Ensure Pols' Accountability With Election Day Near Tax Deadline

We’re days after the deadline for the filing of federal income taxes and still reeling from a controversial omnibus bill signed into law weeks ago, and tomorrow is Tuesday.

Politicians love that many disengaged citizens have such short attention spans. It allows them to play their cronyist games all term long and then attempt to sell the role of a maverick reformer just as Santa is making out his absentee ballot.

But what if there was a more immediate mechanism for accountability? What if we could make our collective disgruntled voices heard in real time? What if, Election Day was the week after Tax Day?

Well for one thing, a closer examination of our spending would be in order. Increased scrutiny of programs like Planned Parenthood and subsidies for education for non-citizens would increase as angry voters would have the fresh memory of cutting substantial checks towards benefits they themselves will never use.

The economy would trump any issue, no matter what the current geo-political or national security climate. The constant conservative call for belt-tightening against the compounded runaway deficits and debt would be heard.

One area that could possibly see major traction would be in enacting substantial spending reforms. Baseline budgeting, with its arbitrary increases has run unrestrained built in increases for discretionary, non-military spending as a major culprit of our current woes.

In many instances, the budgetary increases go towards bureaucratic spending, as the federal employees and agencies directed responsible for creating and enforcing growth crushing red tape and regulations get an automatic yearly raise. Many candidates, now running as budget hawks, would call for an end to this practice.

The lack of any meaningful entitlement reform would also be addressed. Legislation with expanded work requirements similar to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA​) would be rolling out for programs like Medicaid, Food Stamps, and many of the other over 600 federal and state welfare programs nationally.

PRWORA was designed to immediately move able-bodied adults quickly and permanently into the workforce, while promoting family stability and delegating responsibility to states for designing and implementing their public-assistance programs. By enacting this type of legislation, we would have a system with an increasing number of taxpayers having an interest in how that money is spent.

Part of the issue with November elections is what 2012 Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney correctly pointed out in a leaked video from a campaign fund raiser in the weeks leading up to the 2012 election. We have far too many eligible voters who get away with paying no taxes whatsoever. That fact, coupled with the short attention spans of some voters — who prioritize social issues over their personal finances — has driven us towards our current calamity.

I have a sneaking suspicion that legislation like the Republican Study Committee (RSC) Budget for Fiscal Year 2018, the Norman Amendment to cut EPA funding, and the Budd Amendment to eliminate a $900 million Amtrak earmark would have received much more bipartisan support as the focus of a larger number of taxpaying voters would have shifted to just how their hard earned money was being allocated.

Julio Rivera is an entrepreneur, small business consultant and political activist. He contributes to RightWingNews.com and NewsNinja2012.com, and had previously covered boxing and baseball for the now defunct "The Urban News" in his native Paterson, N.J. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.