You can make a better world!

To President Obama,

You want to do good things. You hate to see folks facing difficulty and suffering. It seems unfair for some to have so much while others have so little.

But, if you take from the haves just so the have nots can have “their fair share”, you will destroy incentive and initiative. You will destroy independence and self determination. And by so doing, you will dry up the well that is needed to grow and nourish our nation. If the haves see everything or a large portion of what they work for taken from them just to give it to those who are too lazy or too afraid of failure to get out and make their own way, they will stop trying, they will climb on the hand out train with the rest or they will leave.

Then where will you go to provide for all your programs and entitlements? While you need to make sure any artificial barriers are removed, make sure that those who have are not using unfair means to get more and keep others down, if you don't let the have nots raise their own level by their own effort, if you step in and just give to them with no restrictions you will make them dependant. You will cripple any hope of self improvement, growth, and progress they may have had.

We are already headed in a dangerous direction as so much of our industry and manufacturing is being outsourced to foreign countries in the name of “lower prices" and "bigger profits.” What happens when those foreign countries decide not to work with us because of national interest, politics, or because our nation is so far in debt that they no longer feel they will get a return on their investment? Who will produce our goods then?

We won’t have the infrastructure or the knowledge any more.

Instead of using the model of redistribution of wealth, you need to change the way we keep score. Right now, the only score board is “net worth”. “Gross national product.” “Market share.” First place.” Everything about our system keeps score in such a way that selfishness and self interest are all that matters, the only way to "get ahead." Get the most, get it first and get it now! You need to show a profit for the shareholders now! Don’t worry about the next 100 years, just get your numbers up in time for the next profit and loss statement.

We need to change the way we keep score. It needs to be a composite measure of the civic awareness and support of the individual or company. It needs to include ethics, environmental considerations, future sustainability, family supportiveness… It needs to be a combination of the factors that make a good citizen as a business or an individual. It needs to (and I know this will be subjective and difficult to develop) reflect the values, cooperation and sense of community building of individuals and corporations.

That way it won’t be just the dollars earned that is considered but also how they were earned, how they help the community, how they help the nation and if they are building and growing with the future and sustainability of not only their business but our world and way of life of those who are in their sphere of influence. If the score card can be changed to reflect the efforts individuals and corporations make to help those in need, they will stand in line to help the have nots who, for whatever reason, truly cannot provide for themselves.

You mean well. You are trying hard. Please open your eyes to something farther down the road then the next election.

Our nation is over 200 hundred years old. While there have been mistakes, overall, this nation has done more to improve the world and the quality of life in the world than just about any other at any time. Please make a better nation and a better world for hundreds of years. Not just until the next “profit and loss” statement is due.