7 JUNE ’24
TOPICS: IN PARTS
BASIC CHARACTERISTICS: (1) Health/Age, Knowledge, Experience, Work Ethic, Speaking Skills, Charisma.
BASIC TASK AREAS: (2) Security, (3) Economy/Budget, (4) Politics (5) Foreign Policy,
(6) Teamwork, Assistants/Staff, Platform Plan.
FINDING YOUR LEADER: (7) Biographies, The Media, Personal Acquaintances.
HEALTH/AGE: Age and health are of prime importance. The Constitution has a minimum age but no designated maximum age at inauguration. History is ripe with examples of health problems at the advanced age of our leaders. For over 90 years (1841-1933), no U.S. President lived past the age of 77. The average life expectancy for males’ hovers around 76 to 78 now but varies with birth date. As we age, brain problems are also a variable. If we set a reasonable time for inauguration, at 68 for example, this allows for an 8-year reign and assumes no serious health problems.
However, we know this does not always work since Wilson, Reagan, and Biden all had/have health problems at the end of their terms and those of FDR were “far worse and of historical significance.” Although Roosevelt’s legs were paralyzed by polio in 1921, FDR went on to win a fourth term as President in 1944 while World War II was in its final stages. His declining health began in 1940 with intermittent brain hemorrhages and black outs. In March 1944, hospital doctors found him to have hypertension, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease causing angina pectoris, and congestive heart failure. And yet, as late as the re-election in ’44, his personal physician was still saying his health was okay. Roosevelt went on to the War conference in Yalta, U.S.S.R., with Churchill and Stalin. His episodes with lapses in consciousness were still occurring, and his mental disabilities, even reading, were obvious and increasing. The monumental result was a secret agreement with the U.S.S.R. by the State Department, basically giving away China to the Communists and leaving Nationalist China’s leader Chiang Kai-Shek and General MacArthur, our Pacific Commander, out of the loop. A terrible mistake by an extremely sick President.
The moral here is that both Biden and Trump will be octogenarians by 2028 and subject to serious health problems and/or even mild issues that affect their duties and those of the nation. Vim and vigor ‘now’ do not guarantee its continuation. Vice Presidents are often chosen for their vote getting capabilities, not as a viable take-over President. The stress and physical requirements of the top job are excessive. If there were rules that the President must give up his job to a qualified Vice President when ill, that might help solve the potential problem. But even then, the personal physicians of Presidents have historically lied about the health conditions of the President and continue to do so with Biden. Similarly, Amendment 25 will not work in most cases.
Additionally, the egos of leaders make it difficult for them to easily give up their power. We can, therefore, draw this rather obvious conclusion: Our leader needs to be middle aged and in excellent physical and mental health.
SECURITY: Maslow’s theory places food and water first on the scale of importance and a common saying is, “it’s the economy, stupid.” On the contrary, if your neighboring tribe attacks and kills you, you don’t need any food, so security and safety come first, e.g., “fix the border, dumb head.” Therefore, our country’s borders need to be secure, and our military and police strong enough to handle all known and suspected potential enemies.
Military experience is emphasized here since we have two authoritarian (Communist) enemy nations China and Russia (old U.S.S.R.) that have forgotten we saved their bacon in WW II, giving them millions of weapons and supplies via the lend lease program as then allies to defeat the Axis powers. In direct contrast, we are now having to help support nations (Germany and Japan) as our democratic/republic allies. A strange world, but reality, and this doesn’t consider the Mid-East which boils-over with regularity, or the arms-rattling of North Korea.
So, this is why we call our main leader the Commander in Chief, accentually with military leadership and combat experience just like over 50% of our previous Presidents. Even President Lincoln was once a Militia Captain during the Black Hawk war.
NATO and the UN are not much help. NATO had a good opportunity and sufficient airpower to stop the Ukraine War at its beginning but failed to act. The UN depends on resolutions from the Security Council that can be vetoed by any of its five main members and the blue-helmet UN peacekeepers’ have failed on several occasions (e.g., Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda). Russia has grossly violated the UN Charter they agreed to in 1945. Iraq used WMD in their war with Iran. Iran is now developing nuclear weapons. A Chinese lab, without much doubt, has already created a form of WMD called COVID and spreads other deadly drugs. Getting ready for the future with modern weapons is imperative.
