A Weakness of the US Economy

June 2, 2005

A Weakness of the US Economy

By T.S.Khanna

With increasing globalization, the US economy is showing weakness in two areas; unions and government run businesses.

One of the fundamental tenets of democratic economy is competition in quality, efficiency, and cost. While American business corporations have to face competition in world market, they do not have this advantage in production lines at home. The culture of unionism eliminates the spirit of competition. Consequently, the jobs are being exported..

The solution to this growing problem seems to consist in a) creating several unions in each field to compete against each other, and, b) making hiring/firing practices more protective of competition and less protective of unproductive union members. No where else in the world, the labor is paid so highly and so well insulated from competition. To save the jobs from being exported, either the wages or the dollar value may have to be adjusted to compete with the developing countries.

Again, government run businesses have no competition, accountability, or standards to evaluate their performance. Consequently, they become bloodsuckers of taxpayers as well as of the captive clientèle. A case in point is BART. No where in the world, the cost of public transportation is so high as of BART. Yet, every year the fares are raised. Staff salaries of the upper management are certainly not justifiable. In fact, most other Public Transportation Systems in the US are in a similar predicament.

The solution seems to consist in adjusting basic salaries of the upper management staff to what the business can bear with lowest competitive fares and then paying profit bonuses if they accrue.

In our democracy there is no dearth of ideas to solve our problems, only a lack of mechanism to implement them.

Your Comments are invited.

One Nation Under God

June 28, 2002.

One Nation Under God

By T.S.Khanna

Introductory courses in law teach us that it is the intent of the law, not the letter of the law, which is important. At the time of any controversy, the attention should be focused on the intent. Some of the Federal Courts judgments seem to have ignored the intent and jolted the American society by violating the common sense of the prevailing culture. In our recent memory, the federal courts have declared that under the “free speech” burning of the American Flag and pornography are constitutional and “the separation of religion and the State” make God unconstitutional.

It shows an utter disregard for some decent human values.

The judges are well paid and respected for their knowledge of the laws; the origin and intent of the laws. Their judgments are expected to unify the diversity in the nation by their learned explanations of the origin and the intent of the Constitution and its amendments. However, as I see it, they seem to be ignoring the intent and interpreting the letter. Federal courts are becoming a centrifuge instead of a unifying force for the nation.

Every religion seems to have four aspects: the philosophy, the myths, the ceremonies, and the customs and symbols. The philosophies of most religions, based on God, tend to unify humanity. The other aspects of religions tend to politicize religions. God is considered as supreme and ultimate reality. For better comprehension of the common man, God is the personified image of natural and supernatural forces beyond human knowledge and control. However, as human knowledge increases, jurisdiction of God decreases.

Belief or disbelief in God does not make a person religious or irreligious; his/her actions and behavior with God's creation do. Not believing in God is not being conscious of the natural and supernatural forces. That is only a lower level of consciousness. The different religions profess various interpretations of God. An atheist has a right not to believe in any of those interpretations but if a person denies the existence of God, he/she only shows lower level of consciousness in as much as he/she is unable to explain the creation of the planet and the Universe. A person's concept of God may differ but the denial of God's existence in the state-of-the-art of the human knowledge is not justfiable on rational basis.

Every nation exists under God. I wonder if the decision whether the USA exists under God or not should be under the jurisdiction of our courts.

Your comments are most welcome.

.

The United States of America is not a phenomenon of a single blood, a single religion, or a single race. It is a nation of diverse people and cultures interacting together in a constructive and positive manner. It is a process, always complete but never finished. “One nation under God” is not in conflict with “the separation of religion and state”. It is a symbol and a force of unity and encouragement for the diverse people under a common American Flag.

Let us uphold the Pledge of Allegiance. Let us salute the Flag.

Presidential Debates Before Election

.

The Presidential Debates

October 19, 2000.

By T.S.Khanna

According to the polls, even after the third presidential debate a large number of voters are unable to choose the candidate. It shows that the voters have not been able to clearly grasp the major issues, position of each candidate with respect to the issues, election time promises, and accountability during the office tenure.

