The Cure For Buyer’s Remorse

We’ve all felt it. Especially after a large purchase that we soon realize wasn’t necessary or even really wanted. That sick, sinking feeling called buyer’s remorse.

In fact, the weight of this remorse can be so great – and so common – that there are laws to nip it in the bud. Like, when you buy a car. Or a house, although there’s not enough of that going around lately. Buyers have a cooling off period after signing on the dotted line, just in case they change their minds.

Why? Because, in the heat of the moment, we can’t always be sure we really want the item. Maybe, we’re just caving in to a high-pressure sales job. So, we get to take it back, within a couple of days of purchase. No questions asked. And we head home with our refunds tucked nicely in our pockets and our remorse a fading memory.

So, what about the costliest item of all? What is there to do for buyer’s remorse after we’ve been sold a bill of goods by candidates running for public office? How do we end the nightmare of elected officials who run amuck, doing their own thing, completely out of control? Like Congress is right now.

Do we have to sit on the sidelines, watching them play by their own rules, until the game clock runs down? Do we just let them ignore signals from the bench, refuse to be team players, destroy the field and bankrupt us owners? Is there nothing we can do but wait?

How about a buyer’s remorse return option in the game of politics? Kind of like a get-out-of-the-nightmare-free card, to use one year after the election. Our opportunity to boot the prima donnas and send in substitutes who are real players. A cure for what ails us.

How could it work? To start with, no campaigning allowed by the politicians whose promises got us into trouble in the first place. In fact, no politicos involved at all. Just legitimate town hall meetings where nominated candidates and real issues are given a fair, evenhanded review. No shaky statistics, ridiculous rhetoric or phony baloney stories contrived to rally support for programs no one wants. Then, we’re off to the polling place to cure our ballot box blues.

Is anything like this even possible? We’d better hope so or remorse will be the least of our problems.

See you on the left side.