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EFFICIENCY IS KING.
Fresh Politics
With 200 concrete reform steps, the prevailing, encrusted policy can be improved and be made more sustainable. Fit for the future. The proposals show where and how a fresh policy with heart and mind can be developed. The ideas basically apply to all countries, even if different emphases, and cultural as well as local adaptations are necessary. Because everything is in flux and good policy must always be open to new ideas, we should constantly supplement the proposals with better ideas.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
We need a new fresh Policy 4.0 based on the three pillars of humanity, creativity and effectiveness.
These are essential for people’s happiness and steady progress.
This is the necessary reorientation unfolding an enormous potential for improvement.
Better policies and a good future are feasible. Let us look around for the best recipes. Let us look beyond the ideological and regional horizons. We can and must all learn much more from each other, seek out the champions of politics in all countries of the world, analyse, understand and emulate their best practices from all political areas.
This would put us into a position to learn from each other, save money and create progress and prosperity for all. We would be able to achieve a great leap forward and bring our countries forward with radical reforms.
It is about the whole spectrum of good examples in local, national and international politics.
The great leap forward can only be made internationally if we want reforms, learn from the best in the world and do not get lost in petty cosmetic repairs to the systems and plugging holes. Why should politicians keep reinventing the wheel when someone has already shown us how to do it?
Better policies and a good future are feasible. Let us look around for the best recipes. Let us look beyond the ideological and regional horizons. We can and must all learn much more from each other, seek out the champions of politics in all countries of the world, analyse, understand and emulate their best practices from all political areas.
This would put us into a position to learn from each other, save money and create progress and prosperity for all. We would be able to achieve a great leap forward and bring our countries forward with radical reforms.
It is about the whole spectrum of good examples in local, national and international politics.
The great leap forward can only be made internationally if we want reforms, learn from the best in the world and do not get lost in petty cosmetic repairs to the systems and plugging holes. Why should politicians keep reinventing the wheel when someone has already shown us how to do it?
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
Politics is often so incompetent because the ingredients of mediocre people benefiting from party careers and their motivations are too banal. They are grey politicians who earn their living primarily by serving the community and who hang on the drip of pay, high pension entitlements and the perfume of power. Something they could often never achieve in life otherwise. Their ambitions are not the political ideal, but power and career.
For sound policymaking, we need many energetic men and women with character, the will to think for themselves, with a joy for redesigning, for humanity, creativity, courage and optimism. With inner musicality for the political. In addition, with knowledge and experience outside the unreal political bubble.
In a vibrant democracy the parties need to be less of a career lift. We need more criticism, bottom-up decision-making, and no old blinkers.
Do you belong to „the elite“ if you are wealthy, noble or famous? Maybe. But indeed elite encompasses all people possessing special abilities. The elite has special obligations toward the community in accordance with the old slogan ’noblesse oblige‘ – nobility (elite) obligates. In other words, not resting on one’s laurels or egomaniacally squandering money for private activities but taking an active part in shaping a better future for the people.
We need a new elite assuming responsibility in every country. They are crucial for sound politics.
We humans cannot know everything. We are not made for this. The ocean of knowledge is too big and is getting bigger and bigger.
But there is the ‚superhuman‘, the politician. Outstanding politicians are said to have miraculous powers. They know and can do everything and do it better than anyone else. A modern political fairytale for the citizens. The remnant of the divine grace of former ruling kings and subjects.
Everyone is wrong, but apparently our politicians are not. They are true supermen and superwomen, a kind of Batman or Spiderwoman. The credibility, the oxygen of our democracies suffers under this legend.
We must expose this erroneous, messiah-like belief for what it is: pure nonsense. You can get into topics well, but nobody can know everything. Humanity’s knowledge is far too great for that, and the dynamics worldwide are too fast.
It is time for our politicians to say: “I don’t know. “ And the media must embrace this new honesty. The new culture of discussion also should include the sentence: “Sorry, I was wrong, and know it better today.” When was the last time you heard this statement from a politician?
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
We need more courage to make decisions and must give up customary refusal rituals. Too often, politicians or civil servants refuse to absorb, discuss and understand new ideas. Unconvincing counterarguments are feverishly presented. Creative new thoughts are diluted and talked down until the status quo ante is re-established.
