Comments on: National Healthcare Reform http://www.depthfirstsearch.net/blog/2009/08/06/national-healthcare-reform/ “We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done." Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:59:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Reggie Greene / The Logistician http://www.depthfirstsearch.net/blog/2009/08/06/national-healthcare-reform/#comment-225 Reggie Greene / The Logistician Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:18:16 +0000 http://www.depthfirstsearch.net/blog/?p=1291#comment-225 We (as a nation) lack the ability to rally around anything, unless it is perceived as an imminent threat to virtually all of us, and that's not going to happen often. And so we become self-absorbed in thinking about our own personal, close to home minutiae. There are some positive and negative ramifications associated with ANY alternate approach we might pursue, and the yelling and screaming will always be loud and raucous. As George Will often says, there is the "inertia" which is Washington. There is also the "inertia" which is the U.S. and its constituent parts. Although this approach has served us well for most of the last 110 years, from a theoretical perspective, one has to wonder how long we can govern ourselves using the "herding cats” governance model, in light of our increase in size and complexity of our citizens. If the US were run like a business, then every single day, its management team would assess whether its goals are being attained, bust their butts to achieve those goals, ensure that it was getting the maximum value and productivity out of those working for it, and make on the dime changes to most effectively and efficiently reach those goals. In other words, be nimble. This country is not nimble, and can not be. I’m not advocating a particular change, either left or right; just the recognition that EVERY governance model has its limitations, and this one is no different. However, for us to think that we can continue to use it and not have negative periods and poor, inappropriate responses to problems, is not reasonable. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/nsxqu6" rel="nofollow">A country needs to know its limitations</a>. We (as a nation) lack the ability to rally around anything, unless it is perceived as an imminent threat to virtually all of us, and that’s not going to happen often. And so we become self-absorbed in thinking about our own personal, close to home minutiae.

There are some positive and negative ramifications associated with ANY alternate approach we might pursue, and the yelling and screaming will always be loud and raucous.

As George Will often says, there is the “inertia” which is Washington. There is also the “inertia” which is the U.S. and its constituent parts.

Although this approach has served us well for most of the last 110 years, from a theoretical perspective, one has to wonder how long we can govern ourselves using the “herding cats” governance model, in light of our increase in size and complexity of our citizens.

If the US were run like a business, then every single day, its management team would assess whether its goals are being attained, bust their butts to achieve those goals, ensure that it was getting the maximum value and productivity out of those working for it, and make on the dime changes to most effectively and efficiently reach those goals. In other words, be nimble.

This country is not nimble, and can not be.

I’m not advocating a particular change, either left or right; just the recognition that EVERY governance model has its limitations, and this one is no different. However, for us to think that we can continue to use it and not have negative periods and poor, inappropriate responses to problems, is not reasonable. A country needs to know its limitations.

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