Thomas Jefferson; A Simple Man?

I recently finished the book, “The Real Thomas Jefferson” and there were many things about his political philosophy that were, and remain critical to our success today, but one thing stood out as I look at the world today; simplicity. Even though he was a trained and skilled lawyer, he believed in simple language when it came to legislation. He spent time “de-lawyering” many laws in Virginia and was extremely suspicious of complex schemes in the Federal Government.

As I look at my candidacy for Governor, I often wonder why we have so many things in government that are complex? For example; why can’t the education formula for Colorado simply tie one amount to a student, whatever that is, and we can argue the amount, say $10,000 for each student (K-12) goes to whatever school they choose. Why doesn’t that work?

I have been to Government conferences in my private sector work and have attended classes designed to help people understand the complexity of government contracting, whether buying computers, aircraft, or pencils, the process is overwhelming and often teams of people are needed to sort it out. Why?

It comes down to two things when I sift through the complexity; trust, and trust. Contracting with the government is so complex because the people managing the contracts are not trusted to apply fairness in the process whether it is creating specs or awarding bids. And politicians want their friends to get the contracts and have in the past “rigged” the process, and so in order to guard against insider awards, a complex maze of regulations was created. And then there are the targeted, set aside contracts for specific groups of people that throw in even more complex specifications. In all this complexity the components most important in a contract for product or services gets lost; quality and price.

No one trusts the government anymore and there is example after example of fraud, abuse, and incompetence, but we only hear about the evils of business and the private sector. The private sector abuses are punished by market forces that can run private companies out of business. Government abuses seem to be tolerated, ignored, and often rewarded with more work or funding. But the reality is that the more complex anything is, the more opportunity for abuse. When we simplify, and people can understand why something is done a certain way, they are more likely to support an initiative.

Thomas Jefferson was in no way a simple man, but he understood that simple was better when you were dealing with government policy and building trust with the American people. Wanting things to be simple doesn’t make you a simple man; it makes you a genius. Just read about the life of Thomas Jefferson and I think you will agree…

Empathy Need Not Apply for the Supreme Court…

Justice is blind. Lady Justice does not care if we are Black, White, Hispanic, Chinese, Male, or Female, she only cares about the consistent and blind application of law to every individual American citizen. Justice Roberts at his nomination made the analogy of what a judge does to the role of an umpire.

An umpire at a baseball game does not care what the players look like, where they came from, whether they grew up rich or poor when calling balls or strikes. If the team that has more minorities than the other tries to steal second base during a game, the umpire does not need to show empathy to that team as he makes the call at second base because the call is the call. The rules are clear and must apply to every player the same.

To suggest that the traits of a judge need to include empathy, and understanding what it is like to be poor shows the ignorance of the president and media in selecting good judges for any court but especially the Supreme Court. Members of the Supreme Court are the ultimate umpires in legal disputes and understanding the constitution (the rules of the game), and applying them blindly is the only real qualifications needed.

If Major League Baseball started hiring umpires that made calls based on empathy and an understanding that the teams that always lose need special considerations to win the entire league would fold. No one would ever go to a game again because the rules are what make it fair, and if the application of the rules is not evenly applied then people watching will have no confidence in the integrity of the league.

By nominating a person like Sonia Sotomayor based on the “qualification” of empathy the integrity of the court is in question. Will she rule differently for Black people than Hispanic people? Will she be more empathetic to women than men? Will she favor the poor over the rich? If she does favor specific groups and you are not in the group being favored how will you feel?

There is a reason Lady Justice is blind; there is no reason a president should be…