HAPPY PEOPLE UNITE!

Here’s an idea for change! We have a new President; a new economic environment, and challenges to a greater degree than our generation has ever seen. Why not come up with a new approach to happiness? Instead of bewailing our economic circumstances, we as a nation have an opportunity to come together as a people and remake ourselves. If we do that, then our outer world will soon reflect the makeover.

Has anybody else noticed the President-elect’s physical condition? Why not give people an incentive to follow the new leader? Find out what kind of workout the President, his advisors, family and so forth regularly do. Let them set goals, and post them on the internet! Find out their diet and exercise regimens, and post their progress on the web. Then let the public insert their own physical stats and program them to correspond to one of the highest government officials. And let them challenge us: “Which workout do you like? Do you want to beat Barack? Do his workout! Do you think you’re tough? Look at the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, and follow his lead. Do you want to lose weight? The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development does, too. Track her progress and make it your own.

You get the idea. Whether running, weights, or calisthenics. The benefits would be incalculable. How about tax credits to people who achieve certain fitness goals? How about government matching for contributions to health insurance with percentages tied to progress and maintenance? Individual commitment to personal fitness would be a fair component of any government sponsored health care plan.

Think of the benefits of this idea! Not only would we get tax credits and benefits for having fun (remember, even dancing counts as an aerobic workout!)---We would also address the expense of health care on the front-end. By becoming healthier, fitter people, we would have fewer debilitating health problems, and reduced health care costs overall.

Really, the benefits go on and on. As healthier people, we would all have a more positive, creative outlook (thanks to the endorphins created by working out). And think of the economic activity that could result from people getting off the couch and choosing to live, and to move! This would help us face our current economic challenges with a more powerful, proactive attitude, because we would feel strong and confident. We still have the richest resources in the world. This is another benefit of fitness!

And to get all these great benefits, we would do something that also let us pay less taxes. Let me at that treadmill, I say!

How’s that for a great solution, that works?