New Normals - II

Think big.  Think bold.   Advocate huge programs.  Pass massive laws.  Demagogue the position.  Do little.  Or do Nothing

Big Laws - No Laws.  We seem to have reached yet another new normal about laws passed by Congress and in the process of development.   This means laws of serious magnitude are passed without any construction of implementation, and consequently delayed in part or in whole, but not rejected.  This implies an entire infrastructure is developed and currently  exists with almost nothing to do.

The New Foreign Policy.  There is now the international situation where serious violations of human rights have been proven, but the adjudication of the sympathetic advocates of said rights have developed a new policy.  It is to create a treaty or agreement with all parties that something should be done.  Something significant.  This "done or significant" clause takes time and takes resources.  It takes negotiations.  It takes high level meetings in comfortable locations. It takes press conferences.  It takes resolute statements.  In the meantime the violations continue.  No real end date is in sight; focus on the patented one-page talking points. 

Redistribution.  When I grew up, years ago in Milwaukee, it was always a given that some folks had wealth and some had not. We always considered this as a part of life.  We did not really resent those with more, even while we wished we has more.  There were the common commentary on those "with."  Can they really be happy?  And stuff like that.  These days, this theme has taken a more vicious tack.  It goes something like, "They have; we do not.  Let us take if from them and then we will have wealth."  This new ethos is not limited to African Americans, but to all without.  The ethos has transcended well beyond race.  Our politicians have convinced us that this (wealth) is a plum ripe for taking. After all, we do have the vote.  Let us just take it.  We can redistribute in an equitable way.  The rich do not work very hard; they simply enjoy the fruits of what they so carefully protect.  In fact, many of the wealthy work like demons to achieve, as though achievement is everything.  The wealth is a mere by-product is this scramble for more.  Many work themselves to death.

To achieve wealth without commitment and work is an illusion.  This new normal will have consequences beyond our imagination. 

However, history has shown us the poor cannot get rich by making the rich get poor. A new class of the privileged will emerge, as it did in Soviet Russia. These are the societal managers, the new dukes and princes of the new and just regime.

Big Laws; Big Programs.  It turns out that you just can't pass a law or make a regulation these days if it is presented with a readable text of manageable length.  Therefore, the new normal is to make the bill or regulation so massive it cannot be understood even by experts.  It takes years to read, to modify, and to regulate such instruments.  So goes the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Act, and outside the Beltway the Common Core Curriculum.  In the meantime, lower level functionaries interpret and regulate such ventures. All have in common the aspects of massiveness, incomprehensibility, and interpretable results that take many years to unravel.   All have advocates that likewise cannot comprehend what is underway, much less understand long term consequences.

This is another new normal of our age. Too big to undermine; too big to critique; too big to deny!  Forget simplicity. Forget transparency. Forget clarity.  Focus on the talking points - about one page in length.