Donald Trump's Executive Order banning travelers originating from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sdan, Libya, and Somalia, yet not Saudi Arabia and Pakistan which the President and Republicans have often pointed to as sources of terrorist threats, has sparked massive controversy and shifted the focus of public policy onto immigration. The ban is set to last 90 days, but new refugee admissions will be suspended for 120 days while refugees from Syria will be banned indefinitely. For those who support the ban, or find themselves unsure as to why there is so much controversy, there are several issues in play that offer meaningful lessons in proper governance.
​
As a Presidential candidate, Donald Trump's statements helped shape the public policy debate surrounding the 2016 US Elections. As the President, his decisions are implemented with the full force of the Law. Where his impulsive and confrontational nature often sparked controversy on the campaign trail, that controversy now manifests itself in confusion and counterproductive public policies that do more harm than good. For anyone who has had to deal with a legal issue or needed to interact with the government, it is clear that the government is an imposing force like no other. To be targeted by the government, specifically the US government, is downright frightening, which is why Trump's seemingly arbitrary policies are so frightening and upsetting to so many people.

President Donald Trump’s declaration that he places a higher value on military spending over fiscal responsibility officially makes the GOP no longer the Party of fiscal responsibility.  Thanks to Trump’s unfiltered and blunt commentary, once again, the political world can no longer pretend the GOP seeks fiscal responsibility.  Like their “spend-and-tax” counterparts on the Left, “spend-and-don’t-tax” Republicans simply prioritize military spending and tax cuts above all other spending.  There is no fiscal responsibility in Washington.  It is a political tactic used to slow funding to liberal and moderate priories in order to divert monies to Right-wing priorities. This is a problem, because fiscal responsibility is desperately needed.
 
Decades of unbalanced National Budgets have created nearly a $20 trillion National Debt for the United States.  While Bill Clinton was the last US President to lead a successful campaign to address the National Deficit and Debt, Paul Ryan's very sobering 2012 Budget proposal, The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise, showed exactly how much government the US could afford without increasing tax revenues.  Unfortunately, it was a partisan budget based solely on “Conservative” priorities that fueled political polarization and dysfunction.  Because Ryan’s approach was to hijack the US National Budget to push Right-wing priorities, it failed to solve America’s fiscal issues.  Even if he and Trump could now impose such a plan on the American People, the next US President and Congress would undo their changes with added costs.  As such, fiscal responsibility requires a politically, as well as fiscally, balanced Budget.
 ​

​The economy must become the top priority of public policy.  Reducing regulation, slashing taxes, and ending tariff-free trade will not, however, be enough to accelerate and sustain economic growth.  Ultimately, an economy must provide for the needs of the population it serves or it cannot be sustained.  Today, it does not.  Thanks to a widening income gap and a growing number of poor, an increasing amount of wealth is being concentrated into the hands of a shrinking minority.  In turn, this income inequality inhibits the flow of wealth and overall economic growth.
 
In geographical terms, this translates into pockets of extreme wealth surrounded by a growing number of impoverished communities where the scarcity of opportunity inhibits economic development and growth.  Not only does the lack of economic development within impoverished communities undermine the growth of the overall economy, the growth of the overall economy does nothing to actually help those living in this growing number of impoverished communities.   Only by fostering constructive cooperation, instead of degenerative interdependence, can the scarcity of opportunity in stagnant communities be addressed and economic growth offer prosperity for all.