I admit it. I’m a radical constitutionalist- who most would term a flaming liberal- because most of us fail to comprehend economics… Yet, I am a moderate fiscal-conservative. (Oh, my, the term “conservative” linked to Roy Ackerman… What is the world coming to?) Because I know we can’t spend money we don’t have or can’t borrow responsibly. (Come on- that means in times like these, we have to borrow. Money’s way too cheap to not be repairing and rebuilding our infrastructure. If we wait much longer, there’ll be nothing left to repair…) But, I digress… I am a big fan of Steny Hoyer, the Congressman from (the 5th District of) Maryland, the Democratic Whip. (Don’t get me started on where I think he really should be in the pecking order…) On 19 September 2012 (today), he made me aware of a “game” that American Public Media (formed by WGBH [Boston], WNYC [New York, of course], KUSC [as in Southern California], and Minnesota Public Radio [If you can’t figure that out, please go away!]) has made available to us. It’s called Budget Hero – and, trust me, we have very few among our 535 folks under the roof of the US Capitol building. 
What Steny said was that it is very important that lawmakers (forget about us citizens) learn to play this game. Because balancing the budget – and accomplishing objectives- is supposed to be the function of Congress. (Of course, Senator McConnell, with a ‘slip of the tongue’ admitted that the job of his party is to deny Obama a second term- ipso facto, the country be damned.) Go ahead, click on the link above. Check out the game. It’ll ‘learn you’ something. You’ll get the chance to try a bunch of policies out. You can choose those espoused by Mitt Romney. Which will show you how we can go belly up by 2025, because there will only be money for mandatory spending (Medicare, Social Security)- which is why Ryan wants to kill Medicare. (Oh, I know, he’ll give you a few pennies that won’t cover the costs for the insurance you need after three or four years of his program. Like that’s a solution.) Or, you can try those policies advanced by President Barack Obama. Woo Hoo! You win- we only go bust in 2028! Three More Years! Yup. You figured it out. If we can’t compromise and develop some sane plans together (raise taxes on those who make more than $ 250K of TAXABLE income [meaning we are really talking about $ 350K of gross income], cut spending on various items, stop the incredible buildup of Pentagon arms that the Brass don’t want anyway, etc…), then we’re done for. (Kind of what we saw on the silver screen for Mutually Assured Destruction in John Badham’s War Games.) And, the process requires continued diligence. (Now, there’s a novel idea!) And, if we work together to make America the great nation each of us thinks it is, then the economy can soar, we can innovate, and we can make the American Dream a potentiality and not a wistful memory… How about you elected folks? Can you stop playing games with our lives…NOW?????? 
Yeah, let’s watch politicians play the game!
Then, when they fail (which they inadvertently will), let’s drive them home!
Eleni Poulakou recently posted..The Dance of Inspiration
Oh, Eleni…
Why drive them home. They’ll only come back again. Let’s leave them where they are- where they can do less harm to the rest of us…
What we need are elected officials who cannot take bribes (oh, wait, we call them election contributions) so they will, indeed, have the citizenry’s best interests at heart.
“elected officials who cannot take bribes”: where have these been discovered??? I’ll crawl there to find one! 😮
Helene Poulakou recently posted..The Dance of Inspiration
I know of a few… very few, Eleni!
Flaming liberal; moderate conservative… my my…you do wear a lot of hats Roy. It’s funny reading your post today because just yesterday I was part of a politcal conversation that made my head spin. It occured to me that perhaps what we need today is a third option…people who understand the reality of the situation! They would have to understand how money and budget really work as well as understand that sometimes, people must come first.
It just seems that everything has to be so far to the left or right with no feet in common sense!
Perhaps we can call them ‘flaming moderates’? 🙂
Bonnie recently posted..Spiritual or Religious?
Common sense is so talked about Bonnie because it rarely is…
And, since we ceased teaching civics in school, we have developed a population of uncivil boors!
Interesting!
The problem with this type of education is getting people to listen.
When I stood for parliament twice, my biggest problem was the woeful state of political education.
So many people had no idea about the machinations of most things, much less the desire to learn and investigate. Hence the descent into soundbites and wife hairdos.
Good luck for November!
Cheers,
Gordon
The Great Gordino recently posted..Goal Achievement – A Very Fishy Lesson From The Weather!
I agree with your comments, Gordon…
And, I fear the UK has an even bigger test next year with the Scottish elections!
WOW!!! If only a few of my relatives would check into this tool. I tweeted it, so will see. I’ll probably get barraged now with endless political crap… oh wait… they send it to me now!
Not sure what the answer is, but it would help if congress would work together on the solution. Well, that’s a fairytale right there!
Enjoyed this very much.
I don’t think you will be visited by political crap.. But, it is a most cool tool, PeggyLee!
It is a frustrating state of affairs to say the least. I didn’t know accomplishing objectives was a function of congress – I thought it was bickering. And I always believed they were very good at it.
Suerae Stein recently posted..What I Learned from my 30 Year HS Reunion…
Bickering is not the function of Congress- but it’s their avocation. The problem, SueRae, is that they seemed to have forgotten that they were elected FOR a vocation!
Well I have no idea about politics but I like your logo banner with …making the world better, ONE CLIENT AT THE TIME… this is true and cool.
Thank you,
Christian, WMJ CEO
Christian recently posted..I will give REAL IMPROVEMENT for RANKINGS in 10-15 Days, SEE LIVE PROOF, MUST READ, 3000+ High Quality backlink with Shell Treatment for $65
Thanks for visiting and your comments on the banner, Christian! I am thrilled you dropped in for a visit…. come again, soon…
I think a stint in politics would be a good challenge for you, Roy. We need people in our government who really understand the concepts of economics.
The American people need to be willing to sacrifice and understand that we are all responsible for this mess (yes, we had the opportunity to vote for our legislators) and we are going to have to work together to get our economy back on the right track.
Janette Fuller recently posted..Children’s Book Review: Beware Of The Teacher! by Jason Bardwell
I was involved (behind the scenes) in politics for a very long time. Working for progressive Republicans and liberal Democrats (Neither variety exist any longer, imho.)
I think we need to change the focus from electing lawyers to electing business folks, teachers, etc…
Thanks for the visit, Janette!