Category Archives: Government & Politics

Federal, State, and Local Government… Taxes, Social Programs, and International Affairs.

From the Mailbag: On Wisconsin

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The Question: What are your thoughts on the recall election in Wisconsin?

The Answer: As a rule, I’m not a fan of recall elections. Every four years we go to a lot of time, expense, and trouble of electing our state governors. Thanks to a spastic media and more political blogs than anyone could ever possible read, we pretty much know what we’re going to get in a candidate. If someone, like Scott Walker campaigns on a platform of lowering the cost of state government, reducing its size, and decreasing the influence of public sector unions, well, it stands to reason that he’s going to at least try to do some of those things when he gets elected. Trying to recall the guy for doing something that you don’t like smacks of childish tantrum-throwing, especially when you’re going to have a regularly scheduled opportunity to throw the bum out in two years.

I don’t have any great love for public sector unions. As a teacher I was forced to be a dues paying member of one as a condition of employment. Even now, I’m nominally “represented” by a union, though it lacks the ability to negotiate pay or really do much of any substance. At least I don’t have to pay for the privilege this time around. As a public sector employee, I’d be up in arms too if the powers that be unilaterally decided to slash my pay, cut my benefits, or otherwise endanger my livelihood. Given the state of the federal budget for the foreseeable future, it’s an issue I’ve actually give a lot of thought to lately. After two years of a pay freeze, and a massive impending cut to my department’s budget next year, it’s not all that hard to see myself screaming bloody murder from the atop the barricades. Even so, I think history has proven recall elections to be little more than an enormous waste of money for everyone involved.

It’s a bad time to be a government employee at any level – local, state, or federal. Budgets are going to continue to diminish, services are going to be reduced, and the number of employees is going to decrease. The public is pissed at the politicians and the only group the politicians can kick with impunity are the rank and file government employees. From the tealeaves I’m reading, I get the sense that times are going to look a lot bleaker before they even think about getting better. Even so, I think there are more productive uses of my time and effort that playing the recall game. I’d find it much more satisfying to see someone’s reelection campaign go down in flames head to head against a candidate I support. I’ve always felt it was better to vote for something I believe it rather than just voting against someone I don’t like.

From the Mailbag…

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Thanks to everyone you sent questions last night and today. I’ll work on coming up with some answers over the next few days. Churning up a few hundred words on a topic you hadn’t even thought of until someone asks the question is harder work than you’d think, so before anyone decides to hop on the “you haven’t answered my question” train, try to remember that patience is a virtue. If anyone still has any topic burning to be set free, it’s not to lait to get in on the fun…. But without further delay, here is the answer to the first question from ye olde mailbag.

The Question: Jeff, as I remember you have always been an outspoken republican supporter. What are your thoughts on Gary Johnson, as he was a republican who has joined the Libertarian movement?

The Response: Well, to be completely up front about it, the name Gary Johnson barely caused a twitch when you brought it up. I’ve been purposely ignoring politics other than the occasional glimpse of the story of the day on CNN and Fox. I probably should be embarrassed to admit that, but the caliber of candidates, their hinky positions, and the general tone of political debate over the last decade just don’t appeal to me in the least. With that being said, at first blush there seems to be a lot to like about Governor Johnson.

I like the fact that in two terms as governor he didn’t raise taxes in New Mexico. I can really get behind is basic idea about simplifying the tax code, too. In the same vein, I’m a fan of his idea to hand back some federal entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid back to the states. I need to do some more reading on exactly how he proposes dealing with Social Security.

I’m a little less in love with a few of his civil liberties issues. He appears to be completely opposed to airport screenings, long-term detention of terrorist prisoners, and the Patriot Act. I tend to think all of those things have at least a nugget of value and take legitimate steps towards improving national security. Of course they could all use a little bit of tweaking in how they’re implemented. In the area of drug decriminalization and same sec marriage, he’s very close to belief in maximum individual freedom consistent with public safety.

The one area where the opinion of governor and I make an extreme and rapid departure is in his position on the role of the Defense Department and more generally defense related spending. He wants to cut 43% of defense spending in his first budget, which for obvious reasons is an idea I just can’t get behind. Worse yet, he calls for the deepest cuts in overseas basing, intelligence, personnel, R&D, and the nuclear program – all areas that I’d argue should be getting more funding rather than less. I’m even more discouraged by his opposition to the war in Afghanistan and stated belief that Iran doesn’t represent a national security threat to the United States.

Could I vote for Governor Johnson for president? Sure I could. He’s definitely not the worse candidate I’ve ever seen. Hell, he’s not even the worst candidate I’ve ever voted for. I’d still have an awfully hard time pulling the lever for a guy I know wants to put me out of a job, though. The more important question might be, would I vote for him. In this case, the answer is “well, maybe.” That would largely depend on who the other options are and, as always, if I believe him to be the lesser of the available evils.

Habemus nominee…

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Yes ladies and gentlemen, the Republican Party finally has a nominee for president. Thanks for that, Texas. Sure, we’ve all known where it was headed for a couple of months now, but making it official seems like sort of a big deal to the media anyway. It means we can all now all get on board with the serious business of beating the other side to a bloody pulp and proclaiming the last man standing our king for the next four years. What’s not to like about that, right?

