Leader Hosin’ - When “Incumbent” Should Mean “In Trouble”

When Congress prefers to find blame and rely on failed doctrinaire policies that have been proven incredibly wrong (with political ads that only focus on divisiveness), when the bastions of this nation (like the SEC) knowingly allow an absurd debt-to-equity ratio reign supreme in financial institutions, when our legislators let the special interests they are supposed to regulate draft the statutes and regulations, when our most senior “leaders” have secret meetings with those they are supposed to control (and do not tell us what they agreed to), when the cost of running for office requires candidates to sell their souls to special interests just to get elected, when our Representatives are busy trying to figure out what they need to do to stay elected rather than what is necessary for this country to make it across the line, and when the proposed “fix” goes directly to institutions that “should” benefit homeowners and small business but leaves the foreclosure mess without a much-need moratorium… what is clearly missing is LEADERSHIP.

We clearly need more regulation. Sorry, deregulation, underscored by a vast array of loopholes and exceptions (from farm subsidies to unregulated hedge funds, from oil depletion allowances to disproportionate taxes on working for a living versus investing your wealth), does not work.

But most importantly, we need leaders to do what is right, not what they think they need to do to avoid turning off one or more of their constituency groups. If they stop the hemorrhaging, that they did not do precisely what their electorate thinks they want… will be more than enough. It is what leadership is all about. Do what’s right for the country, not what’s necessary to get reelected even if the country will suffer by not taking the correct path. Succumbing to expediency is not leadership.

At this point, with the markets up from the massive crash, the world wants “something.” The psychology of the markets does not expect THE solution – just that there is a significant piece of legislation that offers a few solutions. We will not get perfection, and the preliminary compromises at the House were clearly in the right direction, but it is time to bring it home. We don’t need Republicans and Democrats fixing blame and clinging to their old world and failed “theories;” we need responsible legislators. We need both sides of the aisle to “get real.” We need LEADERSHIP. NOW! NOW! NOW! Or maybe we need to look at the incumbents who are voting against a solution… and remember.

I'm Peter Dekom, and I approve this message.