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GEORGE SMITH: If services aren’t necessary, why do we keep them on the books?

What are you getting, and what are you willing to give up?

You’re complaining a lot about high taxes, state bureaucrats, ridiculous rules, too many fees, and you’ve got a list of services that someone else gets that you want eliminated. That’s what you call waste.

But how about the services you get?

My challenge to you is simple: Make a list of every service and benefit you get from state, county and local government, and cross off those that you’re willing to give up.

It’s easy to list the services and benefits of others that you think are unwarranted. But turn that cutting knife back on yourself, and it can be painful.

I want you to examine your behavior for more savings opportunities, too. For example, we spend millions of dollars so police officers can stop us from speeding. Almost all of us speed.

The solution is obvious. We can all stop speeding. Or we all can accept the fact that we’re speeding. Neither decision requires policing.

How stupid is it to keep speeding and pay for police to stop speeders?

Send me the list detailing what you are willing to give up and I’ll compile a comprehensive list of budget cuts for Maine’s next governor.

But you’re not done yet. You’ll need to invest some serious time to the task of convincing the new governor and Legislature to make the cuts we suggest.

The time you spend complaining about government spending in the local coffee shop doesn’t count. You must develop a close personal relationship with your state representative and senator and make sure the governor knows your name.

“People like to talk about reform, but they don’t want to give one hour’s work or 5 cents worth of time. They would much rather sit at home and grumble at the men who really do the work, because these men, like all others, are sure to make mistakes sometimes.”

Those were the wise words of President Teddy Roosevelt to his Maine mentor and guide Bill Sewall. I found them in the wonderful new book, “Becoming Teddy Roosevelt,” by Andrew Vietze.

The nearly impossible task of cutting anything out of government budgets was well demonstrated in the recent flap over gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler’s proposal to eliminate car inspections.

Cutler said he would eliminate the once-a-year inspections, claiming there is no proof that the inspections prevent “accidents, fatalities or injuries.”

He’s right. Without doubt, the state’s earnest effort to keep us safe — not just with annual car inspections but in many other ways — offers lots of opportunities for reducing services and fees. Maine’s safety inspection requirements are complex and many are unrelated to safety.

A few years ago, I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The rear window wiper stopped working after its motor burned out. A new motor cost several hundred dollars, so I decided to get along without the wiper.

Unfortunately, the state of Maine refused to allow me that choice. The inspection rules don’t require a vehicle to have a wiper on the back window, but if it does have a wiper, the wiper must work.

Shawn Moody, a gubernatorial candidate who knows cars — his collision centers fixes them (but doesn’t do inspections) — jumped on Cutler for his proposal, telling this newspaper’s Susan Cover, “It’s unsafe; it’s not practical.”

Moody is not the only one who defends the indefensible.   

Rep. Walter Wheeler, D-Kittery, sponsored legislation to abolish inspections earlier this year, but his bill failed to pass inspection in the House and Senate. One of my favorite legislators, the 83-year-old Wheeler remembered when inspections cost just 25 cents and were performed only every five years.

Ah, the good old days.

Those good old days are still present elsewhere. Most states don’t require inspections, including small rural northern states similar in climate to Maine. On my annual pheasant-hunting trips to North Dakota, I’ve seen a lot of old beaters on the roads and envied their owners who can keep a vehicle running a lot longer and less expensively than we can in Maine.

Despite the fact that most states don’t require it, and we don’t need it, the Legislature rejected Wheeler’s bill.

And this is my point. Many will argue the value of each and every state service, program, benefit, rule, requirement, charge and check.

You may be one of those who argue that state motor vehicle inspections are essential.

Well, then, what are you getting that is not essential? That’s what I want you to tell Maine’s next governor and me.

 

George Smith is a writer and TV talk show host. He can be reached at 34 Blake Hill Road, Mount Vernon 04352, or georgesmithmaine@gmail.com.