Stamp Books, Herd Mentality, Multipliers and Lighting Candles

Way back in my early years (as the earth cooled and mastodons roamed the plains), I remember proudly pasting stamps in a little album that, when filled, could be redeemed for a U. S. Savings Bond. This was the remnants of a program started during WWII that made the purchase of bonds easier through the installment plan.

Most importantly, it created a sense of optimism and shared responsibility for school children. Even with pennies a week, we could do our part to help. We knew that our contribution, by itself, really didn't matter much - but every little bit helped. And, with hundreds of thousands of kids participating, the amount of cumulative impact was notable. We acted as individuals but the positive effects were from the group.

We usually think of the term "herd mentality" in negative terms because it infers massive group actions that seemingly go without individual motivation, direction or thought. If you've ever watched a flock of sheep bounding about a meadow in close formation, you've seen the frantic actions to mimic each other and move in amazing unison.

Sadly, we are seeing the most negative, most damaging type of herd mentality today and it is certainly not as funny to watch as the sheep. No, it is more likened to lemmings desperately shoving each other into the sea as more arrive at the shore.

We are all experiencing some level of economic distress; there's no need to debate this or illustrate it further. In fact, the amount of press coverage and commentary on this subject has apparently caused an acceleration in feelings of panic and lack of confidence.

We can understand and certainly empathize with a belt-tightening on the parts of those who have lost their jobs, are struggling to maintain home ownership or have legitimate reasons to fear further personal economic disruption. While this amounts to an alarming number of people, it is critical for us to realize: Only a small portion of our population is truly justified in "opting out" from participation in our interdependent consumer economy.

Yet, it seems that the vast majority of us have turned off the tap for nearly all discretionary spending. The people who are truly hurting are not making the situation worse - it's the rest of us who are seemingly part of a huge negative herd action that are the culprits.

We are acting as individuals, but the negative effects are from the group. And, we are making things worse on a daily basis.

Economists use the term "multiplier" to illustrate how economic and monetary policies often have positive effects beyond the amount of stimulus inserted. This makes intuitive sense. We can easily see that spending on nearly any type of good or service has a positive ripple effect as the effects are seen in concentric circles far beyond the initial buyer and seller.

We seem to have collectively forgotten that the effects of a negative multiplier are real and have disastrous consequences. Lack of spending on nearly any type of good or service has a devastating negative ripple effect far beyond the initial buyer and seller.

It is sometimes disheartening to see evidence that our collective attitudes are often lacking in faith, confidence and common sense. While few would doubt the intense light created by millions of lit candles, there seems to be a disconnect in understanding that this can only result from millions of individual decisions to strike a match.

It is your turn to light a candle. Those without the means are counting on you. If you have the ability to make purchases, you have a both an obligation to others and yourself to take individual action.

Our economic health is in your hands.

Solutions Through Simplicity And Focus - A Call For Action

This next paragraph was sent to the White House recently. It is 497 characters. The limit for a email to the President is 500 characters.

We need to radically simplify the process for drafting legislation. The constitution contains no specific requirements or mandate on the scope or complexity of a bill; our current system has failed and threatens timely solutions. Current verbose bills lack clarity allowing patronage which delays or prevents passage. A resolution to require only single concept bills to emerge for vote would create clarity and lack of unrelated riders. Real change needs simplicity, concise focus and actions.

It is not easy to express anything concisely. Operating with mandated limits makes it difficult. The basic structure was laid down, word choices and punctuation were changed; even the white space that would have made it easier to read had to be eliminated.

Not easy but doable.

We've all heard stories about bizarre additions to law which were buried inside 500-800 page bills and cringe at the idiocy of the process. It would seem that the majority of votes which result in passage of legislation are often done with full knowledge that certain provisions are pure pork while many others simply don't belong with the content that represents that major focus of the bill.

Sadly, while most legislators wouldn't readily admit this, it doesn't take much imagination or cynicism to believe that not every word of every bill is read and votes are cast to approve ridiculous or even damaging actions that seemingly became invisible.

So, how does this happen? It happens because the general concept of the bill is recognized as being needed to allow or prevent specific outcomes in our society. It is often more desirable to pass legislation that contains extraneous or unwanted provisions than to delay the important results which represent the true simple concept of the legislation.

We have overwhelmingly elected an administration that focused on our need to have change in the way we have conducted our affairs. We have supported the rejection of business as usual in Washington and have been excited by the proposition that we could get back in control of the substance of our freedom in this land or opportunity. We have been filled with hope that our leaders will step up and address the monumental challenges caused by many years - perhaps decades - of losing our focus and direction. We have looked the other way too long and know it. We have tolerated greed and short-sighted incompetence and now are enraged that it has done the damage that we always feared.

Now is the time to demand swift and intelligent actions from our government. While we can find many illustrations to the contrary, the overwhelming majority of those who serve are intelligent, conscientious and motivated to make things better.

Let's make it easy for them by demanding a change in the way we propose and construct legislation.

It would be folly to try to limit a bill to 500 words or even mandate a maxium page count - although that would not be unreasonable. It is certainly possible to draft legislation which - by design - must focus on a single concept or series of closely related issues. It is not hard to find a way to identify and reject items that simply don't belong. The identification process could be part of the bill if needed.

This can only be done with passage of a bill which formalizes this change and prevents a bill without concise focus from reaching the stage of full House or Senate debate or vote.

If you agree, just go here (Email To The President) and send this message (You can add more, but make sure it starts with this and a couple of returns for white space):

I agree that is time for a change. I support legislation to require expedited bill passage through Single Concept Legislation.

You have 373 characters left. If you use any, make every one count!