It’s tough being a citizen in this City, in this State and in this Country. The reluctance that I had to blog anonymously disappeared when I realized that as far as government is considered we are all anonymous, without a face or a voice. Voting, the foundation of our democracy has never held true force. Those that do vote are misled by demagogic media campaigns that employ the same manipulations used to sell soda. Why does anyone prefer Coke to Pepsi: because one company gets to you first or more often. I fear that greater turnout would not even compel an obstinate ruler to follow the will of the public. Didn't‚t we as Americans reject the Iraq war on November 2006. Yet the War Machine, and Exxon‚s profits, rock and roll on. So what is a citizen to do? Talking with my friends and examining my many election seasons of discontent led me to a proposal. Choosing the wrong soft drink has no real consequence; yet picking the wrong leader can have devastating results. Human nature makes the process of decision making subjective by default. How can advertised promises and staged debates lead to a proper decision? When you factor in the multiple levels of government that must be monitored, voting is almost like a blind taste test. As citizens of New York City, we need tools to evaluate the merit and performance of a President, two United States Senators, a Congressman, a Governor, an Attorney General and Comptroller, a State Senator and an Assemblyman, a Mayor, a Controller, a Borough President, a Public Advocate and a City Council member. Fourteen office holders who tax us and spend our wealth in a manner that can dictate who will be societies winners and who will lose. How can we keep score? I propose that we make our social contract and actual contract, with a clear set of objective criteria. This contract would be a sober enumeration of the basic components of an office holder‚s job. For President: How many people were working the day you took office compared to those at the end of your term. How many jobs were created and how many fled off shore. How many troops are at war, how many fatalities, how many dollars spent fighting? Are oceans levels rising and how fast? We can leave if we are feeling safer, an intangible quality, to the campaign ads and speeches. But with a civic score card or hard factual measures, we can have a common set of expectations that can’t be ignored. For a Mayor, How many students per class room, how many new jobs, how many new units of affordable housing and how many lost; for a Council member how many seats for students in local schools, how many hospital beds, and how many fatal fires in the district. This idea comes from A. Citizen to the sea of anonymous neighbors who share a common civic bond. The proposal will have to plow through the minefield of officials desperate to be held to no standard and loath to be held accountable. But we need to reject the arrogance of corporate stooges with the same vigor that we, as humans, slowly rejected the divine right of kings. Sure there are elements of eloquence, vision and character that are necessary to be a successful leader, but ultimately there should be only one standard, did anything concrete get accomplished that keeps the quality of our lives on an ever upward tilt. If corporate profits must always expand, shouldn't‚t we expect prosperity to improve for everyone over the generations? We may not yet know what real political leadership looks like, but we are all becoming experts at observing the consequences of neglect and incompetence. We have more money in our country, state and city than any society in human existence and yet our misery index continues to shoot through the roof, along with corporate profits. What‚s a citizen to do? Become a better boss. Or sip our sodas in silent compliance. To me a social contract in writing will better help us choose our fate. And according to scientists we should act while we still have time to decide, for while we dither forces are sealing our fate more powerful than human arrogance.