I wish I could vote for half of Mitt Romney. The half that says he wants to control spending and keep taxes at something close to a manageable level. The half that wants to use the federal government to regulate our personal lives I’d like to disavow and never speak of again. Once again, it appears I’ll be going to the voting booth, holding my nose, and voting for the least sucky of a hugely sucky pair of contenders… Unless he picks some ridiculous crackpot running mate. Then I’ll probably just stay home and weep for my country.

NATO…

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The logic behind protesting against the one international institution that has actually accomplished anything since its inception is sort of beyond me. The UN, that loveable gaggle of windbags created in San Francisco and headquartered in New York, never seems to be able to find its ass with both hands and a map. On their watch North Korea got the bomb and Iran seems to be right behind them, the Middle East is as much a hotbed now as it was fifty years ago, and a dozen genocides and failed peacekeeping missions dot its less than impressive resume. Since 1945, the UN has been the preeminent forum for talking about the world’s problems and promptly doing nothing about them.

By way of comparison, the signatories of the North Atlantic Treaty have spent the last 60-odd years deterring communist aggression, policing Bosnia and Yugoslavia, raising arms against the common foe when the United States was attacked in 2001, and more recently using air power and special forces troops to knock over a two bit dictatorship in Libya. It seems to me, all of those are good and commendable things to do.

So yeah, when it comes to understanding why the streets of Chicago are full of protestors, all I can do is scratch my head. Godspeed Chicago PD, knock heads and take names… and try to get a few licks in for those of us who can’t be there in person to help out.

Euro Trash…

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Free and open elections are wonderful things, except for the part where people tend to elect the kind of leaders they deserve instead of the kind they actually need. Getting yourself elected on a platform of more spending, lowering the retirement age, taxing the rich, and saying the hell with the global finance system is pretty much a cakewalk. Politics 101 is pretty much focused on telling the people whatever they need to hear to give you their vote. Unfortunately, Politics 410 is the real world practice of how to govern once you find yourself taking over the plush new office you won in the last election. I suspect our friends in France are going to discover that governing is a far more problematic exercise than simply getting elected.

We live in a wildly interconnected world, particularly when it comes to the economy. Unrest in Europe, bad decisions, and blatant disregard for economic fundamentals will ripple across the Atlantic and wash up on our shores as tidal waves if a balance in the system isn’t maintained. For a hundred years, the United States could be counted on to prop up the international economy in times of distress. This week, this month, this year, the story is a little different. We aren’t in a position to flood the market with liquidity. We’re just barely in a position to eek out positive GDP growth for ourselves, keeping our proverbial head above water as it were… Even that’s required borrowing completely unsustainable amounts of money.

The system, for the moment, is in a perilous balance. Trying to go it alone based on election year promises seems like a sure recipe for upending what small measure of stability the marketplace has managed to achieve this year. I just hope our friends across the pond have the good sense to know the difference between electioneering and governing. If they don’t, well, the global economy and our own personal economies could be a much more brutal looking place a year from now. Might as well open the door on a new bloody Dark Age.

See, and people say I can’t be hopelessly optimistic.

Chet Arthur…

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Once a year, I order a set of “proof” silver coins, a proof silver eagle, and a 1/10 ounce gold eagle from the US Mint. I don’t think of them as an investment so much as I think of them as pretty objects that I enjoy collecting. Maybe they’re worth marginally more now than they were when I bought them, maybe they’re not. Either way.

I appreciate the fine work the mint does. Their process for engraving and stamping coins is pretty much the pinnacle of an art form that’s been around since the beginning of recorded history and will probably be dead before the century is out. My level of appreciation, however, does not go so far as making me desirous of ordering a Chester A. Arthur Presidential $1 Coin 100-coin Bag. As impressive a specimen as I’m sure they are, I don’t have a clue what I, or anyone else, would do with a 100 count big o’ mint-y fresh Chet Arthurs… Though I have to give credit to them for smacking a label on the bag and marketing them as a collector’s items. I guess that’s what happens when you wake up one morning and realize that the money-spending public doesn’t want a dollar coin any more today than they did Susie Anthony got her mug on a dollar in 1979.

I don’t know why anyone would ever say that the government doesn’t pay attention to the will of the people? As much as I apreciate the email letting me know it’s available, I think I’ll take a pass on this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Pots and kettles…

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The fine men and women of the United States Congress have taken up GSA’s spendthrift ways as their cause du jour. Am I the only one who rolled their eyes about Congress calling out anyone for making bad decisions about how to spend taxpayer money? This is the same group of people who have failed to pass a budget for the government for the last three years and yet still managed to spend the country right up to the edge of oblivion.

If I were going to introduce the Government Oversight Committee to the GSA Administrator before their hearing, it would go something like this: Hello Pot, I’d like to introduce you to my good friend, Kettle. I think you’re going to get along nicely. You have so much in common.

