Why Can't We ... ?

Now that we have left (let's hope) the era of 'What's in it for me?' politics and entered the era of 'Yes, We Can', it might be a good time to stop and ask,

Why can't we ...

Provide a competitive and affordable education for all of our children?  - Far too many of our kids emerge from the public school system unprepared to compete in the marketplace.  Worse yet, many struggle even to hold par in a world where the inability to read or write serviceably and do simple math condemns them to poverty.  We've spent enormous sums of public money and instituted enough standardized testing to alarm even the most jaded and cynical child psychologist, yet the problem continues.  And secondary education is becoming ever more expensive and out of reach for too many who manage to emerge otherwise qualified from our sick school systems.

Prevent gang activity and violence within our prisons? - Our correctional institutions often seem more like clubhouses for gangs, or training facilities for higher degrees of crime.  And they are so publicly and pervasively violent that homosexual rape and other assaults are assumed to be a natural consequence of incarceration.  This is unconscionable is a closed system where we presumably have full control of events.  If we don't, we need to be asking why we don't, and using the answers to solve the problem.

Enact a tax system that is simple and straightforward? - It's unforgivable that we still have a tax system that is so complicated that many people are forced to hire experts to figure out what they owe.  Sure, the complexity has spawned an entire tax service industry, but that's a silver lining not worth the cloud.

Provide fair and affordable health care for everyone? - There have been incremental improvements, but too few and too slow in coming from a reluctant healthcare industry.  The problem of ruinous cost and inconsistent access continues as a divisive burden on our society and economy.

These are only a handful of many such questions - about problems that have been around and unsolved for decades, and for which we seem capable only of reapplying failed solutions.  Questions we should be asking ourselves, here and now, in the era of 'Yes, we can.'