“I’m not sure I want to get involved in politics as it is done now,” I said.
“Why not?”
“My grandfather, Davey Dawson, was noted for being the man people came to when they wanted something solved. While he supported his party, he was wise enough to be able to craft common-sense solutions that transcended party lines. It makes me scratch my head when I see how things are done today, especially at our federal level. Everyone is given talking points, and they are sent out to sing the party line in lockstep. Every issue is opposed, making it almost impossible to find common ground.
“It doesn’t appear there’s any desire to actually do anything that will help people. A good example is our own state government that is so far in debt I’m wondering when it’s all going to collapse. It’s gotten to the point where we can’t tax our way out of our problems without crippling our state’s economy,” I explained.
“Do you think it’s because there aren’t really solutions to some of the problems we face?”
“I believe in the ingenuity of my countrymen. There are a lot of people much smarter than me who have offered solutions. But it comes down to the willingness of our elected officials to first discover what those solutions are and then have the courage to implement them,” I answered.
“Give me an example,” she said.
“My grandfather told me that in his day, you took a job with the government with the understanding you had job security and decent benefits that included a nice retirement. If you wanted to make more money, you worked in the private sector. Nowadays, that’s not necessarily the case. Many civil service employees make as much as or more than their counterparts in the private sector. Their benefits have also outpaced what most people have in the private sector. Common sense would say that there was a reason we originally set it up that way.”
“Why don’t they fix it?” she asked.
“Think about who some of these civil employees are. What politician wants to say we need to cut back on what we give our police, firefighters, or teachers? The popular mantra is that these people are all underpaid. I’m currently in high school and would agree that most teachers don’t make enough to put up with us,” I said with a smile.
“What else?” she asked.
“Unfunded mandates. In the business world, there has to be income to offset expenses. In government, they can regulate something without providing any money to offset the cost. A simple example is the most recent federal elections. State and local governments have to pick up the cost to run them.
“Another is that when Congress increases the U.S. minimum wage, it creates an unfunded mandate on businesses. They must comply with the law by paying higher salaries out of their pockets. The 1996 minimum wage increase cost $4 million per state, on average,” I explained.
Someone had been awake in his Government class to pull those two little factoids out of some body orifice.
“There are also budget issues. Our governments use what is called ‘baseline budgeting.’ This simply means that you use current spending levels as a ‘baseline’ or starting point. Over time, these levels are increased due to inflation. Unlike a real budget where you have to justify the spending and balance it against income, the government has set it up so it automatically grows. They’ve in effect rigged the game so that they never decrease the size of government,” I continued.
“So, you’re a conservative,” she guessed.
I laughed.
“Not necessarily. I was merely pointing out a couple of issues that we face. I think when you start labeling, it makes it easy to ignore the underlying problem. You can focus on what your belief of that term means and dismiss the issue without examining it. That’s part of the reason nothing gets done. Everything is measured in ideology today. When we do that, we put blinders on and assume it’s terrible if we don’t agree with the label.
“My grandfather was good at helping people see beyond that. He used to tell me that words matter,” I said.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Let’s focus on something that isn’t political, so we can keep from labeling it,” I suggested with a smile. “Think in terms of a business that provides a service to end users. It can be anything. Within the company, they classify their customers as ‘users.’ Perfectly logical. The problem is that over time, the company’s employees begin to think of their customers as ‘users,’ with all the negative connotations that go along with that. What if they changed the term ‘users’ to ‘partners’?”
“Ah, I get it,” she said, and then got thoughtful. “If there was one thing you could change about our government, what would it be?”
