Getting What You Paid For

I don’t know about you, but I personally am more than a little fed up with the constant claims of “transparency” by both our major presidential candidates and seeing none of it. It is not and has never been a secret that the voters expect each and every candidate to be forthcoming with critical information and while there is no law requiring it, the voters are none the less insistent on this most basic information. So, in order to insure full and fair disclosure I would like to propose the following requirements for every person that enters the presidential race and to be fair, these disclosures should happen in the first 120 days of their campaign:

HEALTH. Each candidate should report to Bethesda or Walter Reed hospitals for a complete medical examination with the report published for every voter to be able to see. Doctors should be required to list any issues as well as an explanation of what it is and why it is important so every potential voter can understand and lastly, the doctors should state if this person is healthy enough to withstand the rigors of a four and eight year service as POTUS.

FINANCIAL. Each candidate should sign a waver allowing the IRS to publish their last 10 years tax returns along with any issues, penalties, etc. This report should also include any financial investments (taxable), holdings, and total net worth. If a president can’t handle his own finances, should he be allowed to try to handle the countries? I think not.

RECORD OF BIRTH. Each candidate should be required to file a birth certificate that includes state, city, etc. The finger and foot prints should be redacted for the sake of security.

CRIMINAL RECORDS. This report should verify that the candidate has been vetted through both the FBI and CIA to insure they are eligible and have never been involved in any form of criminal activity. It should be detailed to include every traffic ticket, DWI, DUI, or any other infraction regardless of how small.

MILITARY SERVICE. The report should identify any military service to include active duty, reserve duty, status of discharge and any infractions of the UCMJ ever entered. It should also include any decorations or other awards earned as well as information concerning attendance at a Service Academy and their class standing upon graduation.

LAST EMPLOYMENT. The report, like any resume, should include their last five full time employments to include full or part time, salary & bonuses, voluntary work, political work, etc. They are applying for a job and we the interviewers have every right to know what every potential employer asks you for.

This election has certainly taught us that we the people need to have a lot more information and a lot more control over this process. We need to know what we are considering to we can make the best possible choice and if the candidates refuse on any number of grounds, we should have a very nicely worded letter of rejection that we can send them. Public service has always included a certain amount of intrusion upon the private lives of politicians. The only way to insure we get the whole story is to require full disclosure. After all, if they cannot be trusted to work with us on these simple requests, why should we trust them on the really big ones?