Therefore, adding up the assorted items above, it is highly desirable, nearly essential, that our nation’s leaders have military knowledge and experience.
ECONOMY: To arm ourselves for security, we need money for weapons. Before we can have armed forces to operate these weapons, we need quality manpower. This requires a viable economy to support these activities. It does not matter what gender or race these personnel are, but they do need basic science, math, and competent weapons training plus sustainable rations and transportation.
Thus far, our capitalist economy has been able to support our military and civilian needs and our free capitalistic system was able to win the Cold War against the U.S.S.R.
Now we are spending excessively on social programs and borrowing way too much money. Most mature, educated adults are aware that capitalism far surpasses the basics of communism and socialism, but requires budget, fiscal, and monopoly constraints.
Our educational systems have fallen short in teaching the difference between the principles of the various governing and economic systems. China and Russia have adopted portions of capitalism to support their economies and, with their lower manpower cost control, has allowed them to better compete in the world economy and manufacture more lethal weapons. Authoritarian systems do occasional work at times with a benevolent leader, but seldom last long compared to democratic republics.
To compete, our leadership needs the knowledge and fortitude to balance the federal budget as they do in several of our 50 states. Unfortunately, our Federal Congress has not been able to perform this necessary function regardless of which political party is in power. A Constitutional change will probably be necessary.
When world security is at stake as during World War II, extreme borrowing is necessary, but in more peaceable somewhat normal times the budget should be kept under strict control without excessive spending on welfare programs and other pork (earmarks).
Leaders in financial areas of the Federal Government are required to be of high intellect and have advanced degrees in finance and economics. Political leaders serving in these areas or on committees should have similar qualifications or be required to obtain the necessary basics after being elected. The principal leader needs economics and business knowledge to control the budget.
POLITICS: The founders of the Constitution were not in favor of parties or ‘factions’ as they were then called. Our two-party system is working, but not very well. Millions of dollars are being wasted on elections. Our 21st century communications methods of debate, and whistle-stop campaigning, are out of date and unnecessary. Candidates can publish their resumes on a web site along with a video of their platform ideas and call it good. They should term limit themselves and help provide younger leaders with their advice. Reasonable mandatory term limits are thereby required.
More recently, politics has begun to creep over into the area of law, with attorneys, DAs, AGs, and even judges disregarding the oath they took about our revered Constitution and have also started to lie to the public under oath while neglecting to observe our set of natural laws by Moses. The bad news spreads to the FBI and DOJ and to the ‘BAR Associations’ at all levels. This problem needs to be cleaned up in all these professions beginning in university law school. Many of our politicians are logically attorneys, so failures in the law profession affects us all, which includes persons running for office.
Political candidates selected by parties primarily for vote-getting capabilities often results in selections that are not qualified. A candidate’s ability should be specifically based on qualifications for the job, not gender, race, or boisterous rhetoric. And voters should have photo identification, plus enough education to make knowledgeable choices,
and participate at elections in person unless physically disabled, stationed overseas or at-sea. Mail-in ballots are obviously the subject of easy fraud and corruption.
A candidate with political science education may be helpful but business or science, preferably military science, is better if personality and team-work skills are sufficient. Retired military officers with business ownership experience could probably be chosen by lot to run our government with near zero problems. Political planning for time-in-office requires individual and party considerations. The legal terms per election cycle are defined in the Constitution, so the arithmetic isn’t too tough. Candidates for Senator should try for a standardized two terms completed prior to reaching the statistical longevity age for their gender. Representatives should plan for no more than six two-year terms. Presidential terms are mentioned in the previous Health Section. Without age limits set in the Constitution, members must decide for themselves, or voters will decide when not to vote for them. This doesn’t work well since voters tend to re-elect candidates who work reasonably well without corruption problems and sometimes way too long. The founders originally assumed self-committed terms would be short, allowing citizens time to enjoy participation in the fruits of capitalism rather than a lifetime political career accepting favors. Lame duck terms are seldom very productive.
Politicians serving on any committees associated with military or foreign operations should have received, or be enrolled to attend, an armed forces Command and Staff or War College course after elected. Members on other committees should have upper-level education associated with their committee topic or be required to take such courses at a local university. Voters should look for these qualities in candidates well before voting.