Most of those who are already decided in their vote are the loyalists of their respective political parties. Their decisions do not depend on the new information or knowledge generated by the presidential debates. It seems that more of the party loyalists are turning to be party fanatics to the detriment of the national interests.

In view of the experience, I wonder about the usefulness of the adopted process for the presidential debates and would propose some amendments:

1. Each candidate may be required to issue an Election Paper defining and explaining, a) the major issues facing the nation, b) the candidate’s vision of the nation in the next twenty years, c) the candidate’s plans, strategies, budgets, and programs to elevate the nation to his/her twenty-year vision with specific goals to be achieved in each of the five four-year time periods, and, d) measures of the candidate’s performance and the framework of accountability.

2. The Election Paper may be available to voters at least six weeks in advance of the scheduled first Presidential Debate. Two weeks prior to the first debate, each candidate may issue a critique on the opponent’s Election Paper.

3. All the issues may not be included in each debate. Scope of each debate may be limited to the pre-selected issues announced well in advance.

4. A panel of past Presidents may be appointed to frame and ask questions to test the candidates’ responses during the first hour of the first debate.

5. The candidates may ask each other questions during the following half-hour of the first debate.

6. All other debates may be town hall meeting style limiting the scope of each debate to the issues scheduled for the debate.

Your Comments Invited

The Presidential Crisis; Need For A Non-Partisan President

September 17, 2004.

By T.S.Khanna

The American politics is becoming increasingly divisive; much more so at the time of presidential election. At every election, deeper cleavage between the two major political parties is engraved in the minds of their respective supporters. There is no healing after the election. The fanaticism in both Republican and Democratic parties is almost at the level of religious fanaticism. Psychologically, the nation is being divided into two.

Democratic elections were designed to give citizens a chance to evaluate the merit of each candidate before voting. However, under the current practices of unbridled campaigning, truth is the first casualty; facts, the second. In the absence of truth and facts, logic and rationality, the backbone of democracy, have no reliable basis. Emotions replace logic and rationality. Debates become meaningless. The image of public interest is faulted and twisted by each party. To win over middle-of –the-road voters, both parties compete in creating a better facade of the middle-of-the-road position. The public fooling is rampant.

To find a handle on the widespread conditions, we must look for critical points to initiate an effective counter action. As I see it, the most critical point is the presidency of the nation. The presidents elected under the prevailing conditions cannot reflect the true choice and confidence of the voters. In addition, with nearly a 50/50 division in popular voting, and the opposition party constantly opposing the elected president, it becomes almost impossible for the president to have the nation’s full confidence. The President, even with the best of intentions, cannot perform well in a divided government with hostile environment.

The Founders never intended the President to be a powerful figure. However, with the passage of time, every president expanded his power according to his political talent and opportunities. Now the position provides vast powers but the system does not provide and assure commensurate public confidence. Under the prevailing conditions, emotional ties of the citizens to the president bind as well as divide the nation. Affection and hate become strong emotions right at the starting point.

Besides being the political chief of the nation, the importance of presidency is also reinforced by the modern times need as well as the public emotions and imagery of the position as a symbol of national unity. For national confidence and unity, the President’s effective power of influence has to be drawn from the people by identifying and extracting the interests of various segments of the population and integrating them with the whole.

A partisan President is not oriented to perform this most needed function required by the modern times. Even if he performs this function well, due to the partisan nature of his position, he is not likely to develop enough public confidence to be perceived as the nation’s unifier. That is why, in the times of war or emergency, when the national unity is most needed it is not forthcoming.

Besides the most needed campaign reform discussed elsewhere, the resolution of this crisis seems to lie in revising our system to make the position of the President non-partisan. A non-partisan President will a) serve better as a symbol of national unity, b) deal better with numerous power centers of the nation, and, c) be more apt in performance with full confidence of the legislature, the executive, and the public.

