Say a new stoplight is installed on a deadly corner, but the light turns out to be a blinking red, which in the U.S. of today simply means, “Ignore and drive through!” The end result will be lots of discussion, fatalities and solutions that do nothing to address the problem foisted on the public. Why can’t we get some solutions that really address the problems?

People who violate driving laws 38 times do not need to be on the roads to raise their count to 39. Isn’t there a solution that can stop the behavior once and for all? An individual who is convicted of felony after felony but outlasts the courts long enough to get released again and then commits a murder hopefully will be incarcerated for life. We do get solutions to some things, but the solutions come far too late.

I remember asking a simple question about whether I could be informed of students in my classes who were known to have stopped taking medications that prevented them from becoming dangerous to those around them. I was viciously berated and scolded about wanting to know something that was none of my business as well as a violation of the student privacy. My simple response was, “What if I innocently do something that sets the student off and he or she kills me in a rage?”

The answer to my question was, “We would be very sad.” I am sure that would mean a great deal to my family. Again, instead of addressing the problem, one is left with an unsatisfactory off-the-wall answer.

I would just like to see a few solutions that come from a real effort to solve problems at hand. Currently, I don’t think we have the power to keep anything on a fast track to a solution — at least at the governmental level, where many lobbyists and people with other agendas have a stake in the outcome. What I would like to see is a relatively simplistic approach to the problems of the world that does not come from psychologists, politicians, chefs, MBAs, athletes, policemen, political science majors or lawyers.

My approach to the problems of the world (and the debt ceiling problem, in particular) is an activity at the center of engineering. It involves the core of many engineering programs — an enormous amount of designing things, building those many designs and then continuously testing them to improve the designs. Pretty straightforward and easy to understand. It doesn’t require lobbyists or ex-governors or felon senators or representatives to pound the pavement by pushing their agendas. One just looks at what is needed by the public and designs to those needs.

The interesting thing is that the beginning of every design effort involves spelling out a problem definition. Do those individuals working on the project understand what is being asked for, what the actual problem is and how to approach the problem? I would guess from the current insanity in Congress, no individuals, groups or parties have any notion of the real problems in the U.S. Knowing how to proceed requires that everyone is on the same page and understands how the design will be addressed. Only then can logical solutions be proposed.

Perhaps it is because we have destroyed the concept of moderation in this country that we are in our present situation. We seem to be left with off-the-wall liberals and crackpot Tea Party conservatives. Neither has any sense of design, building or testing. Neither are able to make any effort to work together to come to a true definition of the problems at hand and address them.

Maybe the younger generation simply will have to say enough and focus on looking at defining problems before offering half-baked solutions.

Craig Gunn is a State News guest columnist. Reach him at gunn@egr.msu.edu.