Can you write in a candidate? Yes, in seven states, no problem. Yes, with paperwork in 34 states. Pre-election registration times are reasonable in some of these states but vary up to 78 days. Write-ins are prohibited in nine states. This is crazy, why can’t the two main parties, and the third largest-one, all get together and recommend to Congress a standardized set of wide-open democratic rules for write-in candidates? We are in the 21st century with possible secure electronic ballot reading of printed names or even cursory written names.
Unless the parties bury the hatchet and decide to help unify our nation, we are going to end up choosing leaders for their rhetorical skills or charisma only, instead of knowledge and experience. Maybe state leaders will wake up before the next election and join the seven states allowing write in voting on election day without question.
The DNC and RNC have a duty to work together, help conduct honest elections, and find potential leaders of suitable age, knowledge, and experience for key positions. Let’s hope we don’t have to go through another four years like the present cycle.
FOREIGN POLICY: Nice guys finish last. The United Nations (UN) has been a dramatic failure from a peacekeeping standpoint and only mediocre in humanitarian operations while trying to be agreeable to all nations. Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda are prime examples of the difficulties in keeping the peace between old time tribes and rivals where millions died, and UN forces were withdrawn. The UN just can’t perform these operations without a lot more resources and serious quantities of armed manpower with modern weapons.
The original organizational form of the UN with its large bureaucracy and the veto power given to the Security Council does not function acceptably, e.g. the current Ukraine and Israeli crises. UN history has many other troublesome examples as numerous smaller nations dominate the General Assembly.
Times have changed. Benjamin Franklin was successful in getting a secret treaty with the French to support our Revolution with 44,000 troops. Now, our State Department and UN Ambassador have a near impossible job in understanding leaders and populations from nearly 200 different countries. Foreign policy of Germany in the late 1930’s got us into WW II while the U.S. government sat on its hands until the situation in Europe was out of control. It’s important that we don’t let overseas conditions deteriorate further with China, Russia, or the Mid-East.
For sure, appointed ambassadors to foreign countries should not be rewards of political favors like the civil service patronage jobs in the old spoils system days. The best solution here is probably better education and timely foreign experience for State Department employees plus close coordination with, or cross assignment with, well versed Defense Department officers. Some combination of these two departments may be in order.
Admittedly, foreign policy positions are very important, especially when world affairs are threatening war or civil unrest with terrorism. The Africa and the Middle East post Colonialism period are full of examples. And Haiti crops up almost annually.
TEAMWORK: The United States of America is not a single leader dictatorship despite some thoughts in our major parties. Running a large organization such as a government or corporation requires teamwork of staff on a large scale. Not by committees of fifty or sixty but by groups of less than ten according to many management books.
A candidate for president should have his short cabinet list in mind and selected on paper with resumes. All these persons’ biographies should be available electronically to the voters well before party conventions or elections. The ratio of leader expertise between security and economy will vary with time and world conditions but generally should be weighted on the safety/security side as the Constitution indicates. This is essential until treaties among freedom loving nations can far outnumber belligerent authoritarian ones, and until the UN is properly fixed. Recently retired military officers from all branches of service with nuclear weapon knowledge representing the triad are important on all such teams.
FINDING YOUR BEST CANDIDATE: A good first place to look is CSPAN’s current U.S. Congressional Directory published for each Congressional Session. In it you will find lots of useful information including a short bio of all Governors and Congressional members with listings of assignments to committees, etc. The mini biographies include: current term number, date of birth, religion, education, profession, military service, wife’s first name, et cetera. With this information it’s easy to then proceed to Wikipedia or other Web sites for a full personal history.
We find ourselves currently in a dilemma with two ‘too old’ candidates with at least three strikes each. Neither has any military experience, nor can understand, or care, how to handle classified documents. One has a name calling egotistic rhetoric and slanders the military. The other lies to the public excessively and can’t resist a monetary bribe through a relative with foreign nations.
America can do better. With 336 million people and even a minute percentage of our CEOs, PhD Professors, retired military officers, experienced Congresspersons, etc., we have an abundance of qualified national leaders. So, what’s the problem?
Three major drawbacks; 1) being President is tough job, 2) the opposing party is always pointing out your short comings and trying to put you in jail, and 3) who wants to live in the crime prone DC area anyway (even in the White House)?