The fixation of most political systems on a Great Leader who can, knows and understands everything and is supposed to rule forever is frighteningly reminiscent of the naive loyalty to the king of our great-grandfathers in the 19th century. This seems grotesque and dangerous.
New politics need a competent, creative and committed team, not a substitute king whom we pay homage to as subjects.
We do not need a new leader, but a strong, broadly based team of movers and shakers featuring different talents complementing each other.
In clear contrast to encrusted old politics, the ethos of democracy as well as the sacred fire of free debate must be cultivated with particular care.
This includes an open and honest culture of discussion. Respect for other opinions, renunciation of prejudices and hate propaganda.
We need more dialogue. Not only with like-minded people in our own “communicative bubble”, but also with those voicing different political views.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
Politics today is not open enough towards uncertainties in the future.
Quite the opposite. Power structures and thought patterns tend to preserve and defend old positions and proposals. That is the Achilles’ heel of democracies. They are far too slow in decision-making, in re-shaping. Politicians are almost always far too late. They oversleep the future of our children in a dynamic, globalised world.
A paradigm shift is therefore essential: we need to end the reflex-like blocking and open the windows to the fresh air of new ideas.
Can we shape the future positively with doomsday thinking? Fear is the tool of all totalitarians. History clearly shows that negative thinking leads to fear, hasty actions and polarising aggressiveness. It creates tunnel vision, distracts from other important issues and demotivates citizens.
Optimism is therefore a duty.
At the heart of a successful Policy 4.0 is the rapid and comprehensive activation of creativity at all levels of policy making encompassing parties, parliaments, governments and administrations.
Permanent openness to new developments is the lifeblood of vibrant democracies. This is the only way to achieve great advances required to revitalise democracies worldwide. There can be no sound and sustainable policy without creativity. Creativity is the trump card. If it is missing, democracy fails.
We must therefore build strong engines of creativity into the political enterprise and break the traditional blockade against managing and utilising new developments.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
Freedom and respect for human rights are paramount. Both are core elements of humanity, the cornerstone of better politics, and peace on earth.
If we want to preserve a humane world for the survival of democracies and freedom, the political oxygen to all of us, we must pursue an active and effective human rights and freedom policy both internally and externally. We tend to make a big mistake: We take freedom for granted, as if it were the air we breathe. In reality, we could gradually lose it if we do not fight for freedom every day.
Policy 4.0 must safeguard freedoms and human rights at home and promote them abroad.
What does the state actually do with the data of its citizens?
How does it organise, manage and use this gold dust of knowledge for an improved future policy?
A dry but important topic lacking public attention is demography. Population sciences analyse and calculate the de- velopment of the population, its size, age structures, characteristics, causes and consequences. In all socio-political and economic data and over the long term. These data are a core element of any long-term planning.
Global Champions can be found in all areas. They are particularly committed. They show passion and courage to act. Moreover, they have developed special skills and achievements in their field of work. They are particularly successful. They are role models who pass on their knowledge and character to the next generation.
If we want to cook well, we search for the best recipes from all over the world in the Internet. And in politics?
The dominant and executive bureaucracy in most countries is dominated by senior individuals in leading positions, an encrusted gerontocracy. They offer young people with new ideas little opportunities and tend to emphasise the possible risks linked to a variety of topics. Moreover, they are far too slow. They sit in secure positions and are not even ashamed of it. This kind of executive no longer fits in at all with the manifold challenges of a rapidly changing globalised world.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
Moses received the Ten Commandments carved on stone tablets. Emperors and kings gave their instructions to their subjects on parchment in hand-written bulls with red seals. And today?
Many citizens believe their parliaments discuss and adopt beautiful new laws in serious debates. Unfortunately, the reality is different.
The first German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) once remarked: „The less people know about how sausages and laws are made, the better they sleep“.
How is politics actually planned today?
There is hardly good initial planning followed by creative, timely and critical adjustments. There is frequently a lack of urgency. Problems are described, but options and solutions are almost never seriously developed and worked through. One can call it superficiality and sloppiness. Or ignorance. In any case it is irresponsible.
