Professor General

Yesterday I read a column from my friend Chuck Muth (www.chuckmuth.com) who noted that "if government must have a Surgeon General then let's make Newt Gingrich our 'Professor General'.............." due to his ability to generate new ideas/ways of thinking about our world (my paraphrasing of Chuck). Of course, there is no need to create such a "Professor General" position which would increase government spending but readers can appreciate the concept I believe.

Newt Gingrich of course is the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives from the State of Georgia. When Speaker Gingrich's and his team took control in January 1995 they gave us the "Contract with America" which I still believe was brilliant politics AND good policy ( could have been great with added items such as elimination of personal income taxes plus a few other dreams I have for transforming our nation..........).

Well "Professor General" Gingrich was a guest speaker - over flowing with ideas and observations about our world -- last night at the American Legislative Exchange Council (www.alec.org) conference I am attending in Philadelphia this week. His comparison of UPS's ability to track millions of packages daily versus the federal government's inability to track 10 to 12 million illegal aliens was a home run comment with the audience.

The Gingrich comment that most interested me was that the USA currently has about 513,000 elected political offices according to US Census (more government!!) statistics. By my calculation that means nearly 5% of our country's population (of about 300 million people) is making all the decisions for us tax slaves.

American society would benefit from an influx of new candidates at the local level -- limited government activists would be my hope, working their way up the ladder of power so they can cut government spending along the way.

Your city council or school board needs you,

Todd