A Country With Low or No Standards: A Barrel of Rotten Apples and Two Naked Candidates
Dr. Arlene R. Barro
October 11, 2008
We are obsessed with asking the wrong questions. Who will be the "best" president? Who will be the "best" vice-president? What is the "best" bailout bill? To determine the "best" we compare and contrast searching for similarities and differences. An intelligent 12-year-old can create these laundry lists. Hasn´t anyone figured out that the mindset of competition, which leads to the mentality of "best," doesn´t work? If you compare and contrast two rotten apples, and pick one, you have selected the "best" which is still a rotten apple.
Now we are confronted with the consequences of the competition mindset. Nothing works. The economy, healthcare, and education are products of the rotten apple decisions. If we insist on relentlessly searching for the rotten apples, we will never restore the health of this country and we can forget about restoring the world´s confidence in us.
It is no wonder voters are having trouble evaluating the candidates. Like the emperor in the fairy tale, both are strutting around without any clothes. To cover up their flaws, they distract us with negative ads, half-truths, and verbal attacks. They wear their distracters as cloaks to cover up their nakedness. We must peel off the distracters. To do that, we need to change our mindset to the Right Fit and ask a new question. Who is the Right Fit candidate? To figure that out we need each candidate to give us his Blueprint of Achievements for which he would be held accountable if elected. We are not asking about plans or solutions.
The morgues are filled with the dead who had highly successful surgeries but they immediately died. If you´re scratching your head wondering why, the answer is simple. We make the erroneous assumption that if the process – what we do – looks good, that the outcome – what we achieve – will automatically be successful. What we do does not necessarily lead to the desired outcomes. Pumping billions into the economy is a solution. The question is what will it achieve.
We as a country do not want to become the dead patient. We must demand that the Senators tell us what they are going to achieve if elected president. Then, we can objectively evaluate each candidate to determine who is the Right Fit president and vote accordingly.
We are getting ready to hire the next president. Let´s tell the candidates now that, if elected, we expect the new president´s achievements to reflect high standards for the economy, healthcare, education and national security. We expect the next president to reduce the national debt not add to it. We expect the next president to anticipate problems and take action to prevent them. We will not accept a country with low or no standards, a barrel of rotten apples and a naked president.
Now we are confronted with the consequences of the competition mindset. Nothing works. The economy, healthcare, and education are products of the rotten apple decisions. If we insist on relentlessly searching for the rotten apples, we will never restore the health of this country and we can forget about restoring the world´s confidence in us.
It is no wonder voters are having trouble evaluating the candidates. Like the emperor in the fairy tale, both are strutting around without any clothes. To cover up their flaws, they distract us with negative ads, half-truths, and verbal attacks. They wear their distracters as cloaks to cover up their nakedness. We must peel off the distracters. To do that, we need to change our mindset to the Right Fit and ask a new question. Who is the Right Fit candidate? To figure that out we need each candidate to give us his Blueprint of Achievements for which he would be held accountable if elected. We are not asking about plans or solutions.
The morgues are filled with the dead who had highly successful surgeries but they immediately died. If you´re scratching your head wondering why, the answer is simple. We make the erroneous assumption that if the process – what we do – looks good, that the outcome – what we achieve – will automatically be successful. What we do does not necessarily lead to the desired outcomes. Pumping billions into the economy is a solution. The question is what will it achieve.
We as a country do not want to become the dead patient. We must demand that the Senators tell us what they are going to achieve if elected president. Then, we can objectively evaluate each candidate to determine who is the Right Fit president and vote accordingly.
We are getting ready to hire the next president. Let´s tell the candidates now that, if elected, we expect the new president´s achievements to reflect high standards for the economy, healthcare, education and national security. We expect the next president to reduce the national debt not add to it. We expect the next president to anticipate problems and take action to prevent them. We will not accept a country with low or no standards, a barrel of rotten apples and a naked president.
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