In a globalized world everything progresses at a fast pace. Consequently inflexible, vague party programs dominated by wishful thinking are outdated. What is needed are flexible procedures as well as extensive dynamic reforms with intensive and long-term planning, pragmatism, realism, creativity and speed: An all-encompassing national “Mission Future” by future-makers: Embracing, shaping and winning the future.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
We need annual activity reports on important issues, reinforcing the ministries` commitment to coordination, clarity and truth.
This in turn would create transparency and enable democratic control.
Flexible and quick adaptation of administrative bodies to reality is crucial. This requires clarity and coordination.
Short-term crisis management no longer suffices. Instead, a long-term strategic approach is required. This is essential for good, sound policies that can make our world a better place in the long term.
Moreover, focusing on short-term crises pushes important popular issues into the background, even neglecting them.
We need long-term priorities for all major issues, rather than hectic crisis management dealing with fashionable topics.
People want many and different things. They often change their opinions and priorities. They are fallible, good and evil. That is a fact.
Sound policies for the future must not be illusory policies based on the good in people, because they are bound to fail. Shaping policy with the heart is not enough.
Moreover, policy must not only focus on minority causes and neglect majority issues. All citizens are ultimately minorities in different groups. This fact requires a harmonious policy taking due account of all groups.
We also need all areas of policy to work together, not just focusing on a few topical issues.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
People want many and different things. They often change their opinions and priorities. They are fallible, good and evil. That is a fact.
Sound policies for the future must not be illusory policies based on the good in people, because they are bound to fail. Shaping policy with the heart is not enough.
Moreover, policy must not only focus on minority causes and neglect majority issues. All citizens are ultimately minorities in different groups. This fact requires a harmonious policy taking due account of all groups.
Don’t we need the most capable, creative and diligent individuals at the top of the state – an optimal and diverse mixture of talents, movers and shakers?
How can we optimise quality and performance at the highest political level?
A rolling global consensus: Digitisation is enormously important for every country.
But many democracies are still too slow in promoting and implementing digitisation. Only a few role models, such as Estonia, Taiwan, Singapore or South Korea, have digitalised their country in an exemplary manner.
How can states cope with the upheaval of the Fourth Digital Revolution?
How can both millions of jobs and independence be safeguarded against China?
What can be done?
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
We live in a globalised world. But for some years now a countermovement has been emerging. Proliferating and aggressive nationalism.
This is a wave-like global attack on United Nations human rights and the need for respect and tolerance for other races, ethnic minorities and religions
What is acceptable and true patriotism?
We should create more identity in this turbulent world by setting an anchor.
The development of a sense of home is a matter of the heart and personal happiness. Politics should not simply ignore this desire for security and overburden uprooted people.
We need to achieve a balanced adjustment by employing a dual strategy of attachment to one’s homeland and a progressive approach.
We should also protect regional identity from the power claims of central government and international institutions such as the European Union. Because the heart of the people and national identity beat at home.
The traditional policy has developed two weaknesses. Achilles’ heels: The disregard for the so-called silent population in the rural areas produces instability – let’s listen to them and take their concerns more seriously.
As well the excessive burden on high performers and the middle class amounts to sawing off the branch we are all sitting on. Let us help them in our own interest to achieve greater prosperity and create more jobs.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
We share the criticism of the excesses and ignorance of untamed turbo-capitalism. It is like a fire. You can burn your fingers or warm yourself. Money is fire power, and it carries commitments. Pope Francis denounced ruthless capitalism in his encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” in October 2020. He speaks of a “loss of social feeling” (11.), a “freedom of economic powers without borders” (12.), “the interest of economic powers only in quick profits” (17.) and “economic rules for growth, but not for overall development” (21.).
We do indeed need a better Policy 4.0 with a social heart and mind.
What is the best economic concept simultaneously achieving social justice?
Everything the state takes away from us citizens in material terms is tax. It is the most comprehensive state intervention.
In a social market economy, the tax system must be fair. Under no circumstances must it undermine the foundations of the economy and its ability to compete internationally. At the same time, it must help the needy.
We owe the elderly a happy life without worries, because they have built up everything we enjoy today. In reality, we often let them suffer with too little pension. Poverty in old age is the result – a disgrace.
Fewer and fewer active young people have to pay into the pension fund for the baby boomers. In Germany, pensioners receive only 51 percent pension after tax (net replacement rate), a disgrace for such a rich country in Europe.