Look, GSA screwed the pooch. They know it. You know it. I know it. Everyone and their brother knows it. But before we run of half cocked thinking how great it is that Congress is going to get to the root of the problem, let’s remember the bigger picture… that Congress is basically the Grandaddy of making piss poor spending decisions and the $800,000 conference in Las Vegas isn’t even a blip on the radar in terms of the volume of cash Congress can throw away in the blink of an eye.

As much as they’d love for GSA’s problems and the Secret Service hooker fiasco to deflect attention from their raging incompetence, let’s keep our eye on the ball out there, ok?

Primary colors…

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When I voted for the first time, I was so excited that I could hardly contain myself. Low, this decade and a half later, I’m beginning to notice a slightly disturbing trend. Not only do I get less enthused about every passing election, but for as long as I can remember, my Primary track record has been adorned exclusively by losers. That’s not a personal attack or a judgment statement. I’ve voted for an eventual loser of the Republican nomination in every primary election since 1996. Don’t try to figure out if that says more about me or the party. It says plenty about both of us.

Still, out of some misbegotten sense of having a voice in the process, I schlepped to the polling place today after work, stood in line for a few minutes, and then cast my vote for a guy who’s sure to be well out of the race by the end of the month. It’s my own little tradition… Like fireworks on the 4th of July or dreams of a white Christmas… If it’s primary day, I’m off to go vote for a guy who will probably never be on another ballot in either of our lifetimes. On the bright side, at least the ballot is full of people for state and local office that I’ve never heard of before. With me, anything below the POTUS nominee race is pretty much a role of the dice based on what information I can scavenge up a day or so before walking into the booth. It’s the only part of primary day that’s even remotely interesting (and I use “interesting” in a very general kind of way).

We’ve been doing this for more or less 226 years. You’d think by now we’d have come up with a better process. Quaint as it is, it’s probably time for our election system to wander out of the 18th century and in the general direction of the 21st. Seriously, why isn’t there an app for this?

The dumbing of America…

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Every few years whoever happens to be president at the time signs an updated version of the Plain Writing Act, an act designed to “enhance citizen access to Government information and services by establishing that Government documents issued to the public must be written clearly, and for other purposes.” If anyone’s interested, that’s language from Public Law 111-274. As far as I can tell from my quick look at the act, it’s mostly one big complaint that bureaucrats use big words and that John Q. Dipstick, Citizen, can’t quite wrap his head around what they mean.

I’m not so sure that’s a failure of writing style as it is a failure of the average citizen to read and comprehend documents that by nature tend to be lengthy and sometimes technical in nature. The reason that there are 15 cabinet departments and half a gazillion other executive agencies and offices is that each deals with a more or less specialized activities and functions. Trying to write every document in every one of those departments, agencies, and offices so the average 8th grader could read and understand them pretty much defines futility. Most of these documents are written by nominal experts in their respective fields for other professionals in that same field.

I may not be an expert in the roles and functions of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, but you can bet that if I really get a hankering to know the details of Open Market Operations, I can go to a Wiki or other page somewhere that his it dumbed down sufficiently that even a history major can understand it. To expect an “average” citizen to pick up a policy document and be able to completely understand how the Fed works in one reading boarders on the preposterous. Everyone understands the concept of “money,” but the entire system that underlays why we all accept that the dollar is money is insanely complex. The government doesn’t do itself or its citizens any justice by trying to make it seem simple. I’d suspect most efforts to dumb down the explanation to the satisfaction of the cranks who care about such things as the Plain Writing Act would be to effectively say that the Fed operates by magic because its activities are sufficiently advanced enough for the two to be indistinguishable by the “average” observer.

Hey, I’m all for an informed citizenry. That’s the only real bulwark we have against the unlimited growth of government power. Still, I don’t think that means government needs to do its business as if every citizen is too stupid to comprehend three syllable words. Sure, make the forms and paper work so easy a caveman could fill them out, but please, let’s not spend a lot of time getting carried away by the idea that everything written needs to be understood by all 300 million of us all the time. Maybe since 10% of the population speaks Spanish as its primary language, we should go ahead and start translating all our policies, forms, and legal documents into Spanish while we’re at it. Maybe you don’t see it, but to me it’s just two sides of the same argument.

Tax refund and spend…

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The problem with tax refunds is they take all year to accru and a grand total of 96 hours to spend. I’ve got to admit that I was a bit overzealous at paying off a few move related bills that had been hanging out there for a while, and added a few new pieces of kit to my electronics and accessories collection, but still, it feels like it should have lasted longer than it did. There’s exactly $500 left over earmarked to bail my truck out of the body shop on Friday, but other than that, we’re back to the regular monthly budget. I seem to vaguely remember when my tax refund was considered “fun” money. Maybe I just imagined that, though.

I think one of the most unpleasant aspects of being an adult that no one bother to warn you about when you were a kid is that the sums of money that seemed mind boggling and unattainable when you got your first job flipping burgers will very quickly become just what it takes to get by and maybe stash a bit aside for the future. My definition or “rich” and “making good money” have certainly changed in the last fifteen years, regardless of what the Governor of Maryland wants me to believe. I know paying the bills is the “right” thing to do, but damn, there just isn’t much fun in it.