A New Contract With America

Author: Richard R. Tryon

Final set of changes needed...
to escape from corruption in government.
by Richard R. Tryon

This fourth and final article in the series aimed at stopping corruption faces the problems of excessive dependence on organized labor to offer the only balance wheel against the tyranny of centralized governmental control. It will attempt to show how P.R. can benefit from a new tolerance of private enterprise to position P.R. in the global economy, without the debilitating influence and control of both unions and of a monolithic government, with its array of agencies that employs almost half of the P.R. work force. It can only perform in the one way possible to such an approach- with a lack of efficiency, caused by the need to work in accordance with the requirement of following endless rules and regulations that are sometimes swept aside, but only with political ?deal-making? and the chance for more corruption.

The need to for documenting the above paragraph is almost an insult to the intelligence of any reader! Who is it that has not seen the unfettered power of organized labor? In Puerto Rico about the only thing more pervasive that bad manners of its drivers who crowd every square foot of space on the highway that can be occupied by a moving car, is the action of a wild-cat strike! It may be the bus drivers, who can?t or won?t take the time to read their own contract before jumping to the conclusion that they must strand their riders- often their friends and neighbors- because some would be leader commands instant obedience to his/her authority. Or it can be taxi drivers at the airport who can drive away another wave of tourists by making it impossible to travel by air for however long it takes to get their way. Or perhaps truck drivers that just stop the highway?s ability to get sick or disabled to the hospital until they can dictate laws without limits on their load weight or fees to pay.

The phone workers tried to undo the sale of the PRTC and struck for three weeks and eventually found out that working for profit seeking management was far better than political appointees that could not make decisions. Yet, they never apologized to the customers or for that matter, to the other unions whose members were told to stop work in sympathy!

I t may be the consequence of the colonial past, present, and maybe future, that drives such behavior by so many that seem to think that they can?t be treated fairly as human beings without having to resort to power plays. It is not as common to see such in the mainland of America now as it was forty years ago, but it is a behavioral phenomena in P.R. that has not yet run its course. But, it needs to, as it is one of the sources of corruption along with organized crime that is so closely allied to it.

The control of big labor bosses is historically connected to the world of organized crime. It is a combination that is closely linked with political corruption and why not? There is no greater need among organized criminal leaders than to find ways to keep the crime fighters out of the way. The only effective way to do that is to compromise politicians with campaign money and then own them.

How can the New Contract with America cope with it? The answer is tough for most of us to grasp or accept. It relates most to the sincere question about the purpose of government. If it is a correct task for the state to ?Save us from ourselves?, then it is easy to see reason to take our money and save us by outlawing all that is bad for us and then sending police to catch those that try to sell us what the state says we should not have. The mafia has done very well by helping convince Americans that if it feels good, you should do it. Especially if that involves something that the mafia can sell to you at inflated prices, because it is only possible to get it illegally. The opportunity for high profit margins is clearly present along with the chance for a lot of corruption. The solution is both simple and painful. Legalize drugs!

For a time afterward, we stand to see a few thousand destroy themselves a bit faster as they can then afford to buy more drugs so as to help them feel good more often until they die of an overdose. If my grandchildren choose to die that way, I would rather they do so without having to kill innocents to get the money to give to the mafia to get the stuff! After the epidemic passes, a lot of smarter young people will decide that dying for a drug high is not worth it. They may have to discover a better reason to live to want to avoid such a ?cop-out ?of life, but we need to let them do so, as most would admit it is God?s desire that they do- figure it out on their own and decide.

Removal of laws that give organized labor the chance to have too much power, or give the mafia a way to get rich by letting our youth steal for them, just to get a drug hit, goes a long way to change what government is all about. The savings in the operating budgets for police and courts is hard to estimate, but nobody involved will disagree- without the drug problem, we will need far fewer courts, police and jails. Again money and opportunity for corruption go away.

It is not the function of government to install, maintain or encourage any church or religion. But, it is the role of government officials to show their allegiance to principles of moral conduct that can be encouraged by all such institutions and the U.S. Constitution contains no ban on holding to high moral values that relate to an understanding of man?s need to relate to a higher authority that can easily be called God. We have done so in America since 1775 and before. It is time to get the Supreme Court to show more tolerance of such an ancient idea because it breeds patriotism, and human understanding, both of which are important to making our free society function.

But, what have we accomplished by this litany of ideas for a New Contract with America? First, we have given a blueprint of a role for government, that aside from the need to defend against foreign invasion or terrorism, should cost a whole lot less! In fact, we can take away the major causes of corruption- too much money in governmental hands to spend; and too little morality to help see that it is spend wisely and properly.

We have not touched upon the results of such a contract in terms of money left in the hands of the people who have been paying such huge taxes that we see that we work about 40% of the year to pay them. These can be cut a lot and we can still keep social security and programs to help those in temporary or even long-term need. But, we will never get rid of corruption until we take away the chance to get rich from it.

Does this contract make sense to any state of the Union? How about to Puerto Rico?

The obvious conclusion should have special incentive now for how P.R. can become, an example, to fellow Americans in the 50 states, who suffer from the same problems of excessive federal control. The ultimate advantage of P.R. may lie in its unique cultural heritage which does possess an inherent strength among those that accept honesty, integrity and religious deference to God driven rules for living. Somehow the byproduct may turn out to be the resolution of the status issue. Can you imagine a political party in P.R. that sets the example for the Americans on the mainland?

If such can happen, can it give impetus to a final solution to the status problem in P.R.? Yes, that could happen.