GOP Governance, the Secret Weapon is 'percent'

By James Courcelles

February 2011 brings the budget roulette to the nation's capital. Both the People's House and the White House will offer their own budget blueprints to use as the basis of this year's federal budget legislation. Each will delay and blur the specifics of their budgets to the very last hour, fully intending and even eager to club the other side over the deep and painful cuts that are expected to hurt real people.

However, the GOP can use a secret weapon that corporate America has utilized for decades which could substantially cut the federal budget while deflecting the attacks screamed in the mainstream media. The model is in use right now, as we have seen most S&P 500 corporations post record profits in successive quarters in the midst of the great recession.

The secret is simple: corporate execs challenge managers to slash budgets by "x%" while judging them to produce the same quality of goods and services. It is left to the talented and experienced managers to decide how and where to cut costs, personnel and offices...all designed to improve productivity. The urgency, and the blame, come directly from the dire budget numbers themselves.

This is how corporations produce bottom-line profits for shareholders even when top-line revenues do not meet expectations in a difficult recession. It is utter genius in budgetary politics because it serves voters well and offers politicians faceless fiscal discipline.

For example, the Speaker can bring a vote for the US Post Office to slash its budget by 30%, rallying the taxpayer around the savings while challenging and judging the Postmaster General and his senior staff to be tasked with the responsibility to make the difficult decisions. House Republicans need NOT suggest how. A two-year budget law is better still, to prevent one-off gimmicks and to insure real institutional change.

Offers on how to cut can come from all of us:

* Cancel mail delivery and services every Tuesday and Thursday. Costs for electricity, gasoline and personnel are immediately slashed 33%...

* Post Office locations are reduced by 33% (there are 8 Post Office locations within 5 miles of my own front door)

* Enhanced flexibility with contract services for additional savings. The cost of postage could then be reduced in certain cases for the first time ever, as a bonus to customers who deserve one.

The very same method can apply to the Departments of Education, HHS, HUD, Energy...

A one-page bill calling for across-the-board cuts in percentage terms only is the answer. It is easy to write, understand, debate and pass. It will disarm the democrats and their friends in the MSM waiting to churn out ruthless attacks and demonize draconian cuts.

The government's customers would then challenge and judge its managers to be better with less, while getting the services they want for the price they demand.

The secret weapon in the People's House is simply this percentage!