Our government, the organization we usually look to for fast solutions to problems of this magnitude has suddenly gone missing in action.  “It’s BP’s mess and they are responsible to clean it up” says our government leaders.  Bull.  It’s the world’s mess…caused by BP who shall be forever known as the defendant in courts around the world…and the world needs to get busy before we find ourselves with the worst environmental disaster in the history of mankind.

BP has had thirty days to stop a leak…granted a leak one mile under the sea…but this isn’t their first rodeo.  They spend millions of dollars a year convincing the world that oil drilling is as safe as mother’s milk.  They are the dream team of petrochemical knowledge.  They speak of being BP…beyond petroleum.  Good grief they can’t even plug a hole.

Meanwhile we…the people of the world…continue to watch as massive amounts of oil gush into the Gulf of Mexico headed for land near and far…poisoning fisheries and critical ecosystems, damaging beaches and the economy of States and nations, adding to the unemployment rates and family burdens.

In the last 18 months our federal government has inserted itself in places it arguably does not belong and seems determined to continue that encroachment of private business and family responsibility.  Those are debates that will continue and the people will finally decide what level of big government they want in their lives.  Where, I wonder, is our government’s new keen interest in all things when the BP disaster tops our national news every single night for a month?  It’s like they are dealing with a sovereign nation and can’t offend or intrude…just raise concerns and rattle our political rhetoric.  Enough.

The health and welfare of our nation is at stake.  It’s time to take control and bring the world’s resources to the table.  Stop being afraid of this disaster being labeled “Obama’s Katrina”.  Fix it.  Now.  Surely someone in the world is smart enough to know how to seal a pipe laying in 5000 feet of water.  If not…we should stop all deep water drilling until someone can demonstrate that knowledge…and start mandating $100 billion dollar bonds for those who risk our lives and future for oil.

And…shame on us if we don’t immediately shift our creativity to renewable energy sources…with passion and an urgency that involves us all.  We can do it.  We just have to make up our minds.

  This crazy, destructive dependence on oil has got to end.

 Of course, it has been done before…a couple of times…but not in modern times (think George Washington) or not a major State like Florida (think Ventura and Lieberman).  The two biggest hurdles for NPAs are name recognition and money…two mountains really…Grand Teton size.  A big media market State like Florida demands political war chests of tens of millions of dollars to win a statewide race.   So, how do you get those two critical commodities when you don’t have a political machine to do it for you?

Rick Scott, the totally unknown Republican running for Governor, has a boatload of personal money that he has been blowing on television for a month now.  The polls show that he is getting traction despite the small fact that no one has a clue who he is except via the TV ads.  He is defining himself with his money and so far is doing okay.  While he does not have the backing of his Republican party (they endorsed AG Bill McCollum)  he would certainly get it in the general election if he could take out McCollum in the primary.

So, Scott is an example of one way to get name ID if you have your own stash of cash.  Of course, at some point he will have to come out of the TV screen and start defending who he is and what he has done.  Baggage exists…editorial boards await…opposition research will surface if he get much more traction…but, it could happen.  Financing your own campaign works if you have deep pockets….Mayor Blumberg of NYC is a prime example…an NPA also. 

Back to Charlie.  In addition to a sizable campaign account and mega name recognition he also is the sitting Governor.  A Governor who has a stage made larger by budget woes and BP’s mess in the Gulf.  Both of these are playing extremely well for him right now.  His earned media numbers (as a Governor solving problems) are out the roof and growing by the minute.  This race for U.S. Senate is going to be very entertaining.

Republicans are beside themselves.  Name calling has commenced and it is not a pretty sight.  A man who has won office after office…his entire life as a Republican…has the audacity to continue running as an NPA because his party was rushing…stampeding…to support his more conservative opponent.  How dare he do such a thing.  Really?

