With the general election upon us next week, politicians seeking office are performing a full court press to deliver their message. Most Republican candidates seem to be stating popular catch phrases such as, will reduce government spending, lower taxes, reduce the size of government, etc.
Those phrases sound great, but the phrases are not new. Politicians have been stating them for ages, but our government is bigger today than it was 200 years ago, which leads me to wonder whether Republicans will have the backbone to 'walk the walk'.
Republicans can sure 'talk the talk'. However, if they are serious about reducing the size of the government and lowering taxes then I think they better start telling folks they will need to cut jobs, more specifically, jobs within the Federal government.
The Federal government is no different than most organizations. Arguably one of the largest cost centers for the government is wages and benefits (which include the hidden 'timebomb' of unfunded retirement benefits); therefore, to reduce spending - and the need for taxes, the number of positions will need to be cut.
Time will tell whether the Republicans will address this dirty little secret and more importantly, follow through on their rhetoric to reduce the size of our government.
When President Obama had to walk the walk by seeking to raise taxes to pay for his talk about providing benefits to all, he lost some of the goodwill he generated on the campaign trail. I suspect the same may happen to the Republicans once the press starts to publish news articles which contain stories of human suffering as a result of job cuts within Federal government agencies.
Therefore, I think the Republicans need to state a truthful, fair and balanced plan to the American people, a plan that will detail opportunities provided by a smaller government as well as the challenges to arrive at a smaller government. This plan needs to acknowledge possible financial setbacks by those who may lose their Federal government job. By articulating such a plan sooner rather than later and addressing the human element, I think the Republicans could gain the respect of the American people and in the process ward off any bad press that may come about from job cuts within the government sector.
