February 12, 2011

What do We Get for All That Money?

by Steve Dana

I was listening to pundits on the television this morning haranguing about American Foreign Aid. 

They were angry because of all the billions of “aid” our country had given to Egypt.  They believe that Mubarak received $1-2 billion or so every year for thirty years and skimmed most of it off for his own account instead of feeding the poor and improving living standards for all Egyptians.

The pundits concluded that all foreign aid should be suspended because the money doesn’t get into the hands of the people who need it most. 

All this pundit can say is “If only the issue were that simple!”

The other day, I watched a video on the internet where David Cameron, Prime Minister of the UK disclosed that the British government had actually pressured the Scottish government to release the Lockerbie Bomber on humanitarian grounds even though the evidence did not indicate the guy was actually terminally ill.  Former PM Gordon Brown denied it.  

PM Cameron exposed his own government and revealed that Great Britain was negotiating a deal for British Petroleum in Libya and freeing the terrorist was a part of their deal.  I would consider that Foreign Aid.

It makes you wonder about the motives of our government when we give financial aid or use the resources of our country to benefit a foreign government.  I know we want to believe that Foreign Aid is given to help poor countries do something to improve the human condition, but how often do we ever accomplish humanitarian goals considering how much of the money actually is spent on the problem? 

The reality is that Foreign Aid is a pay-off to leaders of countries we need on our side for acting in a particular way.  We buy performance from foreign leaders.  Sometimes those leaders are not the best citizens.

Not all foreign leaders skim off the cash for their own account, but most do.  Should we stop giving foreign aid?  I wouldn’t advise it.  In spite of the flaws in the system, there aren’t many foreign leaders that would see things our way if we stopped giving them stuff.

Everyone has heard the phrase “Follow the Money!” and Foreign Aid is exactly that.  Foreign governments support our initiatives because we either pay them with money or give them security against aggressors.  If push comes to shove, we don’t have too many real friends in this world, at least in the sense of personal friends.

If those pundits were successful in halting foreign aid programs, our country would begin to feel pretty lonely pretty fast.  Imagine how life in this country would change if we swapped places with Israel and felt the pressure on our borders from every jackal in the neighborhood like they do.  What would you pay to keep that threat away?

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February 11, 2011

What’s Next for Egypt?

by Steve Dana

I’m leaving for work this morning, watching the television news when the screen changes to Egypt and the word that something big is happening in Cairo.  Momentarily the reporter on the scene turns to the camera and said something like “I have never seen anything like this, something really big is happening right now.”  Then after watching a little more, he comes back and tentatively reports that President Mubarak had resigned.

Folks, this is one of those good news/bad news situations.  It is good because the protesters got what they wanted.  It’s bad because nobody knows what comes next.  In my view, there are more unanswered questions now than before.

So I check my email at work and I am scanning the news on the internet this morning and a video comes up about expatriate Egyptians in New York City.  It gets me thinking about all the Egyptians that have left their homeland because Mubarak denied them the freedom they could get in America.  How many of them came to our country to experience all the benefits of a free society and now have an opportunity to go home and help shape the political process in Egypt?

Leadership in our country should be gathering as many of those expatriate Egyptians as they can to help them create a framework for a government they can share with their friends and relatives back in Egypt.  To set up resources for Egyptians to use that will enable them to make informed decisions about their options.

If Social Media gets the credit for starting the revolution, Social Media can have the same impact in stabilizing the country after the fact.

Americans will not determine the future for Egypt, Egyptians will.  We need to make sure that those who value what Western Style government can offer have every opportunity to share their views and have a seat at the table.

There have been “Opposition” leaders in Egypt in the past that have been imprisoned for their political views.  Do any of them have tendencies supportive of both democratic style of government and “pro-western” interests that appeal to Egyptians in the square?  Let’s get the bloggers and twitterers working to get it started.

Our government’s job should be to help Egyptians explore their options.  Our job should be to empower Egyptians in our country and other Western countries to have a voice in their homeland.

The final outcome of this whole process will have repercussions around the world.  The “butterfly effect” of events taking place in Egypt will be earth shaking.  We need to watch carefully.

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February 6, 2011

Happy Birthday President Reagan!

by Steve Dana

I just wanted to offer a few words about President Ronald Reagan.  Today is his 100th birthday.  I can’t remember a time when his name was not a part of the public conversation.  As a young child in the fifties he was the face of Twenty Mule Team Borax.  Westerns were the rage in those days and Reagan fit the image perfectly.

I came of age during the Viet Nam War years.  My brother joined the Army to serve his country knowing full well that he would be in the middle of the fight.  Woodstock, The Rolling Stones and getting stoned were prominent memories for many of my generation.

Ronald Reagan had gone from being the head of the Screen Actor’s Guild to the Governor of California.  His political philosophy was evolving during those very tumultuous years.

