Acknowledgements

A Radical Centrist Vision for the Future > Acknowledgements

Appreciations: Those Who Helped

Special appreciation should be expressed for help from David Block, a long time member of “Centroids,” as we call ourselves, at RadicalCentrism.org. I sent copies of early versions of a good number of Amendments to David and he took the time to offer his opinions and comments, and sometimes to rake me over the coals when he thought recommendations of mine were dubious.

David also suggested some Amendments, one of which, in the following pages, is pretty much his creation even if I took the liberty to re-write it to keep the material consistent with the style in the other Amendments, Other suggestions of his were incorporated into Amendments which are different in various ways but that are directly related to his proposals. All told as many as 15 Amendments reflect Mr Block’s criticisms or suggestions.

David kept me honest when I asked him for criticisms or sought his reaction to ideas which came to mind as I worked on this project. He has taken it upon himself to be the “gadfly”of our group and, while we sometimes disagree, some days seriously, his honesty and conscientiousness has been invaluable.

A disclaimer on David’s behalf would be advisable. He may well disagree with, as a reasonable guess, half of the Amendments to follow. But he may also take the view that it could have been much worse had he not expressed his opinions when he did. I have disagreements with Mr Block that are substantive and must make my own disclaimer since some of his ideas strike me as going much too far. For instance, he would like to abolish the Department of Education. I would not go nearly that far and would be satisfied simply to abolish most of its current higher administrative staff, starting with Arne Duncan, current Secretary of Education, someone who is unfit for the office, who is immoral beyond description, and who is irresponsible in the extreme.