No B.S. Just fix it.

Eric Schmeltzer is a Democratic communications consultant who writes Build a Better Donkey. He wrote a contributing article for Daily Kos discussing Democrat Zohran Mamdani, Mayor of New York, and Democrat Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania. What they have in common is they are cutting red tape. This isn’t the deregulation favored by Republicans, which is all about removing customer protections so corporations pollute and scam without breaking the law. Mamdani has been cutting red tape for those applying for small business licenses. Shapiro did it when an I-95 bridge collapsed in Philadelphia in June 2023 and he had a temporary replacement in use twelve days later. Shapiro also ordered a review of how the state handles the 2,400 different licenses, permits, and certifications it hands out. Teacher certification went from ten weeks to three or less. Schmeltzer says the villain isn’t the government worker, but but the institutionalist.

Not evil, not lazy. It’s people who are wedded to all those 6,000 regulations Mamdani cited, because they know why each one is there. Every rule started with a reason. Somebody got sick from a bad batch of ice cream, so now you need a permit to sell it. Then something else happened, so another rule got stacked on top of that one, and another on top of that. And nobody in government has ever lost their job for adding a rule. So the rules stay, decades after the reason is no longer valid, because that’s just how things are done and there’s no incentive to change them (but plenty of cost if you do and something goes wrong). As Mamdani’s own buildings commissioner said, the job now is to “get out of our own way.”

Yeah, cutting red tape had been the nasty guy’s line. We must keep Republicans from snatching this idea of a functioning government from Democrats. Well, part of that is Republicans don’t want a functioning government (see DOGE). For the solution the first part is get all Democrats running with this idea so that it becomes a party brand. Show voters what happens when Democrats run things. The second part is to fix what’s broken, to have Congress reverse what DOGE did. Just cutting regulations isn’t enough. “Somebody has to answer the phone, process the form, and hit the deadline, and Trump fired those people.” Yeah, Republicans won’t like the restaffing. Schmeltzer came up with a slogan for this attitude:

“No B.S. Just fix it.” Why that one? Because it’s how people already talk. It covers the rule nobody can explain and the excuse for why nobody can change it, in two letters. And Trump can’t say it anymore, not after DOGE, not without the room laughing. The second ice cream permit is B.S. Six weeks on a nursing license is B.S. “That’s the way it just is” is B.S.

This is a way to push the brand. Kos of Kos discussed the campaign of Democrat Ben Gruber, running for the Wisconsin state assembly. His district is rural, yet he seems to have a chance. He has made some inroads in the district because from his previous jobs he has a reputation of getting things done. That resonates with the people there because they know about getting things done – the hay must be baled before the rainstorm. “‘It doesn’t always have to be pretty,’ Gruber said. ‘It just has to get done.’” Gruber is able to talk to people by asking about shared values and what they need. An example is healthcare. He then tells them how Republicans are making what they need harder to get and that these have been Democratic goals since forever. And when culture war issues come up, like the state paying of prisoner sex-change operations, he deflects the discussion back to economics. Back to getting things done. Which is why the nasty guy is popular in this district. He gets things done, he’s willing to act. Kos wrote:

I’ve written about the same phenomenon. Our politicians have too often blamed norms, traditions, institutions, and procedural obstacles for their inability to change a system that increasingly benefits the wealthy and powerful. It’s excuse after excuse after excuse. But Trump just does what he wants. Yes, he’s using that power toward ends we vehemently oppose, and many of his actions have been clawed back by the courts. But that has helped reveal the contours of presidential power—what a president can do, what the courts will stop, and what survives those challenges. And it turns out a president has far more power than we were led to believe. The next Democratic Congress and president need to be just as laser-focused on using the power that voters give them to deliver tangible economic benefits to everyday people, without hiding behind norms and traditions that entrench the status quo. Do that, and maybe some of those conservative voters in Gruber’s rural district will be impressed enough to reassess their partisan affiliations.

That some who reassess might be enough to dramatically change politics. In today’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted Jonathan Last of The Bulwark discussing Rep. Thomas Massie introducing articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth.

All in all, it’s a pretty thorough document. You know what else it is? A good start. Thomas Massie just pointed the way for the next Congress. We don’t need to wait for 2029 to start pursuing accountability for the criminal acts carried out by members of the Trump administration. A Democratic-led House should impeach all of the officials around Trump who have committed high crimes and misdemeanors.

The reason for needing to do that is to declare at least Democrats believe their actions are illegal, unethical, and just morally wrong. Without saying that Republicans, joined by a few Democrats, will keep doing illegal, unethical, and morally wrong things. Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos quoted late night commentary. Here’s a couple:

“After a judge ruled that President Trump can’t add his name to the Kennedy Center, Trump announced that he’s shutting it down and canceling the planned renovations. Yup, Trump is shutting it down because it doesn’t have his name on it—as opposed to his casinos, which shut down because they did have his name on them.” —Jimmy Fallon “Diesel is now so expensive my Amazon driver just told me he’s leaving my package in Ohio and I should come get it.” —John Fugelsang