McCain: Make Sure You Have the Right Change

"Things are more like they are today than they have ever been before," President Dwight D. Eisenhower once remarked, and never have those words been truer than they are today. But along comes Barack Obama threatening to make things different than they are today and the only man who can stop him now is John McCain. In a moving and inspiring speech yesterday McCain warned that America must make a choice "between the right change and the wrong change."

Like many senior citizens, McCain knows what he is talking about. A lot of young whippersnappers who grew up with calculators and studied New Math in school can barely count, and if you don't make sure you have the right change before you walk away from the cash register, they will accuse you of trying to cheat, so you have to count it right in front of them. And I don't think it is racist to point out that a lot of the hired help in stores these days are minorities, who have not gone to the best schools. McCain would be the kind of President who would count America's change and not be afraid to point out when we have been shortchanged, even if he has to ask the cashier to call the manager and make a scene.

It seems like all we have heard about in this election is how America wants change, but as John McCain pointed out in his speech, speaking very slowly and patiently and enunciating all of his words to make sure we all understood what he was saying, not all change is good. In fact, generally Americans don't like too much change. We like to go out once a week for the Early Bird Special and order the exact same thing every time. It's very economical and gives us a break in our routine. We would be very upset if it was discontinued and we had to order off the regular menu, which would still be more expensive even with coupons we clipped out of the newspaper. That kind of change would not be welcome at all.

That is not to say all change is bad. A change of underwear, for example, is good, especially when it gets soiled as sometimes happens accidentally when we get on in years. But do we really need a trendy new wardrobe when the one we have had for 20 years suits us fine, even though the colors have faded a bit and the material is a little frayed and a few buttons are missing? Sure, you might have to let out the pants a little but there's still a lot of wear in them.

And why do we need to buy a flashy new car when our old Studebaker is still running? Maybe it needs a new paint job but the engine still runs pretty well with a few adjustments. Even though the car may sputter a bit and not get the best gas mileage, that's no reason to turn it in for some shoddily made new car that will break down after a few years. Don't listen to that slick car salesman, McCain is telling us and we should heed his warning.

Change is risky. When you change things there is always a chance that they could get worse. Although some people can't afford to see doctors now, if Obama was elected and gave everyone health care, some of the people who couldn't afford to see doctors now might end up going to quacks who would amputate their limbs or make them even sicker with untested drugs. Then they would be worse off than they are now. As McCain pointed out in his speech we could even go backward if we didn't have the right kind of change.

We don't need to take a risk on a President who could make things even worse than they already are. We need a President like McCain who, when the telephone rings at 3:00 in the afternoon, waking him up from his nap, would be ready to answer it and solve whatever crisis needed to be solved. Unlike the inexperienced Obama, McCain was born the day before yesterday and he's forgotten more than Obama knows. He's seen a lot of slick-talking con men in his day, promising to make things better before they slipped out of town absconding with his money and he knows that the only change you can really believe in is hardly any change at all. That's the kind of change America deserves. Why fix something that isn't broke? America may be getting on in years and may not be as quick on its feet as it used to be but let's not trade it in for a brand-new America when the old one works just fine.

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