Reforming Our Educational System

T.S.Khanna

on

August 28,2000.

Reforming Our Educational System

The quality of education in our public schools has been a disappointment to many parents. Parents like to educate their children as well as possible and as much as possible but do not like to expose them to the growing evils of the educational institutions. A special effort is called for at this stage to remove the evil influences from our schools, and provide high quality education.

Removing or disbanding of teen age gangs and enforcement of discipline in the public schools should be the first priority. Now children seem to respect the gang members, not the teachers. With too many rules and rights coming into play, the school principles and teachers first lost their power and now their interest to discipline the children. In fact, the faculty staff is afraid of school gangs, although they would not admit it openly. Respect for the teachers should be restored and the growing power of gangs must be rooted out. At the same time, at the family level, parents’ authority to discipline children must be restored. Over the years, the parental authority has been nibbled away in the name of protection from “parental abuse”. Now our schools and parents have the responsibility to raise children properly but without commensurate authority.

It does not speak well of us as a civilized society if we cannot bust the school gangs and the parents and teachers do not have the authority to discipline the children. It takes four to five generations to build a culture for a civilized society and only one generation to destroy it.

The educational curriculum should be revised to reflect our ideals of human character and our expectations from children as they grow up. In the past, our focus has been on utility education, ignoring the value of character education and ornamental education, i.e., education in proper behavior for a decent, civilized society.

Familiarity and practice of proper etiquette, social graces, and good manners in everyday dealings can have a significant positive impact on one’s personality. These qualities should embody the finest human thoughts to serve as efficient social lubricants. Proper etiquette, social graces, and good manners are best learned at a very young age. Once learned at a young age, they are never forgotten; missed out at young age, they are never learned.

It seems imperative that our Kindergarten, Elementary, and Junior Schools include systematic courses on proper etiquette, social graces, and proper behavior in the adopted curriculum for education. The effect of such courses, eventually, should become noticeable at the High School level to the benefit of the students, teachers, parents, and the society at large.

One of the main functions of education should be to transform the human mind into humane mind. Leaving, at a very young age, an abiding imprint on the mental outlook of those seeking education can best perform this function. In the past, this function was the responsibility of the parents and the religious institutions. Modern times have eroded the influence of both these sources.

The modern economy and the changing attitudes have erased the financial and traditional boundaries that used to set apart the wealthy few as the elite social class of high taste. Now no class is set apart in distinction to be emulated in etiquette, social graces, good manners, or even in fashions. What was once considered the gracious living of the wealthy few, now must become the heritage of all citizens in the USA. This heritage can be passed on to the younger generations only through our educational system.

Ethics and Etiquette in Public Schools

March 5, 2001.

American heritage of rugged individualism has prevented realization of the impact of changing times. Now, technology has diminished our ability to maintain the distance from others demanded by the old fashioned rugged individualism. In the modern times, we get rewarded by the good relationship we have with others. We get returns from the services we provide for others. The greater the number of people served the greater are the returns.

While we are experiencing that inter-dependence may be even more fulfilling than independence, we also note that the deviant and the maladjusted can cause disproportionately high negative impact on too many of us to ignore.

In spite of the fact that the necessity for morality, ethics, and etiquette has been felt increasingly, the emphasis on this aspect of education has been ignored. Repeatedly, behavioral studies have confirmed that human behavior is learned and, hence, can be guided, we have continued to ignore education in the area of human behavior.

President Bush has initiated a commendable effort to improve the quality of our public schools. The School Districts should make use of the opportunity to include lessons in ethics and etiquette in the educational curriculum of the schools.

Lessons in societal ethics and social etiquette would not be in conflict with the principle of the separation of the Church and the State. Freedom of religion never meant freedom from morality. Ethics and etiquette, based on public morality, are not a monopoly of any one religion. If ethics and etiquette represent the essence of the common values of all religions designed for the good of the humanity, both the government and the religious institutions should be supportive of including education in ethics and etiquette in our public schools.

