It requires an enormous amount of energy to move a
20,000 ton freight train from a dead stop, but comparatively little to keep it
chugging along at 50 mph. This is the result of a fascinating concept called “momentum.”
The following analogy is not perfect, but it does
seem at least partially true. Returning from a 10 day vacation as a business
owner feels an awful lot like that train. Getting your enterprise up and
running again requires an awful lot of energy. Starting from a dead stop isn’t
easy, but after a week or two things will be chugging along as if I never left.
My momentum will have been restored.
The question then becomes, was the ten days away
worth it to have to endure the heavy lifting required to begin again? The
answer is emphatically, “YES.”
Pondering all of this has given me an idea.
Practically everyone I know, despite their economic condition, takes some form of
a vacation. Everyone that is, except government. Wouldn’t it be great if we
forced government at all levels to take a two week time-out every year? Now,
obviously not every department of government can just shut down. There are
Social Security checks that have to be mailed out, etc. But couldn’t the
country find a way to muddle through for 14 days without the Commerce
Department, the Department of Education, the EPA, the IRS, Housing and Urban Development,
and the countless alphabet soup of agencies, bureaus and administrations that
populate the Washington landscape? Two weeks. Just shut her down. No Small
Business Administration, no Bureau of Land Management. 14 freaking days.
Since we spend 287 billion
every month, my two week time-out idea could save us some money. But
even if it didn’t, there might be another benefit. Imagine the amount of energy
that would be required to get the train of state started again from such a dead
stop? Maybe, just maybe the effort would prove too much for every member over
the age of 65. Who knows? Perhaps that would account for what…60% of Congress?
This idea might work better than term limits!
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