I’ve talked about it before, and here’s another reason that America should be run like a business.

Each and every bill that goes through Congress has many pieces yet most of those pieces don’t pertain to a bill’s raison d’être.

Why?

Self interest and politics.

It’s for those same reasons that bills we need don’t get passed and the country continues to suffer as a result. Self interest and politics are also the reasons that the Democrats and the Republicans are fighting.

If America were run like a business – especially a business in crisis being run by a turnaround manager, with every issue being vetted as it affects the bottom line – then self interest and politics would be swept aside to make room for survival and positive cash flow.

Going forward, I recommend we take it one issue at a time. In business – especially turnaround – we take everything one issue at a time. It’s how we focus, make progress, and ensure that we’re not muddling our priorities or success.

Consider the President’s job bill as an example. I am not judging the merit of any of those elements tacked onto the bill, but I am saying that the very act of tacking them on was foolish. The tax increases in the bill and other elements included were purely a function of self interest – not public interest and certainly not a jobs bill. A jobs bill is likely the result of an unusually high unemployment rate, and a bill about unemployment and jobs is not a bill about taxes. Had the Buffett tax been excluded, the jobs bill may have had the ability to pass on its own, but when Congress makes singular bills about more than their primary subject, the country cannot move forward.

Focus, America! Keep it simple.

I guarantee that if Congress addressed only one issue in each bill, it would make more progress. If we could get a bill making every bill about one thing, we’d dramatically reduce partisan fighting because all bills would be based on the merit of the individual issue at hand.

For us to move forward and survive we need to Keep it Simple Stupid.

Have you ever been overwhelmed by too many issues and been crippled to affect even one?