---

 [ ARCHIVE ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=16)

#  LA Politics: Fed Up With Change for Changes Sake? Welcome to No-Change.com

![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Dec-2012/cw111c.png)SAVING LA - Frankly, I’m fed up with politicians telling me, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” when they really mean you better not get in the way of them serving some special interest at the public expense.

I’m dismayed at seeing young people with Skullcandy in their ears, fiddling with an iPad mini while groping to answer their smart phone. Are they zombies programmed by unknown forces somewhere out in cyberspace?

I’ve had it up to here with “progress.” Who needs a $100-billion bullet train? Are bigger, smaller, brighter, lighter, faster, sleeker really better? Do we really need same-day delivery of every product we buy?

Written by Ron Kaye on December 31 2015.

<a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a><a class="a2a_button_print"></a>[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)

![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Dec-2012/cw111c.png)SAVING LA - Frankly, I’m fed up with politicians telling me, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” when they really mean you better not get in the way of them serving some special interest at the public expense.

I’m dismayed at seeing young people with Skullcandy in their ears, fiddling with an iPad mini while groping to answer their smart phone. Are they zombies programmed by unknown forces somewhere out in cyberspace?

I’ve had it up to here with “progress.” Who needs a $100-billion bullet train? Are bigger, smaller, brighter, lighter, faster, sleeker really better? Do we really need same-day delivery of every product we buy?

Call me a Luddite, call me an old fogey, but I’ve decided to make a stand, to make my No. 1 New Year’s resolution the launching of a new movement — No-Change.com.

I bought that website earlier this year in a fit of frustration as an outlet for my angst over the failure of government at all levels to face the realities of our time like the fundamental economic changes taking place and the public’s refusal to exercise their power to demand what they want.

It was going to be satiric, a biting commentary on planned obsolescence and change for change’s sake. But all this fiscal cliff nonsense and political blackmail to squeeze more money out of my wallet without fixing anything that’s broken has convinced me to play No-Change.com straight.

It’s not that I like things just the way they are or that everything was better the way it used to be — although some things really were better decades ago, and there are a lot of great things about the way we live today, like the artificial lenses in my eyes that not only replaced the cataract-damaged natural ones but left me no longer needing glasses.

But Windows 8 vs. Windows 7, iPhone 5 vs. iPhone 4 — do the changes really enhance our lives, or are they merely a way to add to the profits of mega-corporations by conditioning us to believe that we can’t live without the latest bells and whistles?

It seems to me 99% of so-called “progress” isn’t progressive at all, it’s just a commercial gimmick. We need to perfect what we got, to make perfect all the amazing tools of technology and medicine, to make life here on earth better for everyone — humans, animals, plants, the oceans, the land and the skies.

We don’t need to change anything at all unless it makes us healthier and happier. We just need to make the perfect the enemy of all that isn’t even good.

During last month’s election, everybody running talked about jobs, jobs, jobs and how much they cared about the middle class. But whatever deal they cut to avoid another economic calamity will almost certainly reduce Social Security and Medicare payments for millions of people who paid all their lives for those benefits and do nothing to expand opportunity for their children and grandchildren.

We are at a cultural impasse, lost in the haze of electronic blips, disconnected from our communities and even ourselves.

My own political philosophy doesn’t go beyond the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness proclaimed as unalienable in the Declaration of Independence.

Maybe we should go back to fundamentals and focus on the happiness factor that has a lot more to do with friends, family, neighbors — in a word, community — and a lot less to do with 80-inch LED television screens and the latest electronic gizmos.

Maybe we should work less and play more. Maybe we don’t need so much money to make us happy.

Maybe if we worked harder at the happiness factor, there would be enough to go around for everyone and just maybe we wouldn’t see massacres in schools or a homeless woman set on fire on a bus bench.

*(Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Daily News and founder of the Saving LA Project, SLAP. Contact him at Ron@RonKayeLA.com. This piece was posted first at [GlendaleNewsPress.com](http://GlendaleNewsPress.com) and at [RonKayeLA.com](http://RonKayeLA.com))*

-cw

CityWatch

Vol 11 Issue 1

Pub: Jan 1, 2013

[![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/ME%20DENTAL%20SPA/me%20dental%202026%20final.jpg)](http://medentalspa.com/)

 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/banners/signup-for-cw.png)

## Get The News In Your Email Inbox Mondays &amp; Thursdays

