When I was younger, so much younger than today (credit The Beatles for that lyric from “Help”), television networks would rerun programs that had originally been broadcast the previous fall and spring. A few still do, like “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy,” but those are syndicated shows. Still, it can be fun to watch programs you missed, or even ones you have seen, especially if you can impress someone with “Jeopardy” answers because you know them.
Reruns that always annoy are the political ads, which start before primaries and continue until the day before the November election. Only the names of the candidates change, not the attack lines. The opponent is a monster who will ruin the country. If elected, I promise to do this or that. Those promises are rarely kept. If some are kept, such as lowering taxes, the next person in office will want to raise them. No political ad I’ve seen promises to reduce or eliminate the national debt, now racing toward an unsustainable $40 trillion.
An example of how even the most fervent promises to reduce spending never work is the now disbanded DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, formerly headed by Elon Musk. DOGE was tasked with exposing and eliminating wasteful and unnecessary spending, including inefficient and redundant government agencies. Musk falsely claimed DOGE saved the taxpayers $110.3 billion, even if true, a drop in the spending bucket, but still something Musk bragged about. Credit DOGE, however, with reducing the size of the bloated federal workforce by hundreds of thousands of jobs.
A new audit by the Government Accountability Office says DOGE took credit for spending cuts already in the pipeline, exaggerated some claims and couldn’t provide evidence for others. GAO reported 96 percent of DOGE’s claimed savings on federal grants can’t be verified.
DOGE claimed it managed to get the Pentagon’s health agency to cancel a $1.7 billion technology contract, but GAO investigators said the contract was never cut or even reduced. “There were no savings,” reported the GAO. DOGE also claimed credit for ending 264 government leases. But 108 of them were already in the pipeline before the White House office was established.
Failure is never a reason to stop politicians from making promises they know they can’t keep, mostly because consultants have found that focus groups respond well to certain words and attack lines. Democrat ads are full of “fight Trump” and “fight MAGA” lines. Too many Republican ads (and too much cable TV) focus on cultural issues, like transgender athletes in women’s sports, which affects the tiniest of minorities.
Ads criticizing socialism and calling your opponent a communist might work for some older voters, but younger ones did not live through the Cold War, much less World War II, and most of the 20th century. They likely can’t define fascist and know little about countries that have embraced socialism. That’s because much of their information comes from social media and the internet. If their classes get around to these topics, they are usually taught from a left-wing perspective. How do I know? Consider their comments against Israel, against Jews and in favor of socialism. They appear all-in on universal health care (“Medicare for all”). No reporter I’ve heard asks them how they would pay for it and why they have faith in government to manage health care when government does few things well.
The candidates are never asked why none of the problems they cite have not been fully, or even partially solved, when their party held all three branches of government. There is always the promise of “change,” but from what to what? The answers are almost always generalities.
The real reason spending won’t be cut is because too many people are addicted to government. In his first Inaugural Address on Jan. 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan said: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
That’s one rerun I am happy to hear again and again.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.