Which comes first, a desire to serve the public or picking a brand that defines who you are?  Is the “party” central to the individual or is the individual central to the “party”?  Chicken or egg issue here.  Did Charlie first run for office because he “believed so deeply in the Republican ideology” or because he wanted to serve the public.  And…if that party abandons him for another candidate who more closely fits today’s definition of the party ideology…is he supposed to roll up his tent and head home?  Did Charlie abandon the party, or did the party abandon Charlie?  Passionate arguments on both sides of that question.

Yes, Charlie Crist can win this U.S. Senate seat as an NPA.  He has the money, the name recognition and the bully pulpit of a sitting Governor.  His opposition is strong, well-funded and has the enthusiastic support of the Republican Party…he too can win.  In the end, the winner will be decided by the decision of the voters as they think about the central question:  Do I vote for the party or the individual?  A question as old as political parties themselves.

I’ve said in this column before that I like both these men.  I will make my choice based on how I feel about  their individual ability and skill to run the traps in the U.S. Senate.  My vote in the general election will be about my confidence level in the candidate…not a political party.

Very liberating….

The usual and customary event to get our worry beads going is gasoline price spikes.  Let gas go up a dollar or so…as it has several times in the last few years and we all start wringing our hands and looking for solutions. During the spike we see editorials about car pooling, mass transit, finding more oil in America, alternative sources, etc.   Gas prices go down…and back our heads go in the sand.  End of story until the next event.

Our current ”event” is quite a doosie.    Not a price spike but an oil rig explosion that has our worry beads working overtime.  Who would have thought that with all the practice these oil boys get drilling, capping, drilling capping that they would have no clue about stopping 200,000 gallons of oil a day from escaping their rig?  It seems it is all in Mother Nature’s hand now…where it goes, what it damages…whose economy it destroys.

So…our heads are out of the sand again and we are talking fast…what do we do?  How can we prevent this from happening again? How do we produce clean energy?  Let’s ban oil drilling by passing an amendment to the  Florida Constitution.  Really, can’t we do better than that?

Our elected leaders are all in a wad about having a special legislative session to put an amendment on the November ballot to “once and for all” prohibit oil drilling off the coast of Florida.  Sounds noble.  Of course, it is already the law of the State.  But…a special legislative session might not be a bad idea…if…in addition to beating our chests, wringing our hands, vowing to get every nickle from BP, and considering ways to protect our shores…we also, for the first time, set into motion a renewable energy policy that gets Florida off square one and moving to become the renewable energy mega state that we rightfully should be.

The question is…how do we get all that done in a special session of one week.   Not reasonable but we certainly could set the stage for ongoing work to get the job done.  Here is what could be done in the session:  One, make everyone feel better about the oil disaster by strengthening the statute forbidding drilling off our coast…but please, no amendment to Florida’s constitution.  Two, craft a renewable energy bill that allows the free market to work in that segment of the energy business.  Currently the law gives all power and glory to the regulated utility companies and prevents folks with capital and ideas from setting up shop in Florida to produce energy.  Let’s change that ONLY for the renewables and see if opening the market (without mandates) will spur the production of renewable energy and the manufacture of the infrastructure and equipment to create a vibrant industry.  No threat to the power companies, no big deal about changing current supply to those of us who like it when the lights come on.

Then…before and during the next regular session, let’s work to refine a long-term solution to Florida’s energy needs.  One that respects the need for fossil fuel and nuclear, but looks forward to new sources of energy…that we control and that are much less threat to our environment.  Critical to this work is a Senate champion, a House champion, and a Governor champion.  Step up boys and girls, we need heros here and now.

If any State can pull this off, Florida can.  We have all the raw materials needed to become the gold standard of renewable energy production.  Let’s not waste this opportunity by making everyone feel better and accomplishing nothing for our future.

Let’s keep our heads out of the sand…forever.