I grew up in a politically conservative family.  Not an over the top conservatism, but a steady pro-business conservatism.  My dad believed in personal responsibility.  He raised his kids to believe that society didn’t owe us anything; to the contrary, he believed in the Jaycee Creed,

that faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life and that service to humanity is the best work of life.

He instilled in me the belief that each of us owed something back to our community.

My first presidential election was Richard Nixon in 1968.  I voted for Republicans in every presidential election since.

I think most of us could tell after only a short time that electing Jimmy Carter president was a bad thing for our country.  The crumbling of our relationship with Iran summed up his term in office.

The question about who would run against him wasn’t clear to me so much then because I was a newly-wed and starting a new business in the late Seventies, I had other things on my mind.

I wasn’t thinking about who would be running on the Republican side, only that whoever it was would be better than Carter.

For me, the decade of the eighties was a time of clarifying my own personal beliefs and having President Reagan leading our country made believing in principles all the more important. 

The historical importance of the events of the decade was incredible; Iran Hostages, Challenger disaster, Fall of the Iron Curtain.  Then add an assassination attempt to the mix, President Reagan helped the country deal them all.

Since Ronald Reagan left office, he has been held as the standard by which my generation compares and contrasts presidents.  Five and a half presidential terms have passed since he left office and we still yearn for a leader of his stature.

I don’t see any candidates on the horizon that have the potential to lead our country like Ronald Reagan.  Our challenge is to instill in our young people the principles and faith in God we attribute to Ronald Reagan and hope that in years to come they step up and serve their country like he did.

In the mean time, we have to make sure we don’t screw it up so bad that there won’t be a country to serve.

I am proud to say that I am a Republican who was inspired to serve by the example set by Ronald Reagan.  I continue to serve even today.

Happy Birthday, President Reagan!

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February 6, 2011

What do You VOTE FOR?

by Steve Dana

I was out visiting with friends in the community recently and a woman comes up to me and said “I just wanted you to know that I voted for you.”  Out of the blue, she told me that in spite of the fact that I was a Republican, she voted for me.  She went on to say that as an avowed Democrat, she had never voted for a Republican but that my message was the right message for our time.  She said that she has known me or about me for many years so I wasn’t a total stranger, but she knew we were on the wrong path with the leadership that was in charge and that she could trust me to do what I said.

I last ran for office in 2009 so this lady didn’t forget in all that time.  I was flattered that she voted for me, but I was encouraged that my message of respecting property rights, smaller more accountable government had reached across the partisan divide and had at least reached one voter.

Since I ran for County Council in 2009, the political landscape has changed immeasurably.  I remember talking to a popular Republican strategist in early 2009 about the fact that the mood in the country was changing.  That in my interactions with my customers I could sense that people who had never been involved in the political process were getting fed up with the partisanship of both sides.  They were concerned that Nero was fiddling as Rome burned.  He told me I was full of crap.

There is no doubt that most of my loyal customers tended to be more conservative than liberal, but even the liberals were becoming alarmed with the direction their party was leading our country.

What followed that visit with the Republican strategist was the upwelling of the Tea Party movement.  So who had their finger on the pulse on that one?

The lady that spoke to me the other day was a union member and she told me that I needed to know that even though her union advocated for a particular point of view, they didn’t necessarily speak for her or others that she knew in her union.  She said that solutions to the problems we face will have to be based upon what is right for all the people first before the interests of the unions or the businesses.  She said she respected my opinions and trusted that I would do the right thing.

That got me to thinking about how many other union members felt the same way.  I didn’t have to look very far for my answer.  One of my very best friends in the world is a member of the Operators Union.  He works in the construction industry.  He is one of the most conservative people I know.  He has always maintained that the union did not speak for him.

Along the same lines, the suggestion that all business owners are Republicans is similarly false.

Our challenge in the coming months and years is to connect with union members who still believe in the benefits of union membership but also recognize that the message coming from union leadership is not necessarily the message of the rank and file.

Unfortunately, when union members speak publicly in opposition to the union stand on the issue, there is fear of retribution from other union members.  The unions are not too tolerant of members who step out of line.  It’s too bad that the unions can’t allow their members to disagree without becoming disagreeable.  That may very well be their undoing!

My message to that lady the other day was to get involved.  The days are gone when we can count on someone else to do what’s right.  The stakes are so high at every level of government; we can’t leave the job to “others” any longer.  If you are concerned about your community, then run for office or volunteer to serve on a board or commission to learn how the process works and you can be aware of the changes that are taking place right under your nose.

My message for everyone today is the same.  If you are prepared to suffer from the decisions left to others then by all means go on your merry way, but if you are concerned about what is happening with your school district, fire district or diking district attend some meetings, volunteer for committees and commissions or run for office.  Community service is a good thing.

If not, you may be leaving the decisions to folks with a radically different agenda!  Can we really afford that?

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