As I did last week, I will continue to discuss the 60 Minutes interview with the former CIA Deputy Director, Mike Morell, conducted by correspondent John Miller on October 27, 2013.  The interview was entitled The Deputy Director: Mike Morell.

As reported by Miller, Morell believes our country “can manage most external threats, but as an analyst he sees our greatest vulnerability is one generated right here at home.”

Morell also said he thinks our greatest danger is our government’s inability to make decisions that will “push our economy and our society forward.” He reemphasized that more than “anything else,” the strength of our society is dependent upon our nation’s economic strength.

Morell also mentioned that he didn’t understand why there’s not willingness for the two parties to cooperate and “get things done,” and in that way work together for the common good.

I believe Morell obviously is a great patriot and because he deeply loves our country, is more than a little distressed over what’s happened to it in recent years. He reflects not only my feelings, but the thoughts of many Americans when he expresses his exasperation at how the two parties seem to be “at each other’s throat and simply trying to score political points.” Further stating that he didn’t know why that’s occurred and how to fix it.

In my book, What Would Our Founding Fathers Say?: How Today’s Leaders Have Lost Their Way, I not only explain why our system of government is broken, but I also provide the reader a bipartisan solution as to what we need to do to fix the system.

One of the reasons our economy is not as strong as it might be is because of the great division existing between the two political parties which, because of their stubborn opposition to the political agenda of the other party, compromise between the parties is no longer possible. In order for that to happen, where the two parties come together and through tempered and moderate thinking, pass legislation that helps address the needs of our country’s economic woes, the politicians on both sides of the aisle must jointly put into place laws that stimulate the economy. If they work together in that fashion, they will then begin to help put more people back to work.

A crying and much neglected need is to go all out repairing our nation’s infrastructure, in addition to responding to the various companies’ concerns that have caused them to be less than cooperative in working together with our government to help get more people participating in the work force.

One of the big reasons nothing gets done in Washington is because there’s not a common agreement as to what the problems are that need fixing. This lack of cooperation is understandably politically generated because that’s where the power and all the potential political influence reside. Since each political party has separate and distinct political ideology as to what needs to occur in order to fix the system, at this time, common agreement and compromise is virtually impossible to occur.

Examples of where each of the two parties refuse to address the common problems that plague our nation are such topics as eliminating sequestration by having the  parties come together in order to “hammer-out” what needs to be done to make realistic cuts in programs that help meet the current Congressional  budget demands and requirements. Obviously neither party wishes to make the necessary cuts that would jeopardize their chances to be reelected by their constituencies.

 The Republicans rather than the Democrats seem more willing to cut the monies given to the 19 United States Government Entitlement Programs like Social Security – Retirement & Survivors, Social Security Disability,  Medicaid, Medicare, Government Subsidized Housing,  Home Mortgage Interest Deduction, Earned Income Tax Credit,  Student Loans,  G.I. Bill, Unemployment Insurance, Veterans Benefits, Welfare/Public Assistance, Food Stamps, Head Start, Pell Grants, SSI–Supplemental Security Income, 529 or Coverdell, Hope or Lifetime Learning Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

I mention all of the 19 existing programs because many of them seem vital to the very survival and wellbeing to our citizens in need of such services. There are others where those in a higher income bracket can well afford to either have their participation in those programs be drastically reduced or completely eliminated. Two programs that immediately come to mind are Social Security Benefits and Medicare.

For obvious reasons, I would be hard pressed eliminating any financial assistance to our veterans who have returned home from the battle-front, either whole or broken, for they deserve what the entitlement programs can provide them and so much more.

Our current politicians have to develop the mind-set our Founding Fathers developed if we’re going to survive the political rigors, here, in the 21^st century.

The reason I say that is because when our forefathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, even though they came from different political persuasions and were preordained to think differently when it came to dealing with the political issues of the day, nevertheless, they knew they had to come together in mind and spirit if a suitable compromise would ultimately be achieved.