Remember those big national banks that have been wreeking havoc with our economy the last few years?  Well, those same guys also own VISA…that little plastic card most of us carry and use with regularity.  It’s become part of our life as we make purchases…choosing “debit or credit” in the check-out line.  What we don’t know is how much using VISA adds to the cost of everything we buy.  In addition to the high interest rate on unpaid balances, annual fees just to keep it in your wallet, and a string of other fees that we all seem to overlook as the part of our monthly budget…VISA also charges the merchant to accept your card.  That’s what this debate is over…pure and simple.

Interchange fees and transactions fees are what VISA charges a merchant to accept their card as a credit card…or as a debit card….you know the choice we are all making more these days so we don’t add additional debt to our lives.  Well, those fees charged to the merchant are getting larger and larger.  VISA wants the merchant to hide those fees in the cost of the items sold so that the customer never sees the additional cost.  Look at a simple example:

Let’s say you buy a pair of shoes for $50.  You think…silly you…that this is the cost of the shoes alone but also in that $50 is the additional costs of the merchants overhead.  One of those costs is the VISA charges for interchange and transaction fees and it’s growing really fast.  No negotiation with the merchant, no competition, just higher fees every year.  Here’s the rub.  Up until now the merchant has accepted this as a cost of doing business and has buried it in the cost of the shoes.  Nationally VISA and merchants have been fighting about the size of these fees and the only argument the merchant can make is that the fees need to be more transparent to the customer.  If you, VISA , continue to raise these fees, we (the merchant) will start pricing our shoes without the imbedded fees and show them on the receipt as a separate item.  VISA hates that idea.  Takes the cover off how each of us are paying for their high profits and ridiculous executive salaries.

And that is what this argument is about.  Not stopping the merchant from charging a “surcharge” for using her debit card.  It’s really about stopping the merchant from exposing the fees that VISA charges that cause prices to go up by forcing the merchant to bury it in the price.

If VISA can get State Legislatures around the country to pass laws to prevent this transparency, their rising fees will be forever hidden to the consumer.  So…this is a consumer bill alright…Anti-consumer.

Don’t fall for it Legislators.  Kill the bill or strip out the anti-consumer language.  Tell Rep. Brandenburg and Senator Crist you can’t support this bill.  Stop it before your constituents have to pay a bill they never see…

Every night the national news has some new story about how Wall Street caused the financial crisis, or how Wall Street takes too many risks and pays their folks too much money (let me hear an Amen) to take bad risks.  The Obama folks want to tighten the regulation on them…a really good idea…so that we don’t go into freefall again.  I hope this can be done is such a way that we don’t restrict the free market and all its synergy…but these boys and girls are out of control.

I am amused by my fellow Republicans who point their collective disdain at the Democrats for groping to solve this serious problem.  Let me rephrase…I am not amused, I am disheartened…by the lack of work that the Republicans did on this issue when they were in control of Congress…and the White House.  Much like the healthcare problem, the R’s did nothing and now they (we) complain about someone actually trying to solve the problem.

Back to the point…how did we lose such control over our financial industry?  How did we become the “baited field” for these hustlers?  No easy question but I suggest partly it is because we allowed them to become so integrated that no one can separate the products and services for purposes of clarity and transparency.  Remember the accounting firm fiasco of a few years ago?  One branch of the firm was suggesting financial strategies really close to the line, while the other branch was doing the audit work for the same client…too close and wrong.

I wrote a column a month or so ago mentioning the name Michael Lewis and his new book The Big Short.  I highly recommend this as a primer to all of us on exactly how ruthless and dangerous the Wall Street bunch has become.  I also like it because he debunks the unbelievable amount of money these folks pay each other and the disjointed justification they use to do so.  He went to work on the Street right out of college and left after three years of making gobs of cash and had no idea what he was doing…For some to make billions, others have to make millions.  Smells.

On top of this we are told that they are too big to fail.  Even those the American people were forced to bail out got big paychecks…for failing.  Stop this insanity.  Regulate them…break ‘em up…do something before the rest of us lose all faith in investment banks and Wall Street and start putting our money in the mattress.  Look, it’s a free country (so far), if they want to gamble and create sham investments with their own money against each other…have at it.  But separate their little game from the rest of our money.  Use the accounting firm “fix” as a model…and don’t let them invest or use our money in these schemes. 

