Building Consensus

Congress? If you wish to be taken seriously, don't entitle legislation "comprehensive" OK? We regular folk know better. Many a functioning thing can be destroyed with the push of a button (see this scar here? I'll tell you about it later) but a massively messed up thing can't be fixed with one piece of legislation.

Incrementalism is what works; build momentum by doing the easy things first and quickly. So let's get those damned drug commercials off TV, how about that? Ya think you kids could bring that project in for under a Trillion?

I've seen drug commercials where they never even get around to telling me what it's supposed to treat. Nice middle aged lady doing Tai Chi in the park, then she goes for a long Jeep drive with her golden retriever...sure, I'll try some!

From my careful research, there seem to be quite a lot of folks who have erectile dysfunction, prostate problems, or herpes. Well, perhaps it's a small group who have all three, I dunno. That's just the tip of the iceberg though.

There was that commercial for toenail fungus medicine. Cartoon showing little critters living under toenails, then the meds hit and they all leave like their sub-prime loan just adjusted. And then, they tell you the potential side effects, WOW! And they always tell them real fast too. "May cause liver failure, skin lesions, auditory hallucinations, blindness, and Vampirism"... OK I made up the liver failure part.

Couldn't you just soak your nasty feet in Clorox instead?

But the very worst one is when I hear "Ask your perscription provider if Flormemorexedon is right for you"...is that what we're calling physicians now? I'd be a bit perturbed spending eight years in college for a diploma that says "perscription provider." The target audience of these commercials better be thankful I'm not a Doctor. Every time a patient said, "I saw some stuff on TV" I'd schedule them for a colonoscopy.

So that's my suggestion Congress. If you don't fancy being yelled at in Townhall meetings, start with little things and build credibility. Get those drug commercials off TV. Don't mess with Smilin' Bob though, I like him.