Knowledge and ethics together make a powerful building block for the society. Knowledge without ethics can be dangerous. Ethics without knowledge can be useless.

I urge the Federal and the State governments as well as the religious institutions to encourage inclusion of education in ethics and etiquette in our public schools.

First, we must have zero tolerance for the school gangs. Otherwise, they will “leave no child behind”.

Transportation: A Major Planning Issue

Transportation; A Major Planning Issue

By T.S.Khanna.

November 10, 1998

In the past General Plans adopted by most local jurisdictions did not pay focused attention to minimize the commute needs. The past focus has been on providing more and more facilities for the ever-increasing commute needs due to the inadvertent neglect. In fact, most of the adopted General Plans is a major contributing factor in longer commute needs and greater dependency on private cars.

General Plans and land use plans often discuss jobs/housing balance, affordable housing and reasonable commute without defining and implementing their close relationship in planning. Here, I would like to define jobs/housing balance and affordable housing more precisely. If the definition offered below is legislated and the General Plans are required to follow the legislation, commute needs would be minimized. The solution to our problem would be more curative than symptomatic.

It seems that a house is affordable by a family if (a) the monthly payment of the house or apartment does not exceed 25% of the family’s gross monthly income, (b) cost of commuting to work does not exceed 3% of the gross income, (c) time for commuting does not exceed 30 minutes each way, and (d) distance for commuting does not exceed 15 miles.

To bring about jobs/housing balance, the planning effort must make sure that employment centers and housing subdivisions are approved as package development plans. Each employment center development must be required to include at least 90% of the affordable housing needs of the employment center. Transportation facilities should then be planned and provided to facilitate commute needs at a cost not exceeding 3% of the employees’ respective gross incomes.

The above mentioned approach would not only solve the traffic problems it will also result in reduced air pollution, reduced traffic noise, wasteful use of energy resources, reduced number of traffic accidents, and more available time to be spent with the family rather than wasted in commuting. In a way, long commute forced on our citizens is indirectly damaging the great value system of the society by weakening the family unit resulting in numerous

destructive social pressures.

.

A Call For Quality In Democracy

September 25, 2003.

A Call for Quality in Democracy

By T.S.Khanna

Under the current political practices, we elect the best politicians money can buy and ignore the true leaders that money cannot buy. Technologically, we have been advancing rapidly: politically, we have been decaying steadily. Consequently, from a technological perspective, we have a solution to almost every problem but from a political perspective, we have a problem to almost every solution. The Soviet Union has proved that communism does not work. The current affairs in California tend to prove that democracy is also not able to deliver the results. Direct democracy gives an illusion of wide choice of candidates but not the right candidate for governor.

This is because non-partisan rationality to protect the common good is missing in our democratic operations. Each political party engages in a blame game. The parties keep escalating polarization to the point fanaticism. Full effort is devoted to gain power: No effort is made to evolve substantive solution to the problems. Then, in frustration, we take steps that do not even address the very issues that trigger those steps. For instance, recall of the Governor to eliminate the budget deficit. In frustration, we hope that any change will be a change for the better. We do not evaluate merits and demerits of the change.

Let’s take a quick look. First, the Governor is not entirely responsible the budget deficit: many assembly members and senators are equally responsible. Second, power base of the new governor will impose the same constraints, e.g., voters’ wishes and restrictive legislative assembly. Third, State budget is generated by a compromise of many conflicting forces: recall effort does nothing to eliminate them or even minimize them. Fourth, no contesting candidate is presenting a clear-cut plan to abolish the deficit. Any such plan would be detrimental to the candidate’s chances in election.

Last night, the gubernatorial debate was of extremely low quality. The debate was very poorly conducted. It was more of a shouting competition without substance. How can voters be expected to judge the job fitness of the candidates from such a debate?

Usually, the solution is sought when the problem is felt most. I take this opportunity to suggest interjection of some quality in our democratic operations in order to evolve abiding solution for the common good.

