Is Real Change In The Air?

“We the people can force real change and can secure the kind of future America and our children and grandchildren deserve.” former speaker of The House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, from his new book Real Change.

Not much doubt that the cry of the day is for political change. The political candidate who fails to accommodate the crowds’ demands for change is doomed to extinction before this election cycle runs its course, but I don’t have a clue what the public is demanding beyond get those rascals who are in office out and elect my rascals to replace them. For the most part, the race is being reduced to deciding between calls for ill defined “change” versus “experience” and “ready to go” which is an obvious dig at Senator Obama’ s youth and relative inexperience.

I hear some programmatic references, but its leading proponent on the Democratic side, despite proposals for a national health care program that does not stray from Democratic Party orthodoxy, is demanding a change in the politically partisan climate that characterizes our country while proposing more of the same. His nonpartisanship would be more convincing if there were indications that the proposal was a private sector solution rather than likely to end up as another tax drain for a poorly run government entitlement. In lieu of that, it comes across as “Be reasonable, do it my way!” The electorate, particularly those with least experience, seems to be reacting not to reason but to a more visceral impulse. Their hands move to the voting lever thinking, if we but make a change, we can put the troubles we have behind us. That is close to being brain dead and not likely to lead to anything but more dissatisfaction with government.

Let me say to the electorate right now that whatever they do, the nation is facing a national election that is certain to bring more fundamental change at the top than anytime in more than 40 years. The president will retire to Texas and the Vice President is not a candidate. It is likely that no one who has been Vice President or run as such on a national ticket for the office will serve in either of the two top spots. There is very little to suggest, however, during the president’s first term that our problems both personal and national will improve one whit as a result of getting a new hand at the tiller….And they could get a whole lot worse!

The only real change that can satisfy the public angst is one which the public understands and is fully engaged. Politicians sent back to Washington and then forgotten are politicians who will promptly return to the well trod paths that have led us into the structural abyss we are facing. The young voter, full of energy, optimism and eager to begin their own careers, wants to believe that because their Lochinvar can describe the symptom of some of what ails us, he is the doctor to wave his hand and make it disappear. Well, good intentions are no substitute for the hard work of policy analysis and solution mapping.

Others have rigorously analyzed the voters' complaints as well, sampled widely, and pulled together in a non partisan fashion many of our best thinkers to look at what works. Their analysis of what ails us has much in common with Senator Obama’s list of horribles, but their solutions are more private sector based and measurably more effective and less costly than more big government.

Much of what they would propose is contained in Newt Gingrich’s new book titled Real Change. I found many of the proposals to be refreshing, but believe they should be the rough blueprint to be worked on in a cooperative fashion by both parties in Congress to come up with solutions that will stand the test of time. Speaker Gingrich describes much of their research as confirming there is not a “Red” and “Blue” America but one “Red White and Blue America” with substantial majorities lined up behind the type of society we want.

87 percent according to their research want English as the official language and that immigrants should be required to learn English. There is virtually universal support for a strong defense. 70 percent favor tax incentives for U.S. based companies. 87 percent approve of the reference to the Creator in the Constitution; while 88 percent approve of the reference to “under God” in the pledge of allegiance. 94 percent approve of a moment of silence allowing children to pray to themselves before class all across our country. 93 percent assert that these beliefs go to the heart of defining who we are as a people and should be protected.

About half the people believe the wealthiest should pay about the same percentage as everyone else in taxes. (There is virtual unanimity on making the tax code simpler.) 61 percent responded favorably to a single payer rate of 17 percent while 74 percent agreed to that percentage for corporations to help restore the lead lost by our corporations in competing for international business. In assessing many of the other structural issues such as social security, Medicare, aging highways and infrastructure, the clear preponderance of opinion leaned to the practical. Find what works, and if private industry, for instance could be encouraged by significant prizes to explore outer space, let them do it and save a major portion of NASA’s budget in the process.

The public is well aware of the Federal Express model of a successful business being able to do that which government cannot do cost effectively and is willing to let business try to replicate that success in other areas. The issues we face in this election may very well fundamentally test whether we are ready as a Republic to give over a larger share of what our citizens yearn for to private industry instead of investing tax dollars in futile attempts to have an unresponsive government bureaucracy fail again. Speaker Gingrich notes, in this respect, that government is simply not incentivized to succeed. None of the realities of the marketplace impact on the bureaucracy. They are not directly punished for not succeeding nor rewarded for success. How can we expect anything but a repetition of past failures in such a model?

Copyright © 2008 by Robert E. Freer, Jr. All rights reserved

About the author: Robert E. Freer, Jr. is President of The Free Enterprise Foundation. He is a Visiting Professor, at The Citadel and elected in 2005 to be their first John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence. A regular contributor to the Mercury, He can be reached by E-mail at The Citadel . Copies of his earlier columns can be found The Free Enterprise Foundation.

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