Still, someone has got to watch the buggers.  The SEC clearly has lost a lot of credibility.  Thirty employees watching porn all day?  They can’t even regulate people in their office.  Come on.  Clean this mess up before you tank our financial system.

Anybody know how to stuff money in a mattress…sounds easy…or do I need gold?

I was having a delightful visit with a candidate for a Florida House seat a few days ago.   I’ve been a supporter of his both financially and with endorsements.  In the course of this little chat, he tells me that he could never support a candidate that was a moderate.   Since I consider myself a right-leaning moderate I was somewhat surprised at his pronouncement.  We had never discussed his belief that only right wingers were suitable for his party.  Sad really.

This is even more pronounced at the national level.  The nightly news drives me crazy with all this mindless partisan, left-wing, right-wing stuff.  These party folks better beware…the center is getting  bigger than the sum of the fringe.  The tent must have room for the center folks or the party becomes marginalized, insignificant, not relevant…and incapable of winning…

I am a Republican…have been for forty years.  But, this shrinking tent is about to force me to the outside.  Almost every day I wonder if today’s the day I will march to the courthouse and change my registration to NPA.  At least I could then talk about “them” and not “us”.  I could have a righteous platform to cast warnings in the direction of both political parties.  Course…I couldn’t vote in primaries and some elections are over then and there.  Another irritant.

I got lots of  folks to blame for all this mess.  Local parties are doing a pitiful job at recruiting and preparing folks to run for political office.  Ideally, a number of folks who are in sync with the local culture would be ready and able to run for office.  Many times there is none.  So, for example,  the statewide (D or R) party swoops in and finds someone who looks like them (right-wing, left-wing) and bingo they’re the party’s choice.  Sometimes the other party wins the election because the “selected one” doesn’t match with the values of the district…

The statewide parties are no better.  Sure  Republican Charlie Crist is an example but so is his Democratic opponent Kendrick Meeks.  Different wiggles here.  Crist lost favor because…hell, who really knows other than a candidate more to the right, made himself available.  Lots of “reasons” given by those who want to dump him…hugged Obama, took the stimulus money, vetoed a couple of bills.  Wonder what the R’s would have done if Rubio hadn’t been getting traction.  Which came first, Rubio traction or Crist’s disagreements?  In any event, the Governor’s old friends are jumping ship at an extraordinary rate.

Meek is so left-wing that the moderate and conservative (yes, there are some) D’s are going to be forced to hold their collective noses to vote for him.  Was there no more inclusive Democrat available?  Someone more like Alex Sink for example?  My nightmare scenario is that Crist runs as an independent, he and Rubio split the majority of the votes, but Meek wins.  A Ross Perot event…scary.

So, listen-up political party folks…be more inclusive.  The tent must be big enough for a range of ideas within the basic core beliefs.  In my mind…little as it is…that boils down to two principles. R’s believe in limited government intervention in our lives, D’s believe that government is the only solution to our problems.

Other than that…leave room for me in the tent…

It’s as if, once you sign up for membership you must sign over your brain to the “party”. We’ll think for you from now on…don’t worry…we got it from here. And if you ever,ever have a different opinion…keep it to yourself or we will look at you like you have participated in the Holocaust.

By the way, some of you may think this article is about Florida’s Governor Crist and his problems with the Republican party…well, he is the current poster child, but it is much bigger than that. And it certainly is not limited to the R’s, the Democrats are just as gang like. One for all, all for one. Please.

Look, I understand that there are some fundamental values that each party represents and those are what attracts membership, but good grief, it shouldn’t be necessary to automatically give credence to every position the party takes. Robotic, I tell you. If you are an R, you hear an R position and instead of thinking clearly about the pros and cons…click…you find reasons to support it. Same for you D’s. Mindless support for the party.

