Dreaming about Change

This being a presidential election year, Americans are being treated to hours of high-minded discussions on all sorts of issues but a key theme has emerged in the debates of both major parties: Who stands for real change? Amidst the accusations and political calculations, this is the essence of democracy and can be inspiring stuff. The problem however is that real change demands painful actions (from tackling out of control government spending to entitlements) and although we all want change and lower taxes, we the people (served dutifully by an infinite galaxy of lobby groups) are reluctant to accept the consequences of the changes we demand. As a result whoever wins this election, although people in power will change, I believe that real change will remain as usual a distant memory, a rhetorical tool used to seduce yet again an unrealistic electorate in an election year.