Item one requires excellent health and willingness to work hard long hours. Item two needs law abiding citizens. A partial solution to item three is to move the U.S. Capitol to a central mid-west location such as Omaha, NE, Colorado Springs, or Rapid City, SD as mentioned in my 2011 book about the Constitution, Lex Ferenda. Many States have central Capitol locations. The operational center of Federal government needs to be moved anyhow for security reasons.
Another possible solution is to choose leaders by lot. For example, let each state’s legislature select a few qualified leaders, place them in a hat and draw out how many senior leaders are needed, and then vote on them if necessary. How could a lottery method possibly be any worse than our party conventions?
We need a real Presidential contest: like Mike Pompeo* (Republican) against Mark Kelly* (Democrat) for example. Mike has all the proper credentials: Military, business/econ., education, congress, and swamp experience. [41Wiki bio pgs]
Mark is an ex-astronaut and Navy Captain. He flew multiple space flights and combat missions in the Gulf War. He is presently an Arizona Senator with several engineering degrees serving on the Armed Services committee. [21 bio pgs]
If you prefer a female for Vice President; what’s wrong with Amy Bauernschmidt, now a Navy admiral and recently the ‘Captain’ of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, a Naval Academy and War College graduate, and an experienced helicopter pilot. It is hard to dream of a better resume. Senator Joni Ernst has military experience as well and Representative Kat Commack attended War College.
Also qualified in this area as a possible Democrat VP is Chrissy Houlahan a Representative in the House who has Air Force and engineering experience. Senator Tammy Duckworth has both military and far-east foreign knowledge.
For either party Nikki Haley would certainly be an excellent choice for Secretary of State given her executive and UN previous jobs plus her enthusiastic desire to serve our country. Additionally, we have seven State Governors who have military experience including: Ron DeSantis (R) and Wes Moore (D) to name just two.
Finding the biographies of 20 year retired armed forces officers with econ or business experience is a little difficult, but not impossible. Each of our military services and several others have biography web sites with numerous different senior officers and NCOs. Some Generals and Admirals might be too political but not many. The national Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is also a good organization to investigate for leadership talent, plus their local organizations in many larger cities.
*All the names mentioned here are examples. The author has no relationship with any of them.
Again, I’ve emphasized military experience since we now have several potential threatening adversaries/enemies. Russia and Iran may be hopeless cases. But China might have some peaceful possibilities. During WW II we helped in the survival of China with the Flying Tigers allied fighter pilots and by flying cargo over the Hump to support their army. Plus, our lend- lease program supplied millions of dollars’ worth of military and humanitarian goods. These efforts may ‘have not’ been forgotten by their elders since the Chinese have a ‘save-face’ culture. This would also apply to our tariff leniency in the 1970s and 1980s allowing sales in the U.S. that increased their economy significantly. If their shame and guilt is sufficient to turn their leaders and air force pilots back into our ally again, it might save Taiwan and turn the terrorist world upside down in our favor. Or, even if psychology doesn’t work the facts are true and honest, so it may be worth a shot. Propaganda can be either positive or negative.
During the Roman Empire leaders such as Caesar and Cicero made history convincing the human multitudes with their orations, and a couple of Europeans were equally successful during the 1930s and 1940s to our chagrin. But we should all remember that charism does not trump knowledge and experience (no pun intended). If the mesmerized masses were to choose previous President Trump for our next president, so be it, he is certainly a better choice than President Biden, assuming he would choose a well-qualified Vice President and staff members.
However, Trump is no George Washington and not the best we citizens can and should elect. Best he should drop out of the race and recommend and assist a successor. American has a history of solving our national problems however slow and tedious it may be. Let’s hope the election of 2024 turns out better than some in our past.
James A. Schmitendorf
PO BOX 126, PIEDMONT, SD 57769
Author’s experience, comments, conflicts: Published two books on Modernizing the U.S. Constitution, both on Amazon: “Lex Ferenda” 2011, “Amendment 28” 2021. Critical book in process on Revocable Trust law.
Education: BS electrical engineering, University of Kansas, MS electrical engineering Air Force Institute of Technology; Electrical Engineering Assistant Professor 13+ years at South Dakota School of Engineering and Technology.
Military Career: Officer USAF 20 yrs, Air Force pilot 10 yrs, Missile Intelligence and Minuteman engineer 10 yrs. Air Liaison Officer with a Vietnamese Army Division, flew 0-1 aircraft as forward air controller.