And who is the “party”? Well, you say, it’s the sum of the members. Bull. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but even I know that regular members don’t sit in a room and make decisions on issues…if so, they never invited me. People get to be party leaders by a whole gaggle of means. Who makes these people the deciders of every issue? And who said I needed a decider.

The Florida Legislature is an interesting example of my point…I do have a point, really. The leadership of the R’s and D’s gather up in a caucus of the rank and file (sound like union jargon?) to explain to them the positions that the party leadership is supporting. From time to time a brave soul raises a different opinion but real dissent…not allowed. Vote your own belief…lose your committee assignments or even your chairmanship. Two recent examples of brave but doomed souls were Dennis Ross and Don Brown who being insurance professionals thought they knew a thing or two about insurance and voted against leadership. Bong…wrong answer. No more committee chair positions for you two. You went against the “party”.

Some times party leadership requires legislators to make votes on issues that will not sync with their districts back home…will cause them real problems in their next election. Sorry. The ironic part is that most floor votes are not that close and these members with districts that don’t agree can’t even get a pass from the party when the vote count shows a thirty point margin. You’re on the team…or your not.

The R’s spend a lot of time demonizing unions…much of it well deserved, although demonizing is one of our current civility problems. D’s are no better. Same process, different demons. Look, political disagreements are healthy and necessary…but do we have to robotically follow the party line on every one of them?

Sure, unions take your money, spend it how they see fit, speak for you without checking to make sure it’s really your opinion, bully those who don’t agree, work hard to get government to codify their existence and procedures, have scandals galore, and so on.

Sounds like a political party to me…

Those volcanoes could be caused by global warming…Al Gore made me say that. But they really make a mess, don’t they? Ash everywhere, Frenchmen in airports not taking showers (oh, that’s normal? Who knew?). And speaking of all those stranded people in airports for days and days…did you notice no one helped them get a sandwich or a beer? Where was the Red Cross? Where was Geraldo? A TV movie in the works, no doubt.

I saw several interviews of stranded passengers who said they had run out of money. Really? You can afford to fly internationally but can’t afford a Days Inn? That actually happened to me one time in Cancun about 30 years ago, but I was able to sell my watch to pay the exit fees. Funny story…I loved that $20 Timex watch that the gate agent paid me $75…

And what happened to good old fashion hospitality? I saw one lady had offered to adopt a couple to stay at her house in New York City…one lady. Seems to me that we missed a real chance to show the world what really swell people we are…well most of us. Bring ‘em home, feed ‘em, talk to them about capitalism and Jesus…I’m just sayin’ we missed an opportunity to spread who we really are…

And who is going to help those farmers in Iceland. Did you see all that ash? Looked like the Alcoholics Anonymous held an international convention in their fields. Somebody better have a big hose. Really what do you do with all that stuff. I have trouble getting rid of the ashes from my fireplace…I made that up, I don’t have a fireplace…But if I did it would have gas logs…because of the ash problem…

And finally…I know you’re glad I said that…where is all that ash going that’s way up in the air? For four days all we heard about was how it affected airplanes. Gotta come down…right? If I was an Icelander I would be offering to sell face masks to Europeans. Designer types, in colors to match your outfit. Maybe with a little “good luck from Iceland” written on the inside. They could advertise them on TV…not sold in any stores…

I know what you’re thinking. What kind of person could make humor about all these tragedies? I can answer that. Today’s column was written by a guest columnist. Someone I picked up from the Laguardia Airport waiting for a plane back to Iceland.

I’m a kind person…really.

If you hang around many old timers (like me), you may hear us make quips that seem to indicate that the process is something less than it should be. With a wink or a joke we sometimes make fun of “politics as usual” as if there were some different set of rules that insiders played by. This is particularly the case when we are not getting our way in the process…when we are out of step with the legislative majority, the executive branch or even the court system.

