Lou Dobbs quit CNN and is now publicly confirms that he is mulling over a Presidential bid. I think Dobbs will, and ought to, run for President as a third-party candidate. Here is a blog post I wrote almost exactly two years ago when I was interning for Unity08:

Outspoken and straight-talking CNN anchor Lou Dobbs gets it right in his new book, “Independents Day.” Dobbs finds himself and a large portion of his average 800 million-viewer audience as disgusted with the current state of politics, desperately searching for a solution to escape the corporate and special interests of Washington.

He writes in a chapter of his book entitled “Two Parties, No Choice” that, “this country’s two party political system, in my opinion, is no longer working effectively to represent the will of the people, and it could reasonably be argued that the very legitimacy of our government is now in question.”

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2012, Lou Dobbs, Third-Party, Unity08 Hide

As our nation confronts an economic and civic recession, a recent study demonstrates that civic education is a timely solution – for both. The report, “Paths to 21st Century Competencies Through Civic Education,” finds that students who are exposed to some form of civic education are not only more likely to succeed in civic life, but also in the workplace.

Commissioned in-part by the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, the study is based on secondary analysis of a nationally representative survey on civic education that was conducted among high school freshmen in 1999. This survey captured, among other things, students’ civic attitudes and experiences, conceptions of democracy and confidence in discussing issues.

In 2006, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills gave momentum to a conversation about what competencies young people of today’s era should have before they enter their careers (based on concerns similar to those that led to the landmark 1983 report, “A Nation at Risk”). These included basic skills in reading and mathematics, critical thinking, economics, global awareness, collaboration, citizenship, innovation, etc. It turned out, with a few exceptions, the aforementioned 1999 data could strongly correlate these outcomes to civic education.

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The following is adapted from an assignment for my public policy class in which we were tasked with advocating for a specific health care proposal.

Reducing costs related to medial malpractice, known as tort reform, should be a core component to any legislative proposal that seeks to reduce national spending on health care. Although it is conspicuously absent from the current health care bill before the United States Senate, its benefits are undeniable. According to the Congressional Budget Office, tort reform would reduce federal budget deficits by $54 billion over ten years. Tort reform achieves these savings by directly reducing medical liability insurance and indirectly by reducing the use of health care services. Many states have achieved success by employing this model, and it should be continued on a national level.

The argument for tort reform is based on the idea that health care providers’ costs are higher because 1). They must purchase expensive medial malpractice insurance to protect against lawsuits that can have enormous payouts for patients and 2). Physicians order more tests and provide more services than necessary, what is known as “defensive medicine,” in order to protect themselves from potential lawsuits. According to the Massachusetts Medical Society, the annual rate increase of medical liability premiums is four times the amount of inflation, totaling some $26 billion in 2008. In addition, the study found that 83% doctors order some tests, referrals and procedures solely to lessen their exposure to potential lawsuits. The Pacific Research Institute calculated that these superfluous services cost our health care system $200 billion a year.

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Thomas Friedman argues that while our country has a competitive advantage in the realm of “imagination” we may be ceding ground on “good governance.”

He lays out six contributing problems in his recent NY Times opinion piece:

1. Money in politics has become so pervasive that lawmakers have to spend most of their time raising it, selling their souls to those who have it or defending themselves from the smallest interest groups with deep pockets that can trump the national interest.
2. The gerrymandering of political districts means politicians of each party can now choose their own voters and never have to appeal to the center.
3. The cable TV culture encourages shouting and segregating people into their own political echo chambers.
4. A permanent presidential campaign leaves little time for governing.
5. The Internet, which, at its best, provides a check on elites and establishments and opens the way for new voices and, which, at its worst provides a home for every extreme view and spawns digital lynch mobs from across the political spectrum that attack anyone who departs from their specific orthodoxy.
6. A U.S. business community that has become so globalized that it only comes to Washington to lobby for its own narrow interests; it rarely speaks out anymore in defense of national issues like health care, education and open markets.

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Citizenship, Civic Education, Freidman Hide

Over the last year I’ve been working on a incredible time-lapse photography project here in Washington. Today, I’m happy to share a link with you to a coffee table book that you can purchase as a perfect holiday gift, containing some of the most fantastic photos ever taken (in my humble opinion) of our nation’s capitol. Below is a short video my partner produced.

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