A bit more on the GOP

The GOP is severely lacking in vision and leadership.  How else can you explain Sarah Palin?  What would I like to see from the GOP?  Serious solutions to our big challenges:

Job Creation - We need to get businesses hiring quickly and help foster new enterprises with new, higher paying jobs for the future.
New Energy - We need to develop new energy technologies to accomplish ALL of these goals:  reduce/eliminate dependence on foreign energy supplies; reduce carbon emissions; AND create new jobs and new intellectual property here, not in China or India.
Healthcare - We need to do all of these:  provide safe, reliable healthcare to everyone; reduce costs for large and small US companies, the US Government, and the consumer; AND make all fields of medicine more appealing as a career choice (address tort reform, for one).
Education - We need to provide a good education to all Americans (black, white, rich, middle class, poor, urban, suburban, rural, etc.) and an excellent education for as many as possible.  We need to make college more affordable and accessible to all.  We need to entice more kids to go into engineering, math, and medicine. We can't compete with China and India, or provide more and better healthcare here at home, without more kids studying math, science, medicine, engineering, etc.

At least the Democrats have some ideas about some of these challenges.  The GOP really has little to offer on few of them.  I get it.  Their leadership is weak and fractured.  The ruled the White House for 8 years and both the WH and Congress for 6 of those years and really screwed things up while allowing the problems to fester.  So they need to reinvent themselves.  But they need to do so quickly.  There are some core Republican principles they could rely upon to craft a new vision, including:

Fiscal responsibility - this may be tough given the need to spend more money on these challenges, but the GOP could lead the way on eliminating real waste, setting priorities, and reforming Medicare and Social Security  not by privatizing them but by embracing higher taxes for them in return for reduced benefits for the wealthiest recipients.
Individual empowerment - Rather than seeking more tax cuts for the wealthy, how about being creative about using the tax code to encourage private investment in solving the above-mentioned challenges?
American competitiveness - An honest appraisal of what it would take to make America more competitive in the 21st Century would inevitably lead the GOP to focus its efforts - and the hearts and minds of Americans - on these challenges.

Some things that concern me...

Just a list of some things that are bothering me lately.  No particular order:

• Obama's failure to present a clear vision to the American people and to get the word out about what he has already accomplished and why.  He is gifted in so many ways as a communicator.  But he and his staff suck at this.  How hard would it be in this day and age to get people to buy into:  "New Jobs, New Energy, and New Schools"?   Link healthcare to jobs.  Tell people we need new energy for new jobs and to stop fighting wars in the Middle East.  Then get a new Education Secretary and offer real education reforms.  Change the way schools are funded and encourage ad reward new teaching methods, not standardized tests.
• The privatization of the US military.  We have as many contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan as we have GIs.  The contractors operate without direct congressional oversight or civilian chain of command - and often without being held accountable under local or US laws.  This allows the USG to carry out wars with no clear goals and weak public support.  We need a draft for national service.  Pick 2 years in military or 4 years of either Peace Corps or AmericaCorps.
• Cyberterrorism.
• Exploding federal debt at a time when we need to spend more money to rescue the economy, create jobs, and invest in our crumbling infrastructure, education, and new technologies (energy, especially).
• The lack of a loyal opposition party with real ideas.  The GOP is a joke, and we are all paying for it.
• The Democrats' lack of strong leaders.  
• Our ignorance of the impact of chemicals in our water and homes.  Are we poisoning ourselves and our kids?