We don’t see traveling men selling snake oil as a cure-all anymore, but we still see plenty of people peddling it. The hucksters no longer drive from town to town in wagons. They appear on television and ask us to elect them president.
It’s no surprise that politicians tell lies. We talked Thursday about the fact that they’re just following the incentives the voters give them. The more interesting question is why people believe the claims. My view is that they believe because believing the fantasy is easier than confronting the truth.
The latest snake oil to catch my attention is a scheme to balance the federal budget that’s become popular among the Republican presidential candidates. It’s called “Lean Six Sigma,” and at least six GOP candidates (or recently dropped out candidates) fell victim to the goofy ploy.
So what is it? It’s the vaguest plan for deficit reduction you’ve ever seen. The founder of Strong America Now, which is the organization pushing the plan, says 25 percent of all federal spending is waste, so his plan is that a president simply unilaterally cut 25 percent of spending — without changing any federal output.
And what’s this figure based on? Well, he doesn’t say. We’re just supposed to trust him. I’d be happy saying that 80 or 90 percent of federal spending should be slashed — as a start — but to claim that the government can continue to do the same functions (and hand out the same “entitlements”) while slashing spending by a fourth is a sheer fantasy. There’s clearly plenty of waste in government — even if you approve of the purposes for which the money is being spent — but it’s the incentive structure that comes with a monopoly that makes it impossible to change, for as long as we have a coercive state. (Does anyone even remember the famous ’80s Grace Commission report produced for the Reagan administration? It produced a thick book — which I still have — but no results. This is a rehash of that same idea.)
Here’s what the Strong America Now website says about the GOP candidates who have signed the pledge:
When he signed the pledge in June, Tim Pawlenty said integrating Lean Six Sigma into the federal government “would be one of the most important things that the next president and Congress can do.” Newt Gingrich, Gary Johnson and Herman Cain have also signed the pledge. Last week, Rep. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum joined the club as well. “They’ve all come to our training classes,” George said.
Snake oil is snake oil. Fantasy is fantasy. Candidates are promising these things because people don’t want to hear the truth.
This isn’t unique by any means. We talked recently about Michele Bachmann’s empty populist promise about reducing gasoline prices. We saw it in the last election when Barack Obama promised to bring American troops home from foreign wars. (How’s that working out?) We see it in pretty much every election when candidates promise “energy independence,” better schools, lower taxes, better health care and whatever other lies they can squeeze into 30 seconds.
Stop believing in fantasy. Deal with reality. The truth is that what these people are promising — pretty much all candidates — isn’t possible. If you’ve gone down the path of believing something that you know is wrong, you’re under no obligation to continue supporting the same nonsense. You might have been falling for the same lies every four years (or every two years in the case of congresscritters), but you can open your eyes.
You can change your mind. You can change your life. Nobody else can do it for you. First, though, you have to accept that the snake oil you’ve bought isn’t going to help you — now or ever.
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