Buddha said, “Everything changes, nothing remains without change.”  Another famous saying about change is: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” (Author unknown)

        So, what are we to take from all this? 

        Life is about change.  Nothing ever stays the same.  The elderly, which certainly includes me, generally want things to stay the same, as they remember them or think they remember them, while the young are all about change.  That’s what they do, as they grow and mature.  They easily initiate and/or adapt to the things that are new in their lives, from technology to the latest in fashion and style, music, art, etc.

        Barack Obama’s campaign slogan is, “Change we can believe in.”   An example of the senator’s policy position about health care, taken from his campaign website reads:

"I...believe that every American has the right to affordable health care.  I believe that the millions of Americans who can't take their children to a doctor when they get sick have that right...We now face an opportunity--and an obligation--to turn the page on the failed politics of yesterday's health care debates.  It's time to bring together businesses, the medical community, and members of both parties around a comprehensive solution to this crisis, and it's time to let the drug and insurance industries know that while they'll get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair."  -Barack Obama, speech in Iowa City, Iowa, 5/27/07

        Sounds good, doesn’t it?  But, looking at it from Winston Churchill’s perspective, to what end?  “A comprehensive solution” implies more government intrusion into the marketplace at great cost and/or less freedom of choice than we currently have, whichever candidate becomes president. 

        Most people recognize that the government doesn’t run much of anything very well, notwithstanding the fact that they often elect candidates who try to do just that.  A good example is the Senate restaurant service, which has been losing money for years--two million dollars in just the last year--so the Senate Oversight Committee, headed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and the legislators recently approved privatizing the food service. 

        So, if the government (read Congress) can’t even successfully operate its own restaurant services when it has a captive market, what makes anyone think it can run something as large and complex as the nation’s health or education systems or provide the energy that Americans need without increasing costs and causing significant impacts on our freedom of choice? 

        An interesting side note is the fact that, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, about half the 100 members of the Senate are millionaires and the average net worth of those in that illustrious body is $8.9 million.  “By contrast, less than 1% of the U.S. population has a net worth of $1 million or more.”  (The Agonist, November 24, 2006).  So, here we have a group which is financially well off and can easily afford to pay market rate for its meals, taking advantage of its status to use taxpayer money to give a break on the cost of its food service.

        These are the same people who want us to believe that the government can run the health care system for all Americans, solve the energy crisis, bring down the price of gas and food, resolve the complexities of financing the Social Security system and Medicare, in spite of the fact that it has actively participated in causing the problems in the first place.

        In the final analysis, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is still true. Notwithstanding all the hype about “change” in this year’s presidential race, I don’t see much of anything that’s different about the “change” that either candidate is promising.  They may talk about “change,” but it will be business as usual when the dust settles after the election. 

        I would submit that the “change” that America really needs is for our politicians and bureaucrats to get out of the way and let the people solve their own problems themselves, their way.  Now that would be change I could believe in.