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As far as I am
concerned, John Kingdon raises many factors. For one matter, he raises the
parallels between Presidents Jimmy Carter and President Barack Obama—each of
whom has been called “the worst president in [United States ] history”. For
another matter, he raises the question of why the federal government ultimately
should count at all—that is, he provokes me to ask, “Why, for example, do we
not have a top-down government? Did that not work under President Ronald
Reagan? What was the Army Corps of Engineers doing by repairing the Lock and
Dam 26 at the Mississippi River in Alton ,
Illinois Alton
be willing to do that? After all, World War Two vets and others were willing to
(if you will) raise Hell to get the World War Two Memorial open in Washington,
D.C.. I even tweeted that the Obama Administration ought to let the veterans
and other volunteers maintain the World War Two Memorial; so, I would apply the
same logic to the Lock and Dam 26 at Alton .”
Also, mental
health was not even discussed by the government until a localized, New York City reporter at
ABC News stole a key to expose the New York State-run institution of
Willowbrook (page 15). For mental health to be discussed at more than at 5%
rate by even 257 people in the federal government, a city-bound lawyer turned
journalist had to be the voice for horribly-underrepresented, mentally- and
physically-disadvantaged constituents in Staten Island .
Even then, the second hub for the federal government after Washington ,
D.C. (New
York ) was really disregarded until one of its
denizens, the lawyer-turned-journalist denizen, became a voice for other
denizens. That journalist, by the way, caused a ripple effect and did more in terms
of policy for the disabled altogether than even 237 federal health and
transportation workers could do or wanted to do. Thanks to that journalist, the
impetus for writing and implementation of policies such as HIPPA and the
Americans With Disabilities Act came about.
Speaking of
localized denizens and top-down government, the Carter and Obama presidencies
did indeed influence local movements to spring up. With Carter, the Reagan
Republicans mobilized the winning votes for the 1980 Presidential Elections.
With Obama, the Tea Party gave the U.S. House of Representatives back to the
Republicans.
Both presidencies
also involved the “Lion of the Senate”, the now-late Edward “Ted” Kennedy. Both
times, Senator Kennedy pushed for healthcare reform, succeeding in his goals
with his affects on Obamacare—whereas compromise was involved with involved in
his pushes for healthcare reform during the Carter administration.
This does not mean
that the Carter, Obama, and Kennedy healthcare reforms were good, though—they were
actually deforms. They also contributed to hazardous economic effects,
including uncertainties that birthed gas-station lines for Carter and a to-be
debt-ceiling default for Obama during his government shutdown—which, by the
way, should have been an opportunity for a lesson from the late Senator Kennedy
for President Obama. The question, therefore, remains thus: ““Why, for example,
do we not have a top-down government?”
“Top-down”
obviously means devolution, deregulation, and faith-based initiatives as President
Reagan and President Bush 43 promoted. I have argued that the government would
not be involved if the communities were. President Reagan and President Bush 43
gave this a chance to happen by involving, for example, the faith-based
initiatives and top-down (“trickle-down”) economics. Lessons were clearly taken
from Reagan and Bush when the government attempted to block off the World War
Memorial, and the community of World War Two veterans and United States military supporters
stood up and told the government to reopen the memorial. The lessons summed up
to that the government will either be uninvolved or even back off if “we the
people” will truly be a “government for the people by the people”.
In conclusion,
Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush 43, and Obama along with Senator Kennedy taught
movements such as the Reagan Republicans, the Tea Party, and the World War Two
Memorial reopeners how to get involved and mobilize for top-down devolution,
deregulation, and capitalistic economics—so that such as Presidents Carter and
Obama might truly back off and perhaps even reverse their disasters or at least
compromise on them (like the late Senator Edward Kennedy compromised on Carter
healthcare, although he did not think that he had to do so on ObamaCare—and, boy,
was he proven wrong when the Tea Party sprung up and mobilized; and he would
hopefully see that he was all the more wrong now that the U.S. is ~$17 Trillion
dollars in debt, close to falling, and angering many of its veterans).
They—including Senator Kennedy in their group—should have, of course, learned
from a local New York lawyer-turned journalist at Willowbrook in Staten Island—who
affected at least some other 5% of the 237 federal health and transportation
workers to change their tone on mental (and even physical) health really
quickly.
Perhaps they can
take these lessons and apply them the next time that a lock and dam—perhaps the
one at the Mississippi River in Alton, Illinois—breaks—in other words, let the
residents at and near the dam site fix the lock and dam instead of letting or
having the Army Corps of Engineers come and fix them.
