education: Schools should hire the best and the brightest teachers.      Unlike private schools and parochial schools, there are many uncontrolled variables that contribute to students’ success in our public schools: They include parent involvement, at-risk home life, truancy, special needs, behavior problems, class sizes, English as a second language, etc. For these reasons, I will argue “There is no objective way of determining the best and brightest public school teachers.” Instead, I will suggest that teachers, who do the best jobs of meeting the needs (which aren’t always academic) of public school children, are the ones that are committed to self improvement: They learn from fellow teachers. They attend workshops, seminars, colleges and universities. And they rely on the knowledge and skills they acquired from years of teaching experiences.      All...