A Lighter View
Vote for common sense
By K.E.H. Stagg

Nov. 5, 2009

Every time elections roll around, I mourn the lack of that overlooked characteristic: common sense. I’m not sure when it fell out of fashion, but the trait is rare enough that anyone exhibiting it ought to be on the endangered species list. In fact, it seems as though polling stations should come with the disclaimer: “If you’ve left your brain behind, you can vote!”

Why otherwise intelligent folk swallow the same line—“I’m going to balance the budget, but there’s no way I’m going to cut programs or I’ll raise taxes!”—is beyond me. Let’s see. How can the cost for goods and services rise, yet taxes remain constant while maintaining all existing programs? It’s simply not possible.

I would much rather hear a candidate for office candidly state, “Costs are increasing so to keep taxes where they are, we’re going to have to cut programs funding offshore pearl diving along the Schuylkill River and bat migration studies in Carroll Township.”

Worse than that (in my opinion), are those politicians who say nothing, but take a half hour to do it. It could be that the candidate doesn’t actually know the answer, or just doesn’t want to admit to the facts because voters might not like what they hear. But most appalling of all (again, in my opinion) is that many voters equate volume with content. While that may be true in the laws of physics and mathematics, it’s definitely not the case for political candidates.

If a stump speech takes more than 10 seconds to say, “I don’t know,” you can be sure that everything after that few seconds is either smoke and mirrors, or outright fabrication. In my youth, this practice was called “lying.” And as far as I’m concerned, it’s still lying.

Budgets are hurting not just in Dillsburg, but all the way across the state and throughout our nation. Budgets are balanced by intake and outflow remaining equal. Any deviation from that simple form of accounting means that tax rates remain constant only if programs are halted/eliminated or programs and tax rates will blossom in tandem.

But as long as we value hype over substance and sound bytes over sound common sense, we’ll keep falling for the same old lines each November like leaves drop from our trees. It’s time somebody takes a rake to campaign spiels and throws them where they belong: on a bonfire.