Deja Vu all over again

Deja Vu all over again !

Here we go again. Will the government of the United States of America shut down this Friday? Will the sky fall? As Famed New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra first framed the saying “It is déjà vu all over again!” Why do we have to go through this national turmoil repeatedly? Because every pol in Washington doesn’t have his/her eye on the ball. They are more interested in blaming “the other guy” than effecting a solution to the problem at hand.

Most politicians view all “problem situations” in readily digestible segments that can be pigeonholed into handy compartments that are addressable, using conventional verbal platitudes. Hence, they see “women’s issues,” “minority issues,” “environmental issues” etc without realizing that they are integral parts of the same mosaic.
That is a much easier approach than actually trying to deal with a difficult situation. They rarely look at the integrated array of situational characteristics that might lead to realizing a broader and more holistic view of what is adjudged to be the “problem.” With all of the PHD’s and staff available, they should be able to pull any problem apart, analyze the structural weaknesses and propose a workable solution.

You might as well pound sand, with a small hammer, until your energy is spent instead of trying to explain this view to those who are preconditioned not to listen. Your time and energy might be better spent reviewing the relationships of an array of issues and attempting to spoon feed the correct approach to each, so that a holistic remedy might be achieved in spite of their inability to see the situation in its entirety as it exists. Horses do sometimes drink if you lead them to water.

I have forgotten the bureaucratic acronym, but there was a management system employed to launch our Apollo moon rocket. It followed a planned course of action, spread out over a ten-year span. This review and action system examined all of the component parts of a situation, planned how to change each individual component and integrate all of the changes into a system which would effect the desired accomplishment, incorporating every possible bureaucratic delay in its path. The process culminated successfully in nine years, one year ahead of schedule.

I think addressing the collective socio-economic problems, that we currently face in America, might take a bit less brain power than that required to land a man on the moon. And with probably less money too! Maybe NASA’s approach would work with any applications of needed social engineering. Nothing else seems to be working, why not give it a shot?

The question is of course rhetorical. If Washington wants to address a situation and/or solve a problem, they do in fact know how to structure and fund a remedy. So, you have to ask ask yourself, “Why don’t they?” 

It might be a better idea if you ask them. 
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(479 words)

Joseph Xavier Martin