NOTES OF CONCERN....
... JACK BLAIR
"Madam Secretary"
Secretary Sibelius,
Congratulations on being part of trying to deliver affordable healthcare to all Americans. It is indeed a noble idea.
Unfortunately, in spite of all your good intentions, the program was never popular with a great many citizens and your department’s amateurish execution of the President’s signature legislation have made it even less popular.
On balance, I think what we have is an agreement that affordable healthcare for Americans is a great idea.
At the same time, I think what we have is pretty significant agreement that the plan as presently offered is not the answer.
So let us keep the goal in place. And let us go back to the drawing board and revisit the best way to reach the goal.
It appears that all the highly paid advisors and consultants in DC are not able to put “Humpty Dumpty together again.”
Perhaps looking to a different source for advice could be helpful. So I nominate myself as advisor to your department. Here is my advice:
You should have picked up the telephone and called Bill Gates at the outset. You could have told him you have no idea what you are doing and that you are not a computer/website whiz kid. Given his success, might he be able to secund to his government the top ten brains in his company who know how to put together a computer program at this level. Bill is a patriotic American, and he will most assuredly agree to take on this important task.
Problem solved.
Now Gates will probably send you ten boys and girls in their twenties who will solve this national problem in a “New York second.”
If you do not like that idea, let me introduce you to another solution. I like to call it Blair’s “Paper and Pencil Initiative.”
This involves abandoning the sexy computer approach to signing up for government programs and relies instead on tried and true use of pencils and paper.
I know you are not an elderly lady with no recollection of working with pencils and paper, and I suspect you have some familiarity with those tools. They have been around a long time, and neither tool has ever been associated with an “error message.” They work in a simple and effective way and have been of historic importance.
In fact, Wikipedia tells us that with reference to paper:
“Paper, and the pulp paper-making process, was said to be developed in China during the early 2nd century AD” (like I said-around a l -o -n -g time. No need for a “roll out.” Tested by time!)
And with reference to pencils Wikipedia tells us:
“Pencil, from Old French pincel, a small paintbrush, from Latin penicillus a "little tail" ... is an artist's fine brush of camel hair, also used for writing before modern lead or chalk pencils; the meaning of "graphite writing implement" apparently evolved late in the 16th century.[2] Though the archetypal pencil was an artist's brush, the stylus, a thin metal stick used for scratching in papyrus or wax tablets, was used extensively by the Romans,[3] and for palm-leaf manuscripts.” (again, rolled out by the Romans and no complaints in centuries!)
Many leaders have had good results with paper and pencil. Many countries have benefited from work done with paper and pencils.
So let's get back to basics. Print up applications for healthcare. Head over to the post office and ask them to mail and deliver these applications to all Americans. At the moment, the post office is having trouble making money, so they will be pleased to have this chance to earn a few bucks. And as you know, they have been pretty successful in delivering our communications to one another since the earliest days of our Republic.
So people will receive an application in their mailbox. They will read the pamphlet of information and directions. They will execute the document, answering all the questions, and return it to the government. (The people get a lot of practice with stuff like this every April 15).
At that point you can review the submissions and make recommendations to the citizens on what government or non-government plan will work best for them.
Madame Secretary, thank you for letting me intrude on your busy day. I am pretty sure you make many attempts each day to log on to your computer program. It must be very discouraging to get “error messages” so many times each day, day after day. And then there is that whole but of having to go down to the Hill and testify.
You will be well served by the Gates team of whiz kids, or you may prefer to execute a purchase order for a gazillion pencils and reams of paper. But either of these ideas will bring you great comfort.
Continuing on the path you are currently following will bring you the same results: disappointment and unhappiness.
All the best,
Jackson Blair, Citizen and Pencil & Paper Man
