Just a few words about change: McCain is for some kind of change, no doubt. He advocates for reform in Washington. He advocates for less pork and more transparency. He states that the reason he chose Palin as his running mate was because of her “reform” credentials (however dubious). This is what he means by “change.” Ethics reforms are laudable goals, to be sure, and I hope Obama is as committed to the integrity of government (as McCain says he is) when he is elected President.
But, this country needs much more then ethics reforms. This country is in real trouble – not least of which is the continuing collapse of our financial institutions - and we need substantive changes to get us out of it. McCain, however, refuses to acknowledge the trouble and offers us little in the way of corrective action.
In response to the latest economic news, the most recent in a long series of signs that our economy is in trouble, McCain responded that he “believes the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” Instead of changing policy directions to reverse the downward spiral our economy is taking, he believes that all that is needed is more transparency and accountability on Wall street and in the regulatory bodies of government.
While I do not doubt that (Bush’s) anti-regulation policies and appointees have helped get us into this mess (or, at least, aggravated the problems), we are already too far down the road for a few ethics reforms to solve the problem. The economy is already failing. Transparent regulatory policies will only serve to oversee a failing system. We need proactive policies to make real change.
And, of course, the first step is acknowledging the problem.
- Fukisaki