The pension is secure, but it is losing its worth. Prices for energy and housing are also rising considerably. The result is a structural pension inequality.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
The Corona crisis exposed the weaknesses of health care in many countries.
How can we build an affordable and effective health care system for 9.7 billion people in 2050?
We urgently need to restructure health care systems in line with the world’s best practice. The committed World Economic Forum has shown how to do this in two reports in 2018.
We need more and affordable housing in the urban centres. How can we accomplish this?
Firstly, through the incentive of private housing construction.
Why are there social differences, rich and poor, at all?
Through heirs of assets. Through speculation with shares or real estate. By working very hard as an entrepreneur or employee with mixed fortunes. You can be a millionaire and still spend everything or lose it by gambling. That is life. There is no justice. Only opportunities.
Karl Marx was right on one issue: ‚Sharing productive capital‘ is crucial. This is the only way to generate great wealth, by owning real estate or shares or companies.
A social market economy must provide opportunities for prosperity and support creation of wealth. This is part of social justice. How does that work?
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
Why can we fly out of the solar system with Voyager but not solve a manageable global problem like homelessness? With heart and mind. Politicians are trying a little, but not consistently enough. Without creative solutions and a big master plan. No lobby to exert pressure. Too few voters. Too little money. Additional cosmetics instead of real solutions.
In rich Germany, 650,000 people do not have their own home. Most of them live in emergency accommodation. 48,000 are homeless on the streets. The EU has 700,000 homeless people, the USA 576,000.
But there is hope. In Finland. There, homelessness has shrunk like in no other country. NGOs and the government are working closely on pragmatic solutions. Homeless people are given their own homes so they can take control of their lives (Housing First Programme). 4600 flats are available.
Alms are far too few for me. Human beings do not live on money alone. They need confirmation, self-realisation, inner peace, personal happiness. In this realm, the needy are left largely alone. So far there is no convincing concept how to make the needy happier. This should become a central task of new Social Policy 4.0 with a big heart. It goes without saying that everyone is the architect of their own happiness. But let us be honest: Has no one ever helped us in the valley of tears? Fate is often unfair.
How can we make the needy happy?
Children and young people are our future. All politicians worldwide know and say this. Future policy must focus on them. They are the embodiment of our future in person. We must work on this important issue more actively than we have done so far. With a global plan for a better childhood and youth.
The promotion of children’s and young people’s rights must be given a much stronger political focus worldwide. Child labour and sexual exploitation must be terminated. In- stead, children need more education and happiness while growing up.
Are we doing enough?
Are we protecting and promoting young people as best as possible? Are they our first priority?
Do we take their needs seriously?
Still a lot of catching up to do.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
The most important raw material of any country are its people. The country’s prosperity depends on the abilities of its citizens, their diligence and their innovative potential in global competition. But politics is mainly administering the area of education, not shaping the future with best intentions. Merely administering blocks courageous and goal-oriented reforms.
“Fit for Future” means training children and young people from kindergarten to graduation.
We must not forget their soul, emotions and enthusiasm. We want them to grow up happily and later make positive contributions to the community.
Education is by far the most important engine for a better future. This is a truism. We do not have a problem of knowledge, but instead a typical implementation problem due to a crusted and ideologised policy management.
Best training is the basis for the global competitiveness of nations. Education is a building block of economic and social policy.
At 17, she is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history. Malala Yousafzai deeply impressed in Oslo 2014. She delivered her lecture without notes in the city hall in front of the Norwegian royal couple and thousands of guests of honour and many TV cameras. She speaks passionately but factually and begins “ In the name of God, the most merciful, the most beneficient, who is the God of all mankind.” Her mes- sage: “Education is a blessing and a necessity. The first word in the Koran is Iqra, which means reading. 66 million girls are denied education. They are forced to work or married. All children should be able to attend good schools.”
Her mission: Educational opportunities for young girls in all countries, especially in the Islamic world. On October 9, 2012, Taliban stopped their school bus and fired at them. The bullet penetrated above her left eye and injured her upper jaw and temporal bone. She almost did not survive. The Pakistani Taliban hated the girl, who was only 15 years old at the time, because she was committed to educating girls in her SWAT valley in Pakistan. The Taliban, motivated by the sects of Wahhabism and Salafism, represent a perversion of faith, ideology and no mercy prescribed in all suras of the Qur’an.
