Impossible promises

It’s pretty simple, really. I’d like increased government spending, I just don’t want higher taxes. I want all bad things ended immediately, and the number of good things to increase 10-fold. Also, I should really mention that I want to feel safe – all the time. But I don’t want my civil liberties encroached upon, and I don’t like waiting in line at the airport. \nSorry, I’m practicing. After Thanksgiving my thoughts will turn solely to my wish list, and when I tell my friends what presents I want them to buy for me, they’ll probably want gifts in return. That doesn’t work for me. \nMaybe that’s why I like politics so much. Tell the presidential nominees what you want to be done and they will answer with absolute conviction that it can and should be done. It doesn’t matter if what you want is an inherent contradiction or costs more than it’s worth, the answer is, “Sure!”\nAnd about a week after inauguration day, we’ll immediately begin the lengthy process of complaining about our elected officials – how they are all inherently liars, how they talk a big game but never deliver, etc. But that comes later. For now we demand of them that everything get better at once, that we pay nothing for this improvement, and that it begin the day before yesterday. \nTake, for example, the health-care bill that President Bush vetoed in October. The minute it was rejected, the press everywhere exploded into melodrama about how conservatives must hate children. But it took real leadership to look at the total costs and benefits of the bill and ultimately judge that what was in the best interests of the people went contrary to what they seem to have wanted. \nIndeed, it seems like we immediately brand any politician who even admits that tradeoffs exist as an ogre. There’s always some fringe candidate desperate enough to make promises no one could keep, and to stay competitive, you have to nod your head to the social anarchists who want better tuition assistance or the people who don’t want to work but also don’t want to be poor. \nThe truth is that sometimes, the things we want can hurt us. People seem to love increases in the minimum wage, but don’t realize that these increases reduce employment and decrease on-the-job training opportunties. Many people who watched Michael Moore’s “SiCKO” now love to tell the world about the merits of universal health care, but don’t consider (and maybe don’t want to consider) the costs involved. \nIt seems that we won’t vote for anyone but Santa Claus, and in so doing, force our candidates to lie to us. They throw us promises like fish to clapping seals, because it seems the only policies you can make that will actually benefit the world are the ones you make inside the Oval Office, a place less magical than the presidential debates, a place where decisions have consequences and lunch sadly isn’t free.