Only TWO problems in this country.

All the pundits and all the politicians miss the point, across the board.

The war in Iraq
The Economy
Health care
Racism
Guns and Gun control.
Global Warming
Dependence on foreign oil.
Corporate greed.
Obesity/Diabetes
Poverty
Unemployment

Problems?

No. Symptoms.

That's what they all are. SYMPTOMS. They are not problems. They are however, the result of two very simple but very difficult problems.

Voting and education. In that order.

So, here's my prescription to really fix what is wrong in this country, once and for all:

First - and nothing competes with this - fix the voting system. De-privatize it. We do not need a profit motive to make good voting machines. We got to the moon six times guided by a government bureaucracy and a lofty goal. We can make a national unified voting machine that works and leaves a re-countable paper trail. We are the USA, after all, and if we can't make a working unified voting machine, we have no business doing anything, let alone making soft ice cream machines. Without a properly functioning voting system, I do not think anyone, no matter how smart or knowledgeable they are, is going to make the case that this is not the single most important issue in this country. Without voting, nothing else matters. It doesn't matter how efficient or monstrously powerful the engine is in your car; without the wheels it is all just a bunch of useless junk.

Second - fix the educational system. Period. Yesterday I was talking to a twenty-something kid about the sixties because he was curious about it. I mentioned that it was a pretty serious time in this country's history. He could not tell me who was assassinated. (never mind that there were at least four major assassinations) He vaguely recalled that it was a president but he did not know who. He said "history is not my thing, I'm bad at it." I looked at him and I told him that it wasn't history. It was civics. This kid is the product of a public school in the northeast. In a nice town. And he's not the only one. Where in god's name did these kids come up with "I wasn't even born then!" as an excuse to not know something important in history? Where did that come from? If you don't understand the problems and mistakes that we have faced in the past, then how can you, as a young person who is going to inherit this country, expect to learn from them? Why can almost any kid in Europe discuss intelligently not only the politics in their own country, but the politics in the USA? Not to mention the fact that they can do it in English! It is a travesty, and we should be ashamed of ourselves. A great teacher in this country is worth $150,000+ a year, and that is what they should be paid. Without a great educational system, people's ability to understand depth and nuance is completely hobbled, they don't understand an issue beyond a soundbite, they do not learn to vote with their brains as well as their hearts, they don't know how to read a package of food's ingredients, they don't read the newspaper, and most of all, they don't understand how or why the government works. Until people learn to turn off the TV and inform themselves of the issues facing us beyond the one-sentence pundit summary, they will continue to vote against their own best interests because they are tricked into it. And, as long as that is going on, we will not emerge from our downslide. No real problem is simple. Nothing worth doing is easy. Anyone who thinks that popping a pill is going to fix their health, or that owning is gun is going to make them safe, or that a attacking a country and killing a bunch of people is going to solve the problem of Islamic extremism is missing out on the depth and breadth of those issues. To put it another way, to miss out on the details and nuance is to miss out on the truth.

So, to sum up (and I'm staying on message by repeating myself twenty times) there are only two issues in this country that matter: voting and the public school system. Teach people to learn and to stay well-informed, and then let their voices be heard. That's all we need. Conservatives talk about the free market system, and invoke Adam Smith's "invisible hand" everywhere you look. You know what? This is just like that, but it's not a free market system, it's a "free knowledge system". Give everyone a great education. Let the ideas flow, and watch how that same "invisible hand" penetrates and permeates the national discourse and finally allows the truth to come through. Watch how attention spans increase and watch how people suddenly, finally become engaged in the issues affecting our country. Watch, and stand back, because that's what will happen. I spent a decade of my life in Europe, and it is remarkable to be around rooms full of young people who are interested in something besides ringtones and their newest playlist.

Everything else will take care of itself, with very little maintenance required. Oh, and by the way, the companies will be more profitable, not less; it's just that the CEO's will look a little more like Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and little less like Lee Raymond and Lee Scott.

The irony here, of course, is that I actually think that most people we see on TV, from talking heads to senators, know that I am right. The problem is what I am saying isn't exciting and it isn't sexy. It won't get votes. It won't get ratings. And people would switch it off...