State of the Union, October 2016

What should topics be in a State of the Union report to the American people? A state of the union message by a president can be delivered anytime, and the contents are free-form, presumably driven by immediacy as determined by the President.

Task 1: Planning, staffing, organizing, and scheduling Presidential work and government functions

• Subtask 1.1: Recruit and staff the cabinet and department and agency appointments
• Subtask 1.2: Conduct cabinet meetings to develop and implement strategies and policies for accomplishing the nation’s workload and issues 
• Subtask 1.3: Define the nation’s outcomes and priorities for each major department and agency to produce the nation’s strategic plan 

Priorities today include water and land resource development policies, carbon footprint from curbing the use of fossil fuels and protecting our outdoor resources for future generations.

However, a complete list of American's priorities might look like this one:

1. Nation secured economically - 100%
2. Nation has a sustainable economy - 100%
3. Nation secured militarily - 100%
4. Homeland secured from terrorists - 100%
5. Employment opportunities for all who can work - 100%
6. Upward mobility for all who are prepared commensurate with ability - 100%
7. All persons provided minimal sustainment as a baseline to start - 100%
8. Social security assured for all persons - 100%
9. Clean air and water - 100%
10. Best education in the world - #1
11. Freest nation in the world - #1 
12. Lowest crime rate in the world - #1 in the least crime per capita

Of course, the actual "state" of these elements are far from perfect. Here is a crucial omission.

The American political system is under siege in all directions. First, the two-party system has fallen into disarray because both political parties have failed to improve their performance and have degraded to such an extent as being unable to produce highly qualified and superior candidates for offices at all levels in the system.

A principal reason for this is that American voters and party members have failed to produce standards for political party performance. There are not clearly stated purposes and tasks with associated performance outcomes. There are no standards for candidates competing for elected offices. Surely, there are party rules for doing certain things. Political party performance requires an independent audit.

The nation is in a dire state because the system is broken.

Broken state needs repairing