As a first step, I would like to suggest that certain prerequisites be adopted and enforced for each elected position in the state. Such a measure should assure the necessary background and the minimum knowledge and the quality of candidates for the job performance. Much as immigrants are welcome, I believe the candidates competing for the state elections must be born in the state.

Media Freedom and Resposibility

February 4, 2006

Media Freedom and Responsibility

By T.S.Khanna

Just as power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, freedom defies justice and absolute freedom defies justice absolutely.

Because of the boundless opportunities of free expression, the media has started frequently transgressing the limits imposed by the responsibility that goes with freedom. The case in point is the publication of twelve cartoons by a Danish Daily, “Jyllands-Posten”. It is not only the Muslims but also most people in good conscience find such insults to religious prophets offensive. Similar insults have been hurled at other prophets as well as political leaders in the USA. This activity damages the culture and dignity of free societies.

The public needs freedom from pornography, indecencies, insults, incitements, instigation, exaggerations, and lies. The media ignores the goodness in the society and turns criminals into heroes by their twisted criteria of time or space allocation. Their emphasis is to sell more by creating more sensation. The media is now free of conscience, ethics, and sense of responsibility. They are out of self-control. There is an urgent need to control the seditious activities of the media.

It is time to revisit the first amendment of the Constitution (1791) which grants unbridled freedom to the media with an implied assumption that there would be self-imposed controls of responsibility and decency.

A Cultural Erosion

There is a growing dissatisfaction and a sense of helplessness regarding gradual erosion or degeneration of the great American culture distinctly based on (a) Judeo-Christian values, and, (b) democracy.

The set up and operations of political parties under our democratic system has a confusing effect on the long cherished values of the American culture. Most democrats blame the cultural erosion on the republicans; most republicans blame the democrats; both parties blame the law courts; and the courts, claiming their loyalty to the Constitution, draw their power from it and deliver judgments without considering their impact on the cherished values of the society. The judicial, legislative, and executive bodies of the government seem to be competing for power instead of sharing it to protect and promote the very values that made America great.

As a result, there is a growing frustration to see increasing pornography; gay marriages; common usage of fowl language; gangs, guns, drugs, and indiscipline in schools; free distribution of condoms in schools implying encouragement of casual sex; younger and younger adults and even children committing more and more heinous crimes; rising crime rate involving sex, money, and murders; intolerable corruption in business circles; vanishing family values; growing denial of God; and, the lack of trust in the fellowman causing disconnectivity and loneliness among people.

Is it democracy or is it an orderly development of chaos? Have we forgotten the limits of freedom under the euphoria of democracy?

There are also some additional issues at stake: nebulous immigration policy; poor enforcement of immigration laws; insufficient responsibility and accountability of public officials; gradual erosion of English as the national language and along with it the national pride.

Soft and accommodating vote pandering stance of public officials towards illegal immigration is damaging the entire body politic and its undergirding foundation.

In 1787, the Constitution was adopted with a revised understanding of human nature. In recent years, we have learned a lot more about human nature demanding a revision of the Constitution. Scientific advances combined with the absence of morals have triggered a new set of problems demanding a paradigm shift for new modes of thinking and action to save us from us.

Here, may I respectfully urge President Bush to establish a non-partisan commission to identify the forces damaging the American culture and recommend measure for immediate damage control as well as for rooting out the damaging forces on permanent basis.

Combating Corruption in a Democracy

May 2001

T.S.Khanna on

Combating Corruption in India- A Model Approach For Democratic Governments

Corruption goes with power. “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”, is still as true today as it was the day Lord Acton said. In a dictatorial government, power is concentrated in the hands of a few people who tend to be highly corrupt. In a democratic government, power is distributed in the hands of many who tend to be corrupt to the level that people would tolerate.

During the last century, many countries gained independence from foreign rule and adopted democratic form of government. At the time of gaining independence, those countries equated foreign rule with corruption. They believed that their patriotic spirit that brought them independence would also act as a safety valve against corruption in their respective governments. Now they are learning that corruption is not a foreign phenomenon but a home grown spread that knows no limits, if unchecked. At the same time, it seems that they do not have the know-how to control or eliminate the home grown corruption.

