This morning’s Op-Ed from Frank Luntz, my favor Republication (yes, gentle readers, Republican) pollster articulates what I believe is the current situation. Here’s a couple of paragraphs from his piece:

“In many races that went from blue to red, Republican success was hardly because of what the G.O.P. has achieved on Capitol Hill. In fact, if Americans could speak with one collective voice — all 310 million of them — this is what they said Tuesday night: “Washington doesn’t listen, Washington doesn’t lead and Washington doesn’t deliver.” Purple states tossed out their Democratic senators for being too close to Washington and too far from the people who put them there.

The current narrative, that this election was a rejection of President Obama, misses the mark. So does the idea that it was a mandate for an extreme conservative agenda. According to a survey my firm fielded on election night for the political-advocacy organization Each American Dream, it was more important that a candidate “shake up and change the way Washington operates.”

Frank is a very shrewd man, and – contrary to the norm for those with the Y chromosome – he has the capacity to listen. Here’s another cogent paragraph:

“They voted out those who promised to do more in favor of those who said they would do less, but do it better. That’s why the Democratic candidates for governor who condemned their opponents for spending too little on education, transportation and programs for the poor and unemployed still lost. The results were less about the size of government than about making government efficient, effective and accountable. Our election night survey showed that 42 percent chose their Senate candidate because they hated the opponent more. One pre-election poll had over 70 percent willing to throw everyone out and start fresh.”

The majority of Americans would discard everybody and start over – but start over with what? Ah, there’s the rub. What can 70% of us agree needs to change? Frank has some thoughts on that; unfortunately, most of them have been said before but appear to be unattainable. But here’s one I particularly liked:

“…stop blustering and fighting. Americans despair of the pointless posturing, empty promises and bad policies that result. Show that you are more concerned with people than politics. Don’t be afraid to work with your opponents if it means achieving real results. Democrats and Republicans disagree on a lot, but there are also opportunities of real national importance…”

What are opportunities of real national importance? It’s easier to say what they are not. Depriving women of reproductive rights are not opportunities of national importance. Repealing Obamacare or passing new legislation depriving gays of their recently-earned rights are not either. What do I believe are opportunities of national importance? That’s really easy. Here’s my top two, with a sufficient detail to get things started.

DEMOLISH THE CURRENT VETERAN’S ADMINISTRATION ORGANIZATION AND BUILD A COMPLETELY NEW ONE.

I take a cue here from that man whose name I no longer speak, Bean Ball Billy. Back in the day, he realized his Oakland Team was never going to make the playoffs because of all the reasons you know about from watching Moneyball. The VA needs to start over again, with a new perspective, new players (remember the new guy that came from the private sector and was supposed to fix everything? Yeah, well, you don’t even remember his name, right?) We need a sabermetric system for analyzing the veteran’s equivalent of the game of baseball – ensuring EVERY veteran has what he or she needs to survive and thrive. Fund research in TBIs and PTSD with money well spent because you’ve used analysis to figure out the greatest likelihood of ‘getting on base’ with that research. Find every veteran and put them into an effective database. Let each one have a personal representative – hell, I’ll volunteer to help with that. And here’s the big one: MAKE SURE THEY ARE NEVER SENT INTO HARM’S WAY FOR POLITICS, NOT NATIONAL SECURITY. Shame on you, G.W. Bush for succumbing to the Cheney (devil) song of the sirens.

DEVELOP A NEW CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS AND PUT YOUNG PEOPLE AGES 18 TO 22 TO WORK.

Unemployment has gone down in this country because people adjusted to unemployment and dropped off the roles. We have stagnation in that age group, and they aren’t leaving home because they are now used to being useless. Yes, I know, we’re not in as bad a shape as Europe, but that’s not the point – if we do it, maybe they’ll see it succeed and do it too. The CCC built a lot of the facilities at our national parks. Let’s do that again, but on a state level. Teach them drafting and GIS basic skills so they can help develop plans to improve infrastructure: roads, bridges, piers and waterworks. Those that show promise – give them the money to pay for college – don’t LOAN it to them, give them the money to pursue higher education. And for grief’s sake, please don’t ever use the phrase ‘shovel ready’ again. That makes me want to hit you, and you don’t want me to do that, do you?