With the range of challenges I've described this afternoon, our government can't go it alone. Public officials have to show a greater willingness to partner for progress not just with their colleagues across government but also with their counterparts in the private, academic, and independent sectors, both domestically and internationally.
Think of the expertise, experience, and resources represented in this room alone. By applying these assets to shared challenges, we can exponentially increase our chances of success. We're also more likely to mitigate related risks and avoid common mistakes.
Let me give you two examples of ongoing partnerships between GAO and the independent sector. For several years, I've been speaking publicly about our nation's worsening financial condition and fiscal outlook. Beginning last year, I started going on the road with representatives from the Concord Coalition, the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation, and other groups as part of a "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour." We've been convening forums and town hall meetings across the country at colleges and universities and other public venues. In some cases, we've been joined by elected officials. At every forum, we've made it a point to state the facts and speak the truth in a professional and nonpartisan manner. So far, we've visited 13 cities, and we'll be visiting another 3 cities before the end of this calendar year.
The Wake-Up Tour emphasizes the intergenerational aspect of our country's fiscal imbalance. The indisputable fact is that younger Americans and their children will end up paying the price and bearing the burden if today's leaders fail to act.
To date, each participating organization has self-funded this effort, but more can be done with outside assistance. For example, additional citizen education and constructive engagement activities are needed. In addition, developing an online budget game to engage people in making tough choices about federal spending is also desirable.
Our current fiscal partnership is starting to yield results. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have started asking some pointed questions about where we are and where we're headed. The Administration now acknowledges that no matter what our deficits are in the short term, we face a large and growing fiscal problem that demands tough choices. Furthermore, legislation was recently introduced that would convene a bipartisan commission to study entitlement reform, tax policy, and other issues, and to recommend related changes.
The need for key national indicators represents another issue that GAO has been partnering on. As you may know, key national indicators represent outcome-based statistical measures that allow policymakers to better assess a nation's status, its progress over time, and its position relative to other nations on benchmark issues like public safety, health care, housing, education, employment, the economy, energy, and the environment. Key national indicators can help guide strategic planning, enhance government performance and accountability, and encourage more informed authorization, appropriations, and oversight actions.
For years now, international entities like the United Nations, foreign governments, and even some U.S. states and localities have been using indicators to prioritize and target public resources. It's time for the U.S. government to do so.
We at GAO have been working with National Academies of Sciences (NAS), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and various independent sector players to promote the development and use of key national indicators in this country and around the world. And I'm hopeful that we'll see them adopted in the near future. To date, a major U.S. foundation has provided some assistance on this effort, but more assistance is needed.
The Fiscal Wake-Up Tour and the Key National Indicators Project were both conceived at forums held at GAO. These so-called Comptroller General, or CG, Forums bring together opinion leaders from different sectors to address current and emerging challenges. The purpose of the forums isn't to reach consensus but to stimulate frank and open discussion. The forums aren't open to the press or the public, and the views of individual participants are confidential. We've found that the forums have stimulated dialogue, built bridges, and spurred additional action by various key stakeholders, including foundations. GAO is planning to hold several forums in the next year on topics like older workers' issues, our health care system, federal disability programs, defense acquisitions, and overall transportation policy.
Government transformation is a slow process, and it's going to take the sustained effort of a lot of players over many years before we're likely to see substantive and sustainable changes. For example, I expect to be speaking out on fiscal issues through the 2008 elections and possibly for the remainder of my 15-year term as Comptroller General, which doesn't expire until October of 2013! But whether we're in government, private industry, academia, or the independent sector, we all have a role to play in this process, and it's important that we do so.
A Role for the Independent Sector:
What role can the independent sector play? Fortunately, we have a long and proud history in this country of private citizens who have committed themselves to the greater good by endowing universities, underwriting medical research, establishing museums and cultural institutions, and creating and funding foundations. Today, nonprofits have an opportunity to contribute to the "greater good" in several ways: By conducting or funding research, educating the public, promoting constructive engagement, performing certain functions in cooperation with government, and other activities.
In my view, citizen education and constructive engagement activities are the keys to lasting change. With a commitment to people and causes rather than profits, your organizations are uniquely positioned to foster public awareness and influence public opinion. Nonprofits can also help in the development of credible and nonpartisan solutions on a range of issues, whether it's entitlement programs, taxes, health care, immigration, energy, or education.
As I see it, we're going to need to cultivate a few capable, credible, creative, and constructive leaders who are willing to spearhead change, network with others, and reach across the political aisle. We also need to encourage a constructive dialogue among a range of key stakeholders, from businesses to unions, think tanks to foundations, and public advocacy groups to the media. Employing such a "big tent" approach to both crafting and selling reform ideas is essential.
One step that we need to take soon is the creation of a commission to address entitlement, tax, and other needed reforms and to make recommendations to Congress and the President. This commission could be created statutorily, which is the case in the recent legislation introduced by Senator Voinovich and Congressman Wolf. Alternatively, such a commission could be independent of the political process, perhaps sponsored by one or more foundations and composed of preeminent players whose recommendations couldn't be ignored.
Steven Leser specializes in Politics, Science & Health, and Entertainment topics. He has held positions within the Democratic Party including District Chair and Public Relations Chair within county organizations.
Steven Leser writes for www.opednews.com, an internet only media site that has grown to become one of the highest traffic news sites in America, reaching more traffic, according to alexa.com, than all but the thirty largest daily newspapers in the US. Mr. Leser is one of the 500+ liberal pundits who, each month, are published in what has become one of the top five Liberal/progressive media sites in the US.
Mr. Leser raises some serious points about the US economy. But first to dispose of the thrown election theory. What if the GOP had won? Can anyone who was working the hustings not believe that this election was hard fought.
Secondly, if the GOP wants to embarrass the Dems about the economy, they can just sabotage it. They don't need to wait for something unpredictable and uncontrollable like a real collapse.
Why wouldn't the GOP whether they intended a Dem takeover or not, just pull out some little disaster that they could fix after the intended rejection of the Dems?
Mr. Leser has referred to real structural weaknesses in the US economy, weaknesses that cause and exacerbate our dependence on imported oil, the underlying weakness that may well bring down the American economy.
To reduce this dependency it is vital to devise and implement a creditable urban development policy that will rationalize our distribution and transportation network and reduce our dependency on the hundreds of millions of privately operated vehicles.
Robert Chapman
Lansing, NY
by
Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments)
on Saturday, December 9, 2006 at 12:50:03 PM
1 comments
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