Dear Senator McCain & Governor Palin, by Richard L. PIlla

Now that Congress has passed and President Bush has signed into law the Wall Street “bailout,” though perhaps a necessary evil, this bill has saddled American taxpayers, their children and grandchildren with even greater debt than that which they had previously faced. It is high time that someone offers Main Street America a solution to ease their anxieties about making ends meet in the near term and give them hope for a brighter future for themselves and their families.

Now that we are entering the final stages of this Presidential campaign, I strongly urge the McCain/Palin campaign to consider the following proposal which I humbly believe would turn your campaign around and put it on a track to victory.

During the days after “The Great Depression,” the Roosevelt Administration conceived of the WPA to put Americans to work. Not only did the WPA achieve that goal, but it also led to the construction of many significant public works projects that are still in use today.

I believe that the economic challenges and pending hardships for many can best be resolved with a WPA of the 21st century. This program would not only begin to put much of the American workforce back to work who have been laid off because of major losses in the auto industry and financial services sector, et al (159,000 lost jobs in September alone), but will also will restore for Americans confidence in the future with the promise of good paying jobs as a result of new technologies and emerging industries. This program will keep Americans safe and eliminate dependency on foreign oil. It will also stop, over a period of time, the transfer of American wealth to our obvious and not-so-obvious enemies whose sole purpose is to destroy America, Israel, and their allies.

The engine for this hope? Energy! Energy using every means possible including solar, nuclear, natural gas, clean coal, oil, and wind. How many jobs would be created by deploying all of these sources of energy? How much cleaner would our environment be, and how much safer will our children and grandchildren be? And if we ever have to go to war again, and for the right reasons, America will be that much stronger.

Best of all, it will be American visionaries, designers and workers who will provide the technology, the delivery systems, the farming and harvesting of natural resources, the ingenuity, and the labor to make America truly self-sufficient. This would be an All-American Program. America has not had an energy policy in over forty years, a very sad commentary. However, with this program, in one fell swoop, the McCain/Palin team would have not only created a new and sustainable energy policy, but a domestic policy, a foreign policy, an environmental policy, a national security policy and a jobs policy. This program would be designed for Main Street America, would create a policy to propel America through the 21st century on solid footing and would reinforce its superpower status. This is the “America for Americans” policy and the policy driving the McCain/Palin ticket to victory on November 4.

Take this message to the people and announce it in Michigan. MacArthur returned to Manilla after defeat; McCain/Palin need to return to Michigan and claim the Midwest because that is where the election will be won or lost.

Incent Residents to Find Cost Savings for Town

They say “two heads are better than one.”

Given this, perhaps the town should consider obtaining and offering privately-funded incentives to encourage more citizen involvement in finding cost savings.

Here’s how it would work.

The town could solicit local merchants for significant non-cash prizes. The town could then publicize that it’s seeking public input on cost-saving ideas (noting the availability of the prizes and mentioning the businesses that provided them). Then the town could evaluate any suggestions generated and award the prizes to residents who present meaningful savings ideas that it implements. The prizes would be given to people who are not town officials, employees or appointees.

It’s really a “win-win-win” proposition. The citizen offering the idea wins a great prize. The merchant providing the prize wins free favorable publicity. And most importantly, taxpayers win by saving more of their hard-earned money.

While citizens have always had the ability to make cost-cutting suggestions, offering incentives would bring renewed attention to the issue of saving the town money and will cause some residents to think more seriously about it. After all, many people are motivated by contests and this proposal taps into that drive.

I’m not saying that giving away prizes will “flood” Town Hall with new savings ideas. Nor am I suggesting that this would be a substitute for the town officials’ ongoing hard work on the budget. But in this tough economy with the prospect of cuts in essential town services, even one good idea resulting from this initiative will have made it well-worth trying.

Next Meeting: 9/15/08, 7:30 PM Town Hall

Come join us this Monday, September 15 at 7:30 in the lower level of Town Hall. We will plan our activities for 2008 - 2009 and see how we can all help the McCain/Palin ticket in November.

See you there.