The elusive Easy-peasy.

• Author: Puterbaugh, Dolores T.
• Position: PARTING THOUGHTS

I CHANNELED MARY POPPINS: resplendent with unwavering decisiveness and spit-spot, lickety-split efficiency, two of us turned the spare bedroom/storage room into comfy guest quarters in less than 45 minutes. Easy-peasy ... because it was not MY spare bedroom--no emotional investment, no weariness at once again facing the task at hand.... It was, actually, fun. Change is refreshingly simple when it does not cost you a thing. When it costs something, change seems complicated and hard--even impossible.

Almost everyone I know has argued, in vain, with newspaper articles, the radio, or television newscasts. As if briefly overcome with psychoses, they shout at the television and argue with the radio in their car. (Me, too). Whatever their position--progressive or conservative, libertarian or statist--they are frustrated and amazed, over and over, at officials' protestations of how hard it is to make change occur.

Everyone has ideas on how to make change happen. Some are terrifying; others are naive. Many, however, have the ring of common sense, and it makes one wonder, why are these officials--whether elected or snugly sinecured--acting as if everything is so complicated?

There are many different government programs aimed at moving people from one place to another. Why many? Who knows? Could it be simplified? Yes, and probably elegantly. Everyone on Medicare, for whatever reason, use service A; everyone who meets whatever clearly established criteria (such as Medicaid) for need, use service B. Give every participant a chipped card, require photo ID (or put it on the card) to be sure the cards do not turn into underground currency like food stamps sometimes do, and then the details entered into the program (A or B) for that individual will determine: medical taxi, van assistance, reduced or free bus fare. A bright STEM high school senior could write the bulk of the program in a day or so.

If you immediately imagined the most complicated possible situations just to pick a fight with me: sure, those exist. If someone needs a wheelchair-accessible van, then that goes into the electronic info on his or her card; if that individual merely needs a cab for doctor appointments, that is on the card. As circumstances change, someone in a remote office can input the update. When Mr. X no longer needs a wheelchair van to get to his appointments, his account can (spit-spot, lickety-split) be adjusted to provide for the appropriate transportation benefit. Plus...