Conflicts of Interest

Too many of us today aren't paying enough attention to our country's foreign policy.  I know I'm as guilty as the next person.  It's so easy to get caught up in our daily lives that events happening in other countries do not really register with us.  We have family members that live in other countries and they have a hard time understanding our lack of attention to foreign policy matters.  I try to explain that our country is so vast that especially here in the middle we just don't get the emphasis on it in our daily lives.  Whereas a small country in Europe is as close to another country as we are to the next state over.  

However, if you value having leaders who are acting in the best interests of the country both at home and abroad, please read the article from Newsweek below.  It is by Kurt Eichenwald and it is excellent.  It's a long article but worth the 10 minutes or so it will take to read it.  You will have a much better appreciation of how intertwined Mr. Trump's businesses are with his potential foreign policy.  The domino analogy Mr. Eichenwald uses is a very good illustration of how complicated and messy this situation could get.  Please read it.

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/12/23/donald-trump-foreign-business-deals-jeopardize-us-531140.html

As a follow up to my previous post regarding Trump and the EPA:  The following article says that the Department of Energy will NOT be providing individual names to the Trump transition team.  Good for them!  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/12/13/energy-dept-rejects-trumps-request-to-name-climate-change-workers-who-remain-worried/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.33be4fc4a869

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry was announced as Mr. Trumps choice for Secretary of Energy.  Is this another logic defying pick?  In the past this position has been held by prominent scientists.  Mr. Perry wanted to abolish the Department of Energy during his presidential bid. For pete's sake, he couldn't even remember the name of the department in one of the debates.   

Why is the Trump team nominating people that seem to be at complete odds with the department they are going to be running if confirmed?  This certainly seems to be the ultimate in conflicts of interest.  I understand the businessman's desire to try and streamline agencies and reduce costs.  And I do believe there is a lot of waste in our government.  However, not ALL business practices translate well to the government sector.  I don't want to send our sons and daughters to war with equipment that came from a vendor that was chosen because they provided their wares "under budget and on time".  I want our soldiers to have the BEST equipment available.  I don't want to be burning fossil fuels with no regard to the air I'm breathing.  And won't disregarding things like the melting ice caps wreck havoc with our communities that are in coastal areas due to the rising sea levels?

There is a fine line between believing in your mission while working to improve the agency you're charged with running vs. NOT believing in your mission and actively working to tear down that agency. There certainly seem to be a number of nominees that at this point look to be the later type rather than the former.   

I hope our Congress members have the testicular fortitude (my apologies to the female Congress members) to ask the Cabinet nominees the hard questions and ensure that only qualified individuals are given responsibility for the vast agencies they must manage.  We citizens must stay ever alert if we are going to hold our government officials accountable.