I have one major problem with almost every political campaign run by almost every politician in this country. That problem is the fact that almost every single one makes promises that they and everyone else knows are almost impossible to keep. I understand to a point where they are coming from; they wish to set themselves apart from their competition by setting out specific plans that they will carry out if they get elected. These plans, however, often times seem so concrete and specific that one wonders how they will be carried out if that person gets elected. All the plans in the world don't mean a damn thing if an elected person doesn't have the support of his/her fellow politicians in Washington. Furthermore, their elaborate plans set out for the public to read are often times so grandiose that they would be impossible to implement within a given elected term. Why is it so hard for politicians to be honest and say, "I will try my hardest to get A,B, and C implemented" instead of saying, "I will do A,B, and C if I get elected." I am sure that almost every politician who utters a statement including the words, "I will" knows that they will probably not be able to do everything they say. However, in the United States, it is all about the promises when it comes to getting elected. The more realistic promises a politician can make, the more likely they will be elected by the public. It doesn't matter if a politician says they will find aliens and offer them up as a sacrifice to the economic gods. If they make it believable, people will buy it and vote.
What irks me even more is when a politician lays out a plan for the people and fills it with so much political jargon and B.S. that it sounds fantastic but in reality means nothing. There is currently a woman running for the Senate in Connecticut (she will remain nameless as I don't feel like giving her any more attention than necessary) who has spelled out her plan online for everyone to read. Out of mere interest to see what it said, I perused this woman's plan and honestly couldn't make heads or tails of it. Some parts made sense, but once you got down into the meat and potatoes of it, you would need a law degree or be versed in high level political jargon to understand it. It bothers me that I can't go online to read this woman's plan and have it make sense to me. I don't feel I am an idiot by any means, but when I read this woman's plan, I feel like I am. I know that not all politicians make their plans complicated and difficult to read in depth, but there are some who probably feel that by making it sound complicated, people will just accept it and vote. I am not one of those. If I can't read a politician's plan and understand it, chances are they will not be getting my vote, plain and simple. Its not even the fact that I can't read it, its also the lofty goals and promises made that turn me off. One such promise made by this woman from Connecticut is to cut the middle class tax rate from 25% to 15% in one year. Really? While I think this sounds great, I don't see any plausible way that this will happen. Every politician talks about cutting taxes, which is great, but none have been successful in actually doing it. What makes this woman different? Nothing.
One more great idea by this woman which I doubt will ever come to fruition is her plan to end all job killing regulations on businesses. I would love this to happen, yet somehow I fail to see how she alone will do this. Regulation has been on the increase for decades and all of a sudden this one woman will come riding in on her white horse and change everything. If she gets elected in and manages to do this, then I will apologize for doubting her, but until that happens, I will be eternally skeptical. The problem with politicians is that most of them fail to realize what it takes to make changes in government. There is no "I" in government. It takes a concerted effort by multiple individuals to make any sort of change happen. On top of that, most changes in government takes years to implement and for any politician to say that it will happen if they get elected is simply talking out their rear end. Maybe one day we will get a politician who makes realistic goals and instead of promising change, promises to make the effort to change things. Yet promising a solid effort once they get elected is not how politicians get into office. They get into office by making promises they can't keep and by promoting plans that even they know are impossible to follow. In any case, I am done talking about politicians today as I just got back from a weekend in Vermont and don't want to spoil the rest of the week with political talk. Lets all just hope for a little more honesty from our politicians and perhaps a little does of reality.
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