Friday, September 26, 2008

United States Department of No!

Kings of old, Dear Gentle Reader(s), had fools; the Vatican has Devil's Advocates; the United States should raise the concept of naysayers to cabinet level.  Presidential policies should be forced to pass the "smell test" before implementation; the Secretary of No should be forced, under threat of incarceration, to present an honest case for "No!" to every other cabinet level or administration bureaucratic proposal; and those honest No! arguments should be made public.

Look at the recent catastrophes which might have been prevented had there been a loud, Constitutionally mandated, naysayer.  Since 1960, we've had the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam involvement and escalation, Savings and Loan debacle, Higgeldy-Piggeldy de-regulation, and the Iraqi invasion.  That covers both political parties, as well as the loss of much blood and treasure.

There's always been some argument, one hopes, before these disastrous policies were implemented, but they were behind closed doors, for the most part, in the various administrations.  The opposition political party doesn't count (obviously).

An immediate benefit to Secretary No! would be the necessity of a very strong "yes" position.  If the proponent is aware of an impending strong opponent, solutions will contain more comprehensive thinking, and that will be to the good.

Imagine if a cabinet-level cadre of researchers had been turned loose on the debate about Mr. Hussein's weapons of mass destruction with the explicit instructions of the Constitution to refute the allegations that those weapons existed in reality in 2002. 

Hmmm.

What has taken so long for us to see the wisdom of saying "No!"?

Trust, but verify.

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The courage of your conviction virtually demands your name, if we don't know you.