The old reboot…a simple, quick and easy way to restore your operating system back to a working state. Well, that’s at least what you are hoping it will do and most of the time it does works. We reboot our machines for a variety of reasons but often in a last ditch effort to start over. Have we reached this point in America? After all the defragging, virus checking, registry edits and uninstalls/re-installs, perhaps it’s time to just hit “ctrl-alt-del.”
Now, before anyone gets too upset, I understand this is an over-simplification of our problems here in America and rebooting a computer is often based on “the hope” that your computer will run again. Despite this, I needed a good analogy to explain the jolts of imagination that penetrated my mind as I watched the 4 Sep episode of “Meet the Press” and read Steven Pearlstein’s Washington Post article, “A Jobs program for a floundering president.” Both talked about getting America back on it’s feet in different ways, either by looking at how we used to operate in order to go forward or looking towards innovative leadership styles such as Steve Jobs. Regardless, this image of hitting “ctrl-alt-del” wouldn’t leave my brain, so here it is folks! Oh, can click on the links above…you’ll enjoy the inspiration.
Is rebooting a bit of a reckless cause in the search for solving operating system (OS) problems? Of course! As many of you know and have experienced, sometimes it just doesn’t work because of the greater problems with your computer’s OS. It may be a virus or some third-party software causing you pain and stress, but we often fall back on forcing a return to the original state through a “ctrl-alt-del.”
It’s time to take bold steps and make unpopular choices, but I don’t expect the government to do it all for us. If the government represents the operating system, then we “the people” represent the millions of lines of code that enable it all to work. It’s a highly interactive/interrelated system that must work together to achieve success. Sure, some lines of code can become corrupt and problems emerge, but it doesn’t necessarily render the entire operating system unresponsive. However, if they corrupt critical functions or systems, then we have some bigger problems and desperately need to restore back to a working state.
I believe it’s time we reboot Amercia through similar, radical processes that Steven Pearlstein and Thomas Friedman describe. What do I mean when I say bold? I would start with a clean look at re-investing and re-inventing our education system. This is a long-term investment that will pay off big time down the road.
To Steven Pearlstein, “It would almost certainly include a radically reformed and simplified tax code, personal as well as corporate, with no rate above 25 percent. It would involve a radical restructuring of entitlement programs so that benefits and payments to providers adjust automatically to formulas tied to growth in national income. It would involve a wholesale restructuring of the federal bureaucracy that eliminated half of all programs judged to be least effective and essential or whose functions would be better shifted to the states. It would be a guarantee of a two-year job to any qualified high school or college graduate under age 24 wishing to serve in the military, the Peace Corps or an expanded domestic service corps in exchange for below-market wages and college tuition or repayment of college loans.”
On Meet the Press, Thomas Friedman emphasized the fact that, “We’re not going to bail our way out of this crisis. We’re not going to stimulate our way out of this crisis. We are only going to educate, ultimately, and imagine and invent our way out of this crisis.” Friedman’s reboot consists of getting back to the formula that worked prior to and during the Cold War and adapting to the current technological timeframe where the world is, according to him, “Hyper-connected.”
The constant stir and re-hash on jobs numbers, debt reduction and bailouts don’t resonate with me. They have caused our operating system to become slow and glitchy, but they don’t cause me concern. I’m more determined and focused on rebooting America and getting us back to a working state. We possess the kinds of people who can [according to Thomas Friedman] “adapt, invent and re-invent” America and now may be the time to make radical changes by jolting the system.
This is simply one man’s opinion based upon two sparks of inspiration. I would love to hear from each of you. Where should we, Americans, focus our energy? Which programs should be re-invented or revolutionized? What are you doing to contribute to America’s future success? Collaboration and discourse is healthy and I hope to hear from you. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
