When Working Less Is More

by walterm on January 14, 2011

Unless you have been under the proverbial rock the past couple of weeks, you know about the tragic Tucson shootings by a mentally ill young man. True to form, what was the senseless act of a deranged man has been politicized, and there is the ultimate hew and cry for tougher gun laws. Of course, there are a few politicians in Congress who came out of the gate to propose new laws, but for once Congress, for the most part, kept a level head while the media went on a frenzy attempting to place blame on talk radio and Fox News. Of course, you had some members of  Congress who see, in every situation, an opportunity to expand the scope and size federal government. Well, no news there. What I hope to see from this new Congress that seemingly thinks, instead of reacting to every national event as an opportunity to “do something for the American people,” is that it will recognize that what we need is for them to do is to actually less. I mean, how many six figure jobs can you think of where the employer is asking you to do less and keep the same pay? This is a wholly new concept I’m introducing, and as the employer, along with my fellow tax-paying Americans, I feel that most would join me in telling Congress that less is indeed more. Ronald Reagan is famously quoted as saying “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help,'” which rings even more true today.

What we have now in federal law is a spaghetti soup of laws and regulations, with more and more laws piled on with each successive Congress. Has any Congress actually thought about cleaning up and optimizing existing law before adding more ballast to a sinking ship? Obviously not. Many of these laws and regulations hinder economic growth, and the new healthcare law is just another nail in the proverbial coffin when it comes to destroying the very fabric of our economic system. Social Security and Medicare are underfunded to the tune of over $100 trillion (yes, that is a “t”), yet we have here a new healthcare law that gives promises we already know it can’t keep, just as people were made false promises with Social Security and Medicare. Before Congress should have ever thought they had a mandate to enact a health care law, they should have thought to fix Social Security and Medicare. As politicians, they decided instead to leave these two third rails of politics, and created a soon to be third rail if this bill is not repealed. The only good news is that Republicans didn’t go along with this, and if this baby isn’t repealed, when the bill comes due it will be on the Democrats. But we know when the real cost is tallied, the people who voted for it will be long gone or will find some way to spin it as a good thing that needs even more legislation in order to fix it. Isn’t it funny how that is almost always their solution?

So my message to the constitutional conservatives in this Congress, and wayward Republicans if you’re listening, is that the time has come for you to start scaling back what you’re already doing, and send more power back to the states. With your new job description, we’ll keep paying you the same thing, because it is going to take a lot of time and energy to rein in this federal apparatus. So you’re not really working less in general, but working less producing new legislation and regulations that further burden the American people and concentrate power in the hands of the federal government. Perhaps the hardest thing for you to do will be to check your desire to become more important and more powerful by continuing to grow the federal government. The country is almost bankrupt, and the federal government as a growth profession has ended. The time is now to stop thinking that you can be all things to all people, because American pockets are not so deep that they can provide an unlimited source of funds to pay for every incredibly expensive “solution” that you can dream up. In this day and age, less is definitely more, because we can’t afford the alternative.

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