Walmart for President

What about having the Walmart management team run the business operations of our country? Although the title Walmart for President is, I hope, somewhat provocative, the subject matter is serious. As citizens, we can no longer stand around passively hoping that a new economic platform will somehow spontaneously take shape and raise us out of our economic difficulties. Our government’s unapologetic addiction to borrowing and the pervasive financial challenges of many of our citizens are two clear indicators of the magnitude of the challenge. Creating a shift of the magnitude now required will necessitate applying the best of our political leadership and the best of our private sector acumen and brilliance--all in the service of re-engineering our government and economy. Only by engaging the best thinking and practices of a leading U.S. business do we have a shot at resolving the most critical fiscal challenges facing our nation. The compelling conclusion is that the best candidate for the job is the Walmart management team.

Our current form of government—operating under the same structure first adopted when our Constitution was ratified in 1788—has not kept up with the complexity and pace of our times. Consequently, no individual president—no matter how brilliant or gifted with leadership and other skills—can show the way forward in the creation of a new economic platform. We need a flexible democracy to meet the challenges of the times.

We must think outside the box of our divisive two-party political system and seek innovative solutions together.U.S. economic independence can only be regained through a concerted, long-term effort. We owe it to future generations of our republic to elect leadership capable of getting the job done. As voters we must voice our collective displeasure at the lack of commitment shown by our elected representatives in the face of our fiscal emergency.

Walmart for President: an idea whose time has come.

>> A Note for Readers: The content and theme of this essay is purposely quite similar to the others in The Presidential Essays series, including Amazon for President! and Apple for President! . This version has been customized to reflect Walmart's unique qualifications and readiness as the proposed candidate for running the operations of the executive branch. Most elections offer at least two candidates, and each of us usually views one as more qualified than the others. These essays offer an opportunity to compare highly qualified but very different candidates.