A Modest Proposal

I believe that we all share a responsibility for suggesting ways that our beleaguered state budget can be trimmed without further adverse affect on crucial programs. I have been thinking about this for some weeks now and today, while preparing breakfast for two eleven year old girls, I felt a new urgency.

Fortunately, an idea came to me, as ideas often do, while reading the morning paper. After getting out a calculator and running a few numbers I came up with a way the state can save over $6 million dollars a year immediately. The best part is that every politician who votes for this idea will be seen as a hero. How good is that!

My idea?

It’s simple, as most good ideas usually are. Abolish the House of Delegates.

Think about it. I’ll wager that the majority of the citizens of the Free State would be hard pressed to name a Delegate who represents them so who would really miss them?

It’s not like the 47 senators can’t cover things. We are a pretty small state after all, 42nd out 50 in land area. Do we really need 141 Delegates running around and mucking things up?

Of course I don’t expect that any of the incumbent Delegates would be too keen about my plan. Right now they’ve got a pretty sweet deal going on. They get paid $43,500 plus another $500 for “expenses” for ninety days of work. They really aren’t responsible for all that much either, not like the demands and responsibilities of someone like a county councilperson. That’s a real job. Plus, they always make a big deal when they “give” our money back to us, like they personally were writing the check. I hate it when they do that.

They should embrace this idea though. The public would be impressed by such an unselfish act of political courage not only for us but for future generations of Marylanders, like my two breakfast girls.

Heck, if they did this, they could become so popular that they might even get elected to a real job.