Security is a basic human need and one of the three most important core concerns of the people in all countries of the world.
Maximum security is the first task of any government. Because citizens appreciate it and need it for their private wellbeing. It is a top political priority and a constitutive element of every flourishing state. Security is a particularly important goal because it provides the prerequisite for citizens’ freedom and personal development.
Under political aspects, security is neither left nor right, but instead a basic obligation and government service for its people. Two key aspects deserve special attention: Security needs to be maintained externally through credible defence capabilities and domestically by combating all kinds of crime.
Maximum security as well as actively dismantling criminal structures and extremist cells are the foundation of good policy.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
Migration is one of the most controversial political issues in many countries. It ranks on the list of citizens’ concerns. More than 258 million people live outside their countries of birth. Over 65 million are refugees.
Can we accept all those who want to live with us and enjoy better lives, or just a limited number of migrants?
What kind of arrangements have proved successful in which countries?
Imagine that you as a citizen receive a million dollars from your bank at almost zero interest and only your grandchildren and great-grandchildren have to pay off the debts, but you never have to pay them personally? Then you could use it to build a nice house in the countryside and afford a cruise on your dream ship. You could invite your friends to a glittering champagne party with catering or to Monaco on a ship. You could be cheered today as successful, generous and popular. After all, your grandchildren and great-grandchildren pay their bills. Ultimately, you will have blown everything and only bequeath large debts to your children. Would you have a clear conscience? Or would you feel like a con man or an impostor?
Debt is the number one political drug worldwide. It allows politicians, who depend on voters, to distribute gifts to their target groups, thus baiting votes and securing their own power, career and income. The best way to do this is to use big words. The bill always goes to the successor. And from there to the next in office. The politicians’ good pensions are always safe, and they are not liable for anything. Do our politicians have a conscience as sensitive as yours as a citizen?
Remember those drug victims? Whitney Huston, Michael Jackson, Prince, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley. Didn’t they die much too soon? We mostly remember the celebrities. Let us not forget the many others. Young people, the future of the country.
In the USA alone, more than 67,000 people died from drugs in 2018, and more than 750,000 people lost their lives worldwide. Half were under 50 years of age. Does that fit into our idea of humanity and progress?
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
Unfortunately, in politics we have grossly neglected the protection of nature worldwide, until the mid-1980s. Environmental protection is at its core a conservative policy, because it is about the preservation (in Latin conservare) of nature, to keep our Planet Earth intact, to save it from dangers, to preserve clean air and water and good living conditions for all plants and animals, and as well for us, 7.8 billion homo sapiens.
The good news is that today, basically everyone is in favour of environmental protection.
The bad news: In some countries protecting nature is secondary. The main task is a booming economy.
Yes, there is a serious conflict of goals between fossil energy production and the protection of the environment. Ultimately, the requirements of flora and fauna contrast with the needs of people for food, energy, raw materials, space, mobility, jobs or recreation.
How can this conflict of interest be solved best with a modern Green Policy 4.0 with heart and mind?
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), many billions are squandered by worldwide by corruption – a misuse of a public office for private gain. There is no money to finance the future. In its report “Fiscal Monitor: Curbing Corruption” in April 2019, the IMF presented detailed investigations and proposals dealing with this issue.
Fighting effectively against corruption and incompetent governments is a key political task.
We urgently need a more effective and creative foreign policy World 4.0, otherwise democracies will be defenceless – resembling shells without a core and without a future.
600 PAGES MISSION FUTURE BOOK WITH 200 PROPOSALS
We need more journalistic high calibre like Seymour Hersh of the weekly magazine The New Yorker. Journalists with fire, zeal, passion, commitment to objective information and a persistent focus on core issues with no fear. We all need to revitalise good and independent quality journalism for a better future. Value-oriented journalism based on truth, objectivity and factual accuracy being the most important assets.
We are all the shapers of our future, not just the politicians. But do we live up to this responsibility for our world?
Most citizens cultivate a hedonistic lifestyle and enjoy material things. But how can a solid and vibrant state be built on the foundation of passive citizens? What would happen if we left the community to extremes and jugglers? Is voting every four years enough for a vibrant democracy? Which individual is still asking what she or he can do for their country?
What can we learn for the future from the global crisis of the century, the corona pandemic?