Special Insert #7 - Some "Modest Porposals"

Some "Modest Proposals on How the Federal Government Can Save Money/Generate Revenues



  Politics is not the type of subject that I normally devote an entire Special Insert to. I have ranted in a few past posts, but I thought that this time I'd share some thoughts that I've had recently. I tried sharing these as a Note post on FaceBook, but that whole process is all screwed up.

So...we're into the process of narrowing down which Republican will run against President Obama. Over the next year, we will hear a lot of proposals - from both sides - on how to reduce government spending and/or generate income. I have a few of my own ideas, which I will list now before any of these candidates steals them.

1.) Eliminate Redundancies

They always talk about this, but never give any concrete examples. Well, here's one from me. I asked myself,  "Do we really need a North Dakota AND a South Dakota?" And my answer was "NO". Make it one state called Dakota. This eliminates the need for 2 separate state governments; saves them the costs involved there; and saves the Federal Government the money they used to send to both since they won't need it anymore. AND we can do this to the Carolinas and the Virginias.

2.) Services Sharing

This is being tried in many places in nearby areas, but I don't know the results so far so I'm proposing a Pilot Program using the 2 smallest States. I say that the services that the States of Delaware and Rhode Island provide for their citizens be taken over by larger states nearby - say New Jersey and Massachusetts respectively. This would make their state governments obsolete, and the money that is saved there (minus a percentage to the larger states) would allow the Federal Government to hold on to whatever they would normally have sent.

3.) Branding/Naming Rights

There's a lot of money to be made here - consider Citi Field or MetLife Stadium. Of course, it would probably only apply to large corporations or really wealthy people. I propose that we start with the 3 states I mentioned in Article 1 above. Carolina could become Carolina (Rice)tm, Virginia could be Virginia (Slims)tm, and Dakota could be Dakota (Fanning). Pure profit.

ALSO, since we would be eliminating several state governments that would effectively remove them as individual states which would no longer require representation in Washington. This would reduce the Senate by 10%, and open up a lot of prime real estate in D. C. which the Federal Government could now rent to lobbyists. (Since Representatives are based on population, I can't see any changes here.) More income!

I may just be kidding around with these, but don't be surprised if you hear something like these during the debates. And remember....

You heard them here first.