Senator McCain, you must find a way to remain in the forefront of the public consciousness, while Senators Obama and Clinton are busy trying to earn their party’s nomination and the press is fawning all over the Democratic Party race.

Why not hold a series of public, invitation only, forums on a number of the issues facing us today?  You should hold meetings with bipartisan experts from their respective fields on:

• Oil/Energy - what is the fastest and most effective way for this country to shed its oil addiction?
• Jobs/Trade - what is the fastest and most effective way to turn this country into a world trading juggernaut and bring manufacturing jobs back to America?
• Social Security - what is the most effective way for us to secure, preserve, and enhance social security to ensure that is meets the needs of current recipients, near recipients, and the young people paying into it today.
• Immigration - what do we do with the current population of illegal immigrants after the border is controlled?
• Education - do we really need the Department of Education at $60 Billion annually?  Don’t the states have qualified people to manage education, is there a redundancy?
• Health Care - can it be fixed so as to cover most everyone in an affordable and effective manner?
• Housing - what is the most effective way to stave off deflation of housing values?  Keep the housing values high and you will have a chance of getting out of this mortgage mess.

Broadcast these meetings on the internet.

Senator, no definitive results will come out of these meetings, yet

• you will have given yourself a template for action, if elected
• you will have demonstrated a clear desire to solve these problems, creating hope
• you will have kept your activities in the media, while polishing a domestic agenda image

How would your attempt to address these issues in a presidential manner, while your opponent is mired in a fight for the nomination be viewed?I hope someone in your campaign with a little forethought sees this message and conveys it to you.

Why is populism so popular today? What are the real challenges facing the next President?What kind of leader do we need?

Let’s start with populism.People are unhappy with the ever lowering of their standard of living.Food, fuel, medical care, and schooling cost more each day.These are the basics to a happy and successful life.The gap between the have and the have-nots is widening.The middle class is disappearing but you would not know it because we keep redefining it.The unemployment rate is still pretty close to what has in the past been defined as virtual full employment, yet we are slipping.

The tsunami of problems we face as a country today is knee buckling.

A goodly portion of the world seeks our demise.An entire movement of millions wants us all dead.

Hostile nations can, overnight, be in control of more than half the world’s oil exports.

We consume more than half the world’s oil exports, while making unfriendly nations richer and more powerful.

Fierce worldwide trade competition has brought about a $200 billion trade deficit.We can no longer compete on the world stage.Plentiful good paying blue collar middle class jobs are gone.We no longer make much of anything in this country.

We have opened our borders – at least our government has – to just about anyone who has the temerity to sneak into our country.This uncontrolled illegal immigration has created even more pressure on state and local governments, by increasing the cost of schools, hospitals, police, fire, and all sorts of social services.

The next President must tackle two problems that are not mutually exclusive.He or she will have to change our energy culture.We must shake our oil addiction.This effort could consume an entire Presidential term of office.Multiple millions of Americans use oil for transportation, to heat their homes, and work in oil heated places of business.

Oil is our Achilles Heal!Each of our Presidents since Richard Nixon, Republican and Democrat, have know this to be our Achilles Heal and have not addressed the matter directly, thanks to the U.S. Oil interests and environmentalists.They have instead relied on international leverage of force and financial persuasion.This prescription is proving to be disastrous; as we are already experiencing serious side effects.The use of nuclear energy, using the newest technology with very low waste reactors, must become a national priority – it is the fastest way for us to replace oil imports with an inexpensive alternative.

The next President will also have to restructure our ability to effectively trade in the world.We have neglected this for nearly twenty years.No, not more agreements.This President must rebuild our ability to compete in the world trade market.We must be able to manufacture and sell to the world.We must remove all obstacles to low cost domestic production of goods and services, including low cost energy.Only then will we be able to add quality good paying blue collar middle class jobs and start this country back on its way to a sound economic footing.Get back to a sound economic footing and the desires of the populists will be achieved.

We need a leader who recognizes these two critical issues, who is passionate about these two issues, who can cut through the entrenched resistance to effect energy and trade change, and who can unflinchingly stand his or her ground.He or she will also need a Congress that understands that our survival as a great nation depends on these changes happening sooner rather than later.

Read more of this type blog at Ken Moyes' weblog