Issues and Choices

About the Site

Welcome to the HOME PAGE of web site: www.ISSUES-CHOICES.com

This site has just been started by me, John Shacter. I intend to load it with free, updated and new articles and columns on major issues and choices. Applications for reproduction (say by interested news media) are invited and will be subject to mutual agreement.

As the name of the site implies, our emphasis is not intended to be on problems, but rather on possible or likely solutions. It will be a future-oriented and decision- or action-oriented site. We'll discuss the past only to the extent that it might be relevant to the selection among possible future options, strategies, and implementation.

Over the years, I have enjoyed the blessings of a highly diversified and rewarding career as an engineer and process developer, management and technology consultant, policy and performance evaluator, and educator/communicator. (You can read my Background Page.)

I don't know about you, but I see too big a gap between what this society is truly facing -- good and bad -- and what many educators, mass media and politicians are focusing upon. That is why I have written many columns and arranged a number of radio and TV discussions in the past, and that is also why I have decided to open this web site.

You'll probably agree with me that we and other nations seem to live in a period of truly revolutionary technological and economic innovations and breakthroughs. And yet, our societies are still beset by many challenges and imbalances and by widespread levels of ignorance and apathy. And they are also the targets of many misguided and demagogued, fanatic and destructive forces, all over the world. In fact, most peoples' education and information have not measured up to the most urgent, current needs. And the rapid rate of innovation seems to have brought us to a world full of unprecedented and frequently unexpected new threats and confrontations.

Perhaps that is why so many of our governmental and societal responses have been, so far, largely reactive rather than having been developed as parts of a set of coordinated, proactive domestic and world strategies. Unfortunately, in the absence of sound "homework", many of the best options are eliminated when decisions have to be made on a crash basis.

With this background in mind, it will be my objective to load this site with a series of articles or columns which will address important societal, economic, technical, educational, quality-of-life and survival issues. Along with presenting information on what we seem to know or don't know about each issue, I shall always strive to offer at least one or two "devil's advocate" options or choices for your consideration. (However, since I will strive for relatively brief and digestible articles, it may take me more than a single article to get there.) In any case, this is not going to be just a collection of gripes and criticisms.

As to my political leanings, let me mention that I usually vote for the person rather than the party. In the past, I have sympathized with some of the ideas of leading Republicans like Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Wendell L. Willkie, as well as leading Democrats, like Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Adlai E. Stevenson. I have also had some serious doubts about some of the more narrow and one-sided priorities and proposals from the "right" as well as the "left" -- such as some from current presidential candidates Pat Buchanan or Ralph Nader.

Maintaining credibility is of course a most essential part of my objective. As we push the envelope toward broader views and new approaches, errors of assumptions or judgement may find their way into some of my writings. I can only tell you that -- as new vistas and better ideas seem to arise -- I plan to reflect them through revisions or extensions of my prior presentations. You can also help to alert me. A feedback address (feedback@issues-choices.com) is provided for your brief ideas or suggestions.

Unless you specify otherwise, I shall assume that I can freely quote parts or all of your contribution. From time to time I may also ask individuals to extend their views for a free guest comment or article.

In today's increasingly interconnected and "shrinking" world, most of us would probably agree that ignorant, apathetic, gullible, fanatic, or intolerant citizens will impede the effectiveness and future of any society and government, but especially a democracy. So there is always a need for others who can motivate people and stimulate constructive progress.

I hope that some of those who visit this web site might be interested in forming "I&C" (issues and choices) discussion groups, or to otherwise engage in more serious reviews and perhaps even in some sort of follow-up action -- even if it is just limited to expressions of their interests to their elected officials or local news media. For example, individual's "letters" or "feedbacks" are among the most widely reviewed sections of most news outlets. In that connection, please feel free to refer others to specific articles, if they might be helpful to the expression or understanding of your point of view.

Looking forward to your ideas regarding the articles or possible follow-up - John S.