IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray
# 229
“The Lid”
It’s always more comfortable to feel in control. This goes for all aspects of life, but the emphasis here expands far beyond the personal.
Business today, especially for the small businessperson, centers on regulations and how they hamper everyday operations. Not so long ago, I came across the actual number of regulations passed during the past year. The total was staggering.
If you are in business, or help to manage one, and you encounter the EPA or the IRS, you are “SOL.” For those of us over fifty, the letters are clear. I will let the younger crowd explore the explanation independently.
How many of you wish that you could put a lid on government rules and regulations? What about federal spending? Now, there’s a bottomless pit, folks. More often that we realize, many of us tend to relate to sports metaphors. Here I resort to team names.
Some of the NBA team names are logical. Take, for example, the Detroit Pistons. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Miami and Phoenix team names denote climate — the Miami Heat and the Phoenix Suns. Then we come to the Washington Wizards….
Well, that opens up a whole new conversation. A wizard depends on illusion. Audience reaction hinges on what the people think they see instead of what is really happening. I don’t know how any illustration could be any better.
Like a wizard, a government insider operates with guile, keeping the average American focused on small things — all the time doing really large things that defy rational thought.
Over twelve years ago, I wrote a column titled, “Ghost Riders in the Pie.” Since I majored in history and political science and wrote my Master’s Thesis on American presidential elections, I claim legitimate background in discussing the inane policy of adding an item or items to a congressional bill that have nothing at all to do with the bill’s actual content.
This is precisely how the pork machine works. To a bill in process, a legislator adds an item that benefits either his constituency or a large donor. In order to pass, congress goes along with the rider. So, now the bill comes not only with “strings,” but also with a very heavy rope. That rope, readers, costs taxpayers real dollars.
Since these riders would never fly on their own, congressmen or senators push them through attached to important legislation. Some of the most egregious defy common sense. True, some end up as public works projects named for high-level politicians. I am reminded of the many locales in West Virginia named for Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. This can be replicated in other states, but considering the longevity of his service, Byrd seems an apt example of such largess. Yet, most are tailored to a specific area or industry holding little interest for the nation at large.
This practice is commonly applied to defense bills or highway bills. After all, how can you stand in the way of national security or safe roads? See how it works? It is disgusting.
Today, we are in the midst of an election where someone from outside the Washington “establishment” threatens to put a lid on a lot of things: the border, federal spending, indiscriminate and business hampering regulations, funneling monies to large corporate donors or private, wealthy individuals, accepting immigrants without fully investigating their background, funding foreign wars with little help from nations directly affected by those wars
and fully capable of contributing both manpower and money….
It is incredibly hard for an outsider to make inroads in politics. Run by a media focused more on the prurient than the factual and populated by hordes of people who see their positions as “privileged,” politics is a nasty cesspool of characters.
Like wizards, professional politicians are big talkers. Speeches sound good, but more often than not are simply well crafted talks. Some of the most junior among the politicians came to office with high ideals and commitment to changing how Washington operates; but, all too often, that enthusiasm soon finds itself shackled by the entrenched older office holders. Committee chairs come with years of “toeing the line,” so newly elected members cannot begin to voice their demands for change with any measure of clout.
Something must change. Nearly twenty trillion dollars of debt will bankrupt this nation and bear down heavily on our young people. The ultimate drug in Washington, D. C. is “OPM” –– Other People’s Money — a drum that this columnist has beaten for decades. Uncontrolled, indiscriminate spending continues, and with little focus on what really matters.
Border security, military readiness and equipment, domestic manufacturing, and less federal control should command the highest response from our federal government, but they do not. Rules are only good if the feds institute them. What’s more, when those rules are “inconvenient” or stand in the way of special interests, leadership just changes them to suit its purposes. How sad….
It’s time for a lid. The person who puts that lid in place must gather together really capable men and women — people of accomplishment, people who have actually have met payrolls, delayed expansion without proper funding, people who know how to prioritize for the best possible result, people who understand foreign leaders and will make sure that America comes out on the long end of the stick for a change. It is abundantly clear that we have not seen that kind of action from either party — or any administration in particular — since Calvin Coolidge, a man who accomplished a great deal with small government.
The cookie jar has been far too available for politicians. It’s time for a lid. Will we demand it? If not, as the old saying goes, (and excuse the grammatical error of ending with a preposition) “you get what you ask for.”
Hard working men and women built this country. They asked little and did for themselves. Today, we see another scenario. We see nearly half of our population on government assistance. Why work when federal, state and local programs can equal a healthy salary? This is a recipe for disaster, and the promises during a presidential campaign should be in sharp contrast to what we have seen since FDR. No more free lunch. It’s time to get to work.
Forget the recent personal attacks on presidential candidates’ wives. Such attacks are not new. Consider Rachel Jackson. Andrew Jackson’s wife died in the wake the personal abuse heaped on her when her husband ran for president. I don’t think anything you have read recently rises that level. Bear in mind that, in the 1820s, the press was far less powerful that it is today. Reporting came in time-delayed newspaper reports, not 24-hour, nonstop coverage bordering on the bizarre. Unfortunately, most of today’s news reports resemble tabloids rather than real news. More’s the pity, both for the nation and our international image.
We were promised hope and change eight years ago. Well, many Americans had hope. They got change, too, but not the change expected. There was no close working relationship between the parties. Regulations ran amok, and we slid into an abyss even deeper than the one that we wallowed in before 2008. Real change is more than talk. Real change requires action that makes America better and more secure. What’s more, moving for that change may not come in soaring rhetoric and polished speeches. Change may come in crusty, forthright, down to earth words. Basics. We are in a mess and it’s high time we did something about it. It’s our decision.
The question is, will the old boys network win and derail the votes of the people? The answer will determine the future of what has been a really great nation. I, for one, am tired of highly placed elected officials acting like spoiled children. If they don’t get their own way, they throw tantrums. That is precisely what we see right now. If the rules don’t fit the outcome, change the rules. Their message is clear.
“Threaten to take away our goodies, and we will destroy you.” If that doesn’t remind you of today’s campaign, take a breath.
Perhaps the answer will not come in a familiar package, but that’s not so bad. Traditional packaging has failed us. Don’t just think about it, vote about it.