For sure there are rules of the road that are learned through years of involvement that make what we do seem different than Civics 101. Not bad rules, just how to get things done. Not shortcuts really, just an understanding of what happens when button A is pushed rather than B. And, of course, when to push it. All these experience factors give us value and help the system work more efficiently. Nothing magic about it, nothing that is secret to a small group…just understanding our jobs like everyone else who has been in a profession for many years. Yes, experience is a great equalizer.

So is money. If you ask 100 political professionals what is the most disliked part of our jobs…most would say it would be the importance of money to the process. Nothing new with this problem, been around for a very long time.

Politcians must raise money to get elected and re-elected. Most really dislike fundraising…but those who excell at the task…usually win the election. Not always. Some are just really bad and should never have ventured into the ring. In Florida, the only time a legislator is not trying to raise money is during the official 60 day legislative session when it is not allowed. All other times…job one.

Advocacy groups must raise money so that they can get their message in front of the public and the elected officials who will decide their issue. They must give funds to political parties, leadership groups, favorite charities, and directly to the official. All legal…all transparent…

Contract lobbying firms are given fundraising goals each election cycle by various political party folks and hitting those numbers is key to their access to the officials they must influence to be successful at their jobs. All legal…all transparent…

Large companies with important business that is affected by the process, give large sums of money to political parties, leadership funds, and individuals running for office. All legal…all transparent…

I have thought that getting corporate money out of Florida’s system would be helpful. Many States do not allow these funds and the result is the money is all raised from individuals and races are less expensive…some would say more responsive to the voters. There are certainly First Amendment rights involved in all this…but still others States operate that way.

I just think our system would be better without dependence on piles of money…

I was surprised that he did not mention that our government sometimes dabbles in the issue. Not the pill part, but the desire and urges part. It seems that every level of government wants to help us with our abilities to abstain from certain heretofore personal choice issues. School boards, cities, counties, states, feds…everyone wants in on the act.

Very few days pass that one of these governing groups doesn’t make the news with its latest idea on how to shape us up. Here are a few examples, you fill in the group: snacks, plastic and paper bags, clothing choices, bottle water, how we pay for our personal medical needs, when we can unhook the machine, who we can sell our property to and what for, what kind of dog we own, who can bring guns on to our property, and a long, long list of issues so ridiculous that even elected officials are embarrassed by their absurdity.

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Freedom of choice? Personal and property rights? Where is the damn American Civil Liberties Union when you really need ‘em? Have we given up on taking responsibility for our own actions and letting others do the same?

Or is this the way vocal minorities get their way in today’s world. If my special interest group can’t get the majority of the rest of you to behave the way I think is right…convince some majority of city, county, state or federal officials that it’s in their interest to pass a law.

I think what is scaring the skittles out of conservatives today is that one of their core beliefs is being manhandled…you know, the one about the size and reach of government. Conservatives and many moderates get nervous about government solutions to every problem. And we seem to be reaching for that hammer more and more these days.

What divides us is not who leads us but what solutions those leaders bring to the table. It’s not about personality, race or religion…it’s about policy. It’s not about who gives the best speech…it’s about the intention of the words. It’s not about change…it’s about the process to make change happen.

There has been substantial talk in the media lately about the phrase “words matter”. Couldn’t agree more. The power of words is unmistakable. They can be used to move mountains or to incite riots, to shame or to take our emotions to the heavens. Seems to me we could use more of the positive type.

But…let’s use the power of words to shape the discussion around our personal decisions and accountability. Let’s have honest discussions about when the government card should and should not be played. Laws, regulations, taxes…all will shape our behavior…no doubt about it. But, is it really government’s role? And if so, where do we draw the line?

Look, I believe that 99.9% of activists really believe in their causes. They care deeply about obesity, water purity, gun rights, the environment, global warming, health care, children…on and on. I just think we need to be very, very careful about laws and mandates aimed at personal behavior change.

Not too crazy about Andy’s pill idea either….