Introducing the Glading Doctrine – Part 1

At age 65, I have come to the stark conclusion that I will never serve as President of the United States. Sorry to disappoint my legion of loyal supporters that includes my mom, six grandkids, and two dogs.

Actually, that realization sunk in about 60 years ago, but it hasn’t prevented me from imagining what I would do if I were sitting behind the Resolute Desk making decisions that would impact not only the lives of 330 million Americans, but also 7 billion people around the world.

And so, as I sit – not in the Oval Office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue but in my home office at 188 Calle de Lagos – I thought I would take a few minutes and put pen to paper (or more accurately, fingers to keyboard) and share with you the still-evolving Glading Doctrine.

After all, James Madison had his doctrine, which basically told Europe to keep its cotton-picking hands off the Western Hemisphere… and whether he was bluffing or not, it pretty much worked once the War of 1812 was settled. In fact, the Monroe Doctrine wasn’t really tested until the early 1960s when the Soviet Union tried to build a missile base in Cuba.

Enough with the history lesson and back to the Glading Doctrine.

If I were POTUS, here is what I would do…

1. Take a sledgehammer to the federal government. If you thought Elon Musk was too ambitious with his proposed budget cuts, you ain’t seen nothing yet! I subscribe 100% to the philosophy articulated by Ronald Reagan in his 1981 inaugural address. “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem,” the Gipper said. “Government IS the problem.”

Every six months of my term in office, every federal department would be required to reduce its budget by 5%. That makes a 40% reduction over four years. Since the federal government spends almost $7 trillion per year, that would be a savings of $2.8 trillion… every penny of which would be applied to paying down our $36 trillion national debt.

2. Get Uncle Sam out of the “social safety net” business. This goes hand-in-hand with #1. The federal budget is divided into mandatory spending (such as Social Security and Medicare), discretionary spending (such as defense, education, and transportation), and supplemental spending (such as Covid-19 appropriations). Mandatory spending is far and away the biggest piece of the pie, with Social Security (21%) and Medicare (14%) accounting for more than one-third of all government spending. Add interest on our national debt (14%) and you’re up to roughly one-half of the federal budget for just three items… one of which (interest) is a total waste of taxpayers’ dollars.

That has to stop.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935, there were only 127 million Americans. Today, there are 200 million more than that… and counting. Also, in 1935, the average life expectancy for an American male was just 59 years, which means that very few men lived long enough to receive benefits. Today, American men live on average 77 years and American women 80 years, which is why the worker to recipient ratio has dwindled from 16:1 in 1935 to 2:1 in 2025.

In other words, Social Security is NOT sustainable in the long-term, no matter how much you tweak it… and we already know that Congress hasn’t the stomach nor the backbone to make the really radical changes that are needed to shore it up in the short-term.

And so, over a period of say 20 years, it needs to be phased out entirely.

Start with allowing workers 50 and over to invest up to 50% of their Social Security payments in a privatized account instead of sending the money to Washington D.C. to earn 2% annual interest. For workers under 50, let them invest up to 100% of their Social Security payments in such privatized accounts. At the end of the 20-year phase-out period, cut everyone a lump sum check for the amount they paid into the system (plus the aforementioned 2% interest) and stick a permanent fork in the Era of Big Nanny Government.

3. Incentivize charitable giving. Historically, Americans are a very generous people. Whenever there is a natural disaster or a neighbor in need, Americans don’t have to be asked twice to roll up their sleeves and open their wallets. Unfortunately, ever since FDR and the Great Depression, Uncle Sam has decided he is better suited to handle that task, raising our taxes so he can do what churches, charities, and communities were already doing… and far more efficiently, may I add. Meanwhile, the federal government and its bureaucratic red tape – not to mention its overlap of agencies and departments – creates a double-digit surcharge with monies meant for indigent care and disaster relief being wasted on protocol, redundancy, and ineptitude.

So, here’s a solution. For every dollar Americans contribute to a legitimate 501 (C) (3) charitable organization, they get to deduct 50 cents off their federal tax liability with no artificial ceiling imposed. In other words, give enough to charity and you don’t owe Uncle Sam a dime come April 15th.

Having served in the nonprofit industry for the past 42 years, I know that most charities are run far more efficiently and cost-effectively than a government agency. So, let’s cut out the middleman in Washington and see that the dollars go straight to where they are needed the most.

I know that sounds simplistic, but it’s worth a try because the current system is broken beyond repair.

4. End foreign aid. If you look at the income side of the federal ledger, there isn’t a line item that reads “aid from other countries”. Which begs the question: Why are we shipping billions of taxpayers’ dollars overseas when Americans – including children, the elderly, and veterans – are suffering here at home?

You shouldn’t have to pay people to be your friends.

(Stay tuned for Part 2 on Friday)