A BATTLE OF AGENDAS

By Jorge D. Lomboy
December 5, 2015



The fastest, easiest and simplest test on the effective utilization of time is maximum production at minimum time.  Every business, any enterprise and all employers will gauge the efficiency of their employees with maximum production at the minimum time.  The Internal Revenue Service puts this in one line: One call does it all.  In a highly-commercialized society where money changes hands as quickly as lightning, we live by the clock.  Nothing seems to be at a standstill.  Everything is in motion and every motion is a change.  

There is never enough time for the brainwork, handwork and legwork to cope with our money and non-money obligations to our families, our employers, our big government, our creditors and our religion.  They all stand on our shoulders and load on our backs.  The stress of living by the clock puts pressure on the heart and mind with every heartbeat sounding like an alarm clock.  Daily agenda is the cause of pressure and the source of stress that takes a toll on our health.

An agenda does not consist of things already done.  It is a list of things to be done, especially the program for a meeting. It is an outline of things to be tackled, a program of action in pursuit of our goals drafted by our will and energized by our will power.  In a limited but loose sense, a list of things to be done is one’s private business.  Every one of us has a personal agenda in life that is quite different from the agenda of a brother, a sister, a friend or a relative.  That agenda is not known in grade school, it begins to emerge in the subjects we do best during high school.  Consciously or subconsciously, our course of study in higher education silently reveals the list of things we want to do in life.  A medical student tells us of the list of things he wants to do in life: to perform surgery and prescribe medicine.  A law student tells us of the list of things he wants to do in life: to sue and to litigate.  A student in the priesthood tells us of the list of things he wants to do in life: to worship and to preach.  A student in engineering tells us of the list of things he wants to do in life: to plan and to build.

There is a variety of personal and private agenda that is visible in every vocation, calling, occupation, profession and vocation.  The agendas among multi-disciplines are integrated to advance civilization.  Every calling has with it a list of things to be done but more often than not completion of the things to be done requires the assistance and cooperation of other callings. People in the same calling compete to make a living, people in the same occupation compete to win our business and people in the same profession compete to win our trust.  This is where the list they want to do comes into conflict brought forth by competition to make a living, to win our trust and win our business.  The once open agenda shown in their course of study has now become a hidden agenda.  We are motivated by agenda, stressed by agenda and grapple with agenda in the front lines of struggle and the frontiers of living.  Outside places of worship, life is a battle of agendas from academia to the workplace all lifelong.

We are never short in the list of things to be done for as long as we are concerned and care for others.  Our spiritual nature tells us to do something for the least of God’s people and our human nature reminds us that much is required from those to whom much is given.  Service no matter how small is something we can freely give without costing a penny.  The ability to give service is what life is all about.  A lifetime is not enough to finish the things that must be done for the list gets longer and longer every day.  We all go through life with unfinished business.  The importance of an agenda cannot be overemphasized and its role cannot be oversimplified.  It gets longer when people rely on us and it gets shorter when no one relies on us.  It grows larger when our relationships multiply and it gets smaller when we isolate ourselves from relationships.

A good relationship starts with trust and confidence and breaks with loss of trust and confidence.  A healthy economy is maintained by consumer confidence and trust and becomes gangrenous with loss of consumer trust and confidence.  A crisis of confidence is a debacle that is more serious than periodic inflation, fleeting recession and seasonal financial shortfalls. Government and business are collaboratively working together to regain the consumer trust and confidence they once had and lost.  The teamwork between big government and big business, between autocrats and plutocrats, was the reason for the loss of trust and confidence.  That teamwork shortchanged, fooled, deceived and betrayed the people.  People power was set aside and money power prevailed in government policies, laws and regulations.  Labor lost its trust and confidence in capital, borrowers lost their trust and confidence in lending institutions, buyers lost their trust and confidence in sellers.  Worst of all, the citizens have lost their trust and confidence in their own government.

Winning back public trust and confidence is undoubtedly the greatest struggle among politicians and the biggest win of all wins.  This is where they come to terms with a platform that is much broader than personal or private agenda.  Agenda broadly defined is a platform, a formal declaration or statement of the principles and policies on which a group such as a political party makes its appeal to the public.  The Republican Party is a political party whose platform appeals to the public. The Democratic Party is a political party whose platform appeals to the public.  The Tea Party is a political party whose platform appeals to the public.  Their agendas, also known as platforms, seek to win public trust and confidence and nothing but platforms will determine who gets elected to public office with power to lead.  Every election year is basically a war of platforms and a battle of agendas where the majority vote determines the winning platform and the victorious agenda.

A personal agenda that is hidden is a private agenda and a personal agenda that is disclosed is an open agenda.  A private agenda is classified, privileged and confidential, and is protected by privacy laws.  The right to remain silent and the right to be kept in solitude is a protected personal right.  The list of things to be done by us is a private affair, a private business that is not everyone’s business and so it goes to mind your own business.  Disclosure of personal, hidden or private agenda cannot be compelled by summons, subpoena or discovery procedure.  Refusal to disclose the list of things we plan to do is not actionable in law or equity.  Personal, hidden or private agenda is outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 USCA, Section 552.  Personal information maintained by agencies in the Executive Branch of the federal government is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974.

An agenda in the form of a platform is not classified.  It is not privileged, it is not confidential and it is not protected by privacy law.  In a world of survival of the fittest, everyone strives to be ahead, to be in charge, to be in control and to be at the top.  Many of us see the merit of the cause before we become a part of it.  A good cause appeals to us and we are in harmony with everyone for we believe that the cause is bigger than ourselves.  A good cause includes the platform of political parties. Unfortunately every good cause and every good platform has been torpedoed by the hidden agendas brought forth by power struggles in leadership.  Platforms of political parties are torpedoed by hidden agendas of self-interest and self-aggrandizement. The platforms and official agendas are torn apart by tenacious struggles of self-interest brought forth to the surface in a never-ending battle of agendas.