Every campaign season brings promises of change. What are the chances, in an election cycle more based on these promises than any in recent memory, that the next President will actually change anything? I speak to well-informed friends and they harp on the nuances of the Parties’ positions. The news media frets over the absence of specifics. It is ludicrous to think that the details matter in the slightest.
Decisions in this country are made by hundreds of egotistical and self-centered men and women trying to keep their well-paying jobs in Washington. The president is of course but one of them. We have layers upon layers of laws and regulations on our books. Both candidates have pledged to take some form of sharp object to these programs and the bloated budget that they create and get them under control.
Who do they think they’re fooling?
These are the pet projects of their constituents, donors and of the other hundreds of legislators, judges, regulators and lobbyists that make the real decisions in this country.
We will have an African American president or a female Vice President after having African American and female Secretaries of State, Congressmen, Senators, Supreme Court Justices and business people all through our country. Will either president declare victory over prejudice and ceremoniously slice all race and sex-related laws from the books? We would save tens of millions at least. No Way!
Everyone receives Social Security; even those with millions. Will either president come out and make a change to a means-tested payment of this benefit? We would save tens of millions. Do not hold your breath.
Does anyone really think that either president will eliminate earmarks? Two to three percent of a several hundred billion dollar budget is a lot of money. Not gonna happen!
These are the laws and regulations we all know about. The laws of the US are contained in hundreds of volumes. Regulations cover just about everything that exists in our economy and cost taxpayers and businesses billions. Is there any chance that we will make any real dent in these laws and programs? Special interest groups have paid entrenched Congresspeople great sums to get their beneficial laws enacted and they will not go quietly. We could not even get a critically important emergency bail-out package through Congress without the addition of billions in wasteful special-interest add-ons.
It is probably time for a complete do-over. Pass a first law eliminating all other laws. Then start over from scratch. Good luck with that. Good luck making any real change to the laws of this country. Washington is set in its ways. No one man is going to change that. God knows many have tried. But go ahead and vote for the candidate of Change, which is both and every candidate in history. I am sure it will work this time.
But don’t hold your breath.
Author of five novels available on Amazon, numerous articles and other commentary.