Getting Over the Wall to Fund the Government

To Whom It May Concern: [Congress, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, everyone]

We entered 2019 with a Government Shutdown being just one of the many national, societal, global, economic, and humanitarian issues that our elected and appointed officials are so far unable to resolve. But when they do eventually get around to deciding on their “best“ solution (also known as: It’d be nice if this actually worked), it will demonstrate their lack of knowledge, problem-solving skills, and competency for the positions they hold. This has nothing to do with the new cohort of Representatives or Senators that just joined the ranks, who have yet to demonstrate the skills and competencies that they will bring to their respective positions. [It should be understood that the quality of those skills and competencies can range across the entire spectrum of outstanding to inept; and thus, are not assured to be beneficial to the nation.]

Now however you choose to characterize the current crisis, be it: Government Funding, National Security, Border Security, ‘The Wall’, (whoever’s) Shut-Down, or our dysfunctional political Parties there should be little doubt that the duration of the Shut-Down is a direct measure of the abilities, knowledge, intelligence, and leadership of all parties involved. [Note: To anyone that doesn’t know the quantifying metric of this measure, it’s quite simply losing points from not being able to avoid it altogether at the start then moving exponentially to zero by day 21. After day 21 the metric turns to a negative scale exponentially approaching infinity with each passing day.

The implication behind this measure is that solving the issue, the problem or the challenge is hardly something that requires a keen intellect or even a mediocre skill-set for problem-solving. This is particularly salient given the methods and techniques used and required in government projects. What must it say about people who haven’t learned the job responsibilities that they have been either engaged in for years or for the newbies who have shown no evidence as yet that they bought such competencies with them? This is not a difficult problem to solve despite the performance of those we are hearing about daily in their efforts to do so. I’m sure this makes everyone in the nation proud to be an American, and proud of those who represent us (and that we put there).

Now to help them out, it’s only appropriate to give them a couple of hints as to how to resolve the problem. This is pretty basic stuff that any problem-solver would tell you. There are five classic steps in the Problem-Solving process:

1. Defining the Problem

2. Explore, Analyze, Develop and Conceive Various Solutions to Problem

3. Evaluate Alternatives and Select Best Solution Meeting Goals

4. Implement the Solution

5. Evaluate the Results and Adjust Accordingly

Executing this process is of course both an art and a science requiring the skills and knowledge needed to understand the Problem you are attempting to solve. From what we can see or deduce from the reports and media coverage on the Shut-Down, our political leaders and their staffs are failing at Step 1. Each side has failed to adequately define the Problem or more likely to have comprehended the Problem before leaping to their view of ‘The Solution’. This explains not only why they can’t move through Step 2 but why they have created their own “Wall” preventing them from getting to an actual real solution.

It’s obvious from the current state of affairs on this issue that what Congress and the Administration need the most are some STEM-oriented problem solvers and systems analysts that can lead them through the very problem they say they want to solve. This shouldn’t be hard unless they can’t do the essential elements of Step 1, i.e. defining the Problem. They will claim that they have done this already and that they don’t need any assistance. However, in defining the problem it’s unlikely that they have include those essential elements that are part of their responsibility for defining the problem. Do they have clearly defined goals, requirements, constraints and criteria that a problem-solution is expected to deliver? If they have would they be willing to present the problem definition to the public and be willing to explain and justify the details?

I doubt that they would, but that ought to be one of the criteria for solving the problem. This is not a difficult issue to solve. It’s not a hard problem to find a good solution to. It is however, an American Intelligence Test. A test for our politicians, for our political Parties, for our news/media entities, and for the public. At this juncture, how to you think they’re doing? How do you think you’re doing?

Wanna bet whether this issue could be resolved by someone that is of average intelligence and has some moderate competency in problem-solving? I’m sure that Congress could be brought together, that the Administration would be fully behind the solution, and that the public would overwhelmingly support the solution and those who made it happen. I do not think that this is what we will see.