In spite of my commitment to not doing too much research for this blog, I did decide to do a little reading about our presidential candidates. What I was interested in reading was what will not be happening over the next four years.
The two site I went to for my information were...
Barack Obama: barackobama.com
John McCain: johnmccain.com
If I'm not terribly mistaken, these are the official website of each candidate. If I am mistaken, please feel free to let me know. I will alter my sources. Fair disclosure: I did not read what the websites reported as the opposition's views. I assume they are lies and exaggerations.
So here we go...a rundown on what not to expect in the next four years. It doesn't matter who wins.
1. A bold, economic plan that will fix the economy. Governments can tweak the economy for better or for worse, usually the latter. The economy cycles. It will get worse, then it will get better. Then it will get worse again. It does this in spite of government much more often than because of it.
2. Low taxes or fair taxes or reasonable taxes or easy taxes or whatever you want to call it. Politicians are going to spend money in massive quantities and waste money in massive quantities. They're going to have to get it from somewhere. That somewhere is a combination of us and extensive borrowing. They can get it from us in one of several ways. They can tax us directly. They can tax us indirectly in the form of consumption and sales taxes. They can get it from us in the form of business taxes which will ultimately come from us because it will be built into the cost of Big Macs, bottles of pop, iPods, wrenches, and whatever else we might want to buy.
3. Beneficial educational reform that will really fix what is wrong with our schools. No Child Left Behind was a terrible idea. It's not bad only because the system it utilizes to improve education is fundamentally flawed, but because it was perfectly named to last forever. It may get some tiny tweaks but anyone who tries to make fundamental changes to it will have the opposition label them as the proponent of, "Some Children Left Behind." It also suffers by sounding like a book written by Tim LaHaye.
4. Energy independence is not just over the horizon. Cars are going to run on gasoline for a long time to come. The candidates can promise greener alternatives but unless they have some radical new technology waiting to be released until after they take office, there just isn't going to be the car of the future that runs on love and imagination or whatever on the showroom floors soon.
5. Healthcare is an easy one. Our elected officials haven't even been able to keep the cost of healthcare from skyrocketing. They haven't even slowed it down. These same people are not all of the sudden going to make it free for everyone.
6. Government reform isn't happening. Pop cans don't take themselves to the to the grocery store to be recycled. Paper and plastic doesn't sort itself. Raw sewage doesn't treat itself. Government is not going to fix itself.
7. There will be no reduction in government spending. Neither of these candidates has provided us a list of things on which they are going to stop spending money. It has been rather the opposite.
I could go on but I'm tired and I think you see my point. Whatever you are afraid will happen if the person you don't want gets elected won't. You name it and it isn't going to make it through the government gridlock.
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