If it’s Comprehensive, Throw it Out

Axis of Right ^ | 2/18/2010 | Sal

[SalAOR]

Victor Davis Hansen has written a piece entitled Beware of ‘Comprehensive’ Anything, in which he details how Comprehensive legislation rarely becomes law, and any that does is usually disastrous. Just take a look at the ‘Comprehensive’ bills or strategies we’ve had in the past few years:

* Comprehensive health care reform * Comprehensive climate change reform (cap-and-trade) * Comprehensive reset of foreign policy * Comprehensive immigration reform * Comprehensive social security reform

As much as I would have liked to see the last item enacted, Hansen has a point. Americans are resistant to sweeping change, and it has proven to be the death of both the Obama and Bush administrations. We Conservatives would be wise to heed Hansen’s warning once we retake power. Small, incremental change is better than large sweeping change. Over the course of 8-12 years, large amounts of incremental changes can add up to sweeping change.

[earglasses]

“Large, sweeping changes” I’d like to see:

. Close the Homeland Security Department
. And the Department of Education
. How about HHS and Agriculture too, while we’re at it
. And certainly shutter the Fed

What else have I missed here? Oh, yeah, testicles (or their equivalent) on the part of our political class.

[ModelBreaker]

I think there would be widespread support for a “don’t spend a penny more on the stimulus” program. Other than that, I agree. We need to boil the frogs slowly, but the other direction.