As I see it, India is no exception. Ever since its independence, corruption at all levels of government has been increasing. Unchecked, corruption has been self-propelling. Each level of corruption anesthetized the public into accepting it as it moved on to the next level. The corrupt culture of governmental operations now tends to create a conceptual ambiguity of integrity. Now, public officials seem to regard integrity as an obstruction or a pitfall to their career. Even the honest feel obliged to follow the line. They have become fuzzy on the old rule of thumb; the public officials must act to satisfy the spirit of the law or the policy in the interest of public at large and not in their self interest, group interest, or for any favor. People in India are feeling helpless in accepting corrupt culture of governmental operations. It is against their will. They do not fight back either due to the lack of education about their rights or due to the lack of sufficient resources.

Frequently, public debate is focused on the unwarranted actions of some individuals without any attention to developing a system to monitor the governmental operations and warn the defaulting individuals. As a result, the type of degeneration that has taken place in governmental operations clearly indicates that the top level of government is not familiar with the state-of-the-art techniques for combating corruption.

Whenever public officials violate public trust, much more is at stake than breaking the law; such violations strike at very heart of government. Public trust is the foundation of legitimacy for a democratic government. Transgressions of the standards of integrity in governmental operations cause injury to public trust, eventually erode public trust, weaken the very government that gives public officials power for public purpose, and poison the public morality. On the other hand, sound integrity in government raises the standard of public morality and the quality of life for the general public.

High level public officials are generally charged with power, responsibility, expediency, and pressure for quick action. In a rush of public affairs they may have erred, inadvertently, in the past, in ignoring to adopt the state-of-the-art anti-corruption techniques. Such an error can become a major mistake if the responsible people do not take the necessary action to correct it. Unless pre-empted now, this mistake could cost India beyond measure.

Indian culture is relatively docile with a lot of tolerance. People have a lot of stamina for struggle to improve their lot. Public officials must help the people into a better society through the process of evolution. They must not let the people drift toward revolution. History shows that revolutions can overthrow the governments but are not able to achieve much good for the people. Now, public officials must do some introspection, set examples of integrity, and take a collective action on a war footing to control corruption.

Primarily, corruption removal is function of a, increased public awareness of the citizens rights, b, decreased public tolerance of wrong doing by public officials, and, c, adoption and enforcement of the needed laws, rules and regulations to combat corruption.

In this context, I would urge the free press of India to educate the citizens of their rights of public services and strengthen investigative journalism.

Further, I would recommend that The President of India appoint three permanent, non-partisan commissions to promote and maintain integrity in public affairs. The recommended commissions are

1. Commission On Political Affairs,

2. Commission On Military Affairs,

3. Commission On Public Services (Government Bureaucracy).

Each Commission may have eleven members, knowledgeable and experienced in their respective fields of government operations. Retired persons of high integrity would probably make good candidates for appointment for a predetermined term.

Each Commission may act under the auspices of the Supreme Court of India, with full investigative and subpoena powers but without prosecution responsibilities, and may report to the President of India at least once a year. The Commissions, in their respective jurisdictions, may investigate and review the present practices of corruption, may have powers to strategize and have executed sting operations to delve into government impropriety, review the adequacy of present laws, rules, regulation, and procedure, review and identify the inadequacies of the existing monitoring systems to enforce the laws in place, and make recommendations to eliminate the weaknesses in combating the corruption.

The Commissions may have sweeping and broad nationwide mandate to facilitate their operations. In view of such mandate, nothing may be more important to the Commissions than meeting the highest standards of fairness and thoroughness in accomplishing their mandate. Confidentiality of the Commissions’ operations may be protected so that the reputation of innocent public officials who may fall under investigation is not smeared.

The staff services and office facilities may be provided by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Indraprastha, New Delhi.

Most democratic countries have similar problems in corruption. The preceding proposal may serve as a model approach to combating corruption.