It’s Time To Strike a Happy Medium

Somewhere between the typical government bureaucracy that bogs things down and, “everything is a national emergency,” lies the middle ground of where we should strive to be. The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool debacle is a microcosm of what lies at the heart of a long-standing problem. No lives were lost in this one and the errant decisions didn’t cause global grief, but it typifies the knee-jerk reaction of a man with no experience in government.

While we would never ask a 35-year-old natural-born citizen of the United States who has lived here at least 14 years with no other skills or education to take over as CEO of a large business, those are the only qualifications needed to run the nation. It’s sort of a, “President Wanted, no experience necessary, will train” situation when it comes to selecting the Commander-in-Chief of the United States. We have higher job requirements for a child’s nanny than we demand of the person who must look out for over 340 million souls.

Running a business and running a government are two very different things. There is a reason why our government has RFIs and RFPs. Those are Request for Information and Request for Proposal. The former is where the government doesn’t have enough expertise to spell out the solution to a problem and asks those with such expertise to offer solutions. The government can then use those responses to develop a Request for Proposal so vendors can bid on the proposed project with clear specs. A qualified low bidder gets the requisition to satisfy the RFP.

Had the government used this normal process, their chances at a properly functioning reflecting pool would have been much better. Following established government policies and procedures might have avoided the war in Iran, tariffs might or might not have been implemented, the east wing of the White House might still be standing, and a proper plan and budget for a new ballroom might be on the horizon.

The conclusion here is that, perhaps we should move the limbo bar up a notch concerning the minimum qualifications to be president. Certainly, we need better restraints on what qualifies as a “national emergency.” Somewhere there is a happy medium.