CONTRIBUTOR
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES / NATIONAL IMPACT
American Solutions
Member For
25 weeks 1 day
Website:
American Solutions
BIOGRAPHY
We launched American Solutions for Winning the Future, a unique tri-partisan organization designed to rise above traditional gridlocked partisanship, to provide real, significant solutions to the most important issues facing our country.
The breakthrough impact of this organization is driven by its powerful approach:
- Broad scale engagement of elected officials and candidates of both parties at all levels of government, interested citizens, private sector leaders, reporters, scholars and students.
- Development of big, breakthrough solutions to the most important issues facing this country, including creating jobs and prosperity, energy independence, protecting workers' rights, reforming education, moving government into the 21st Century and more.
- A process to educate, ignite collaboration and implement these solutions across all levels of government with widespread support from citizens.
I serve as General Chairman reflecting my strong conviction in this approach to addressing our nation's problems. Let me explain in more depth why we formed American Solutions.
It is clear America is faced with enormous challenges both at home and abroad. It is equally clear that the current political-governmental system is stuck in pathology of negative ads, short attention spans, gridlocked partisanship and lack of effective solutions that work and can be implemented. This is a big not a small problem. Solving it will require a big not a small solution.
We believe that it is possible to create solutions for America by using the principles that have historically worked in America.
We also believe the great increase in productivity and quality we have seen in the private sector over the last 50 years could be applied to create dramatically more effective services in the public sector.
Finally, we believe that the coming explosion in scientific knowledge (four to seven times as much new knowledge in the next 25 years as in the last) will make possible many solutions for learning, for economic productivity, for a better environment, and for a more effective homeland and national security.
Yet faced with these great challenges on the one hand and great opportunities on the other, the political-governmental system is mired in bureaucracy, paperwork, negativity, disorganization and ineffectiveness. We do not believe electing one or two more officials will change this. Neither do we believe politics as usual by either the Democrats or the Republicans will change this. Finally, we do not believe that a campaign focused solely on the White House can change this.
There are 513,000 local, state, and federal elected officials in America. There are candidates for these offices, incumbents in these offices, and staffs sustaining these offices. There are reporters, analysts and scholars who attempt to cover these 513,000 offices. Most if not all would have to be part of a movement for American Solutions to help win the future. That is how America historically has worked.
In addition there are millions engaged as volunteers in non governmental organizations. They can also bring a great deal to bear on developing new solutions and helping implement solutions.
This process of invention, development, education, collaboration and implementation requires a far longer time horizon, a far larger outreach, and a far deeper commitment to learning and implementing than can be found in a narrow political campaign.
If you think the current mess will be fixed by doing more of the same, this approach will not interest you.
If you agree with three principles:
1. Einstein: "Insanity is when you think that doing more of what you are already doing will lead to a different outcome."
2. Eisenhower: "When I can't solve a problem I always make it bigger until I can find a solution. I can never find a solution by trying to make it smaller."
3. "Real change requires real change." Then you will find American Solutions a useful project for improving America's chance to be successful in the next generation.
If you want an America that is safer, more prosperous, healthier, and freer, then American Solutions is a more practical investment in real change than any traditional political project defined by traditional campaign consultants.
If you want to have a role in collaborating, learning, inventing and implementing a new generation of solutions, then American Solutions is a useful place to invest your time and creativity.
I hope you will consider joining this effort to truly help America win the future for our children and our grandchildren through a generation of American Solutions.
Your Friend,

Newt Gingrich
General Chairman
American Solutions for Winning the Future
COMMENTARIES
Obama Advisors Talk of "Crafting a Second Stimulus Package"
By American Solutions | 07/07/09
First Vice President Biden said it was a little too soon, but the door was open. Then we had Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Dodd telling ABC News that it was "probably needed." Now, we have Laura Tyson, one of President Obama's advisors saying that we need to consider "crafting a second stimulus package" because the first one was - get this - "a bit too small." When polled last, Americans are more than 2... read more »
3 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Madoff's Scheme was Highly Preventable
By American Solutions | 07/05/09
Wow, they really threw the book at Bernie Madoff! 150 years. Should we be satisfied? Well, sort of. As crimes go, this was a doozy, and we can certainly point to this case as proof that white-collar criminals don't always get off with lighter sentences. But if you polled Madoff's victims, how many of them wouldn't gladly trade the harsh punishment for not having been victims in the first place? The sad thing is that the Madoff scheme was... read more »
3 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Pelosi's Browbeating and Intimidation Wins the Day
By American Solutions | 06/30/09
Last Friday, in a close 219-212 vote, the House approved an enormous energy tax that now heads to the Senate. Leading the charge against the tax were 168 Republicans, joined by 44 Democrats, the latter of which faced intimidation from House leadership leading up to and during the vote. As the Politico reports ("Chaos and Arm-Twisting Gives Nancy Pelosi a Major Win"), Speaker Pelosi made it her personal crusade to browbeat and harass... read more »
2 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Consumers, Not Polluters, Soaked for Energy Taxes
By American Solutions | 06/23/09
During today's White House press conference, President Obama gave a glowing endorsement of the current Waxman-Markey energy tax, which will come up for a vote this Friday, saying the legislation was "extraordinarily important" and that it would "open the door to a better future for this nation." But the most shocking statement from Mr. Obama dealt with the issue of who pays for the tax: "At a time of great fiscal... read more »
3 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Education Model: Give Families a Choice
By American Solutions | 06/21/09
It seems as though every day, we have another new idea for the perfect strategy to create the perfect school. Make class sizes this big, require teachers to study this much, make the school day this long. Build more windows, have more grass...you name it; it's being pitched as the education panacea. We have to stop. Instead of trying to mandate the perfect school, how about we try the perfect policy: freedom in the profession. The fact is,... read more »
7 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Pollsters Warn: Voters Not Fooled on Cap and Tax
By American Solutions | 06/20/09
As reported by the NY Times, a prominent Democratic Party polling firm has issued a warning to all supporters of the Waxman-Markey national energy tax. Based upon a dozen focus groups in six states with swing voters, the pollsters warn that supporters of the "cap and trade" energy tax face "significant" challenges in selling their agenda. The strategy memo urges the dropping of the words "cap and trade"... read more »
5 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Obama Puts Economy Behind the 8-Ball
By American Solutions | 06/10/09
So the banks have begun to pay back their TARP money - $68 billion to be exact. Do you feel richer now? President Obama called this a "positive sign," because we - the American taxpayers - are beginning to see a return on our investment. It's not very often that economic progress is measured by the number of dollars flowing into the U.S. Treasury. It's safe to assume that most normal Americans would instead measure economic progress... read more »
4 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Obama's Meltdown on Nuclear Energy
By American Solutions | 06/08/09
It is unsettling to see how the Obama administration has treated nuclear energy in the United States, particularly with the decision to pull the plug on the Yucca Mountain storage facility. Regardless of the overtures the President may have made about looking into nuclear power as one part of our energy regime (in December of 2007, then-Senator Obama said, "I have not ruled out nuclear...but only so far as it is clean and safe."),... read more »
3 Comments | Related Topics »National |
GOP: Let History Be Your Guide
By American Solutions | 06/03/09
Many conservatives were sorely disappointed at the failure of Republicans to cut runaway Federal spending when they held majorities in Congress in recent years. That disappointment translated into Republican losses at the polls as conservatives explored the joys of fishing on Election Day. But it is not true that Republicans never kept their campaign promises to cut spending and reduce the size of government. The historical record shows that... read more »
5 Comments | Related Topics »National |
Obama's Bad Cafe
By American Solutions | 05/30/09
Most supporters of stricter Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards view improved gas mileage as a means to an end, rather than an end. The articulated goals of CAFE policy include safeguarding the environment (e.g. reducing pollution and emissions), promoting national security (e.g. conserving existing oil supplies), and altering foreign policy (e.g. reducing dependence of foreign oil from unfriendly regimes). While raising fuel economy... read more »
4 Comments | Related Topics »National |
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