When voting for mayor and council members of New Orleans there are two qualities that must be considered. First, who can run the City in an effective way? The other quality is who has the vision to understand that only a growing economy offers the opportunity to solve the long-term problems of our city.

After decades of leadership that has focused upon feel good, Blue city populist policies to the exclusion of the fundamental underpinnings of a consensus definition of a well-run city, we are desperate to engage leaders in the first item.

The second quality is far more subtle, and I fear may be lacking. Besides the obvious metrics we all see with our own eyes, New Orleans will never fulfill its promise to the citizens until we get past the tried and failed philosophy of government that has resulted in the departure of so much of the business sector and have made the city unattractive to the relocation or growth of better paying job creators.

Without committed philosophical change and positive growth-sustaining policies we may expect a better run city, but it will be a city incapable of overcoming the problems brought on by a diminishing economy. Homelessness, crime, bad education, poverty, lack of opportunity, crumbling infrastructure, revenue shortfalls…. all symptoms of a city whose only solutions have always been responsive to these short-term effects caused by long-term problems.

I have no doubt that there are several candidates out there who can run the city better. My only question is, are there any who possess the vision to see past the typical Blue city philosophy of governance that has plagued us for decades, a philosophy that has proven incapable of producing an economy fundamental to the very definition of a well-run city. Are there potential leaders who have the political courage to guide us on a different approach to a truly successful city by operating under economic principles of sustained growth.

Paraphrasing as Einstein is attributed, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different outcomes”. Unless I am wrong, and I hope that I am, we may be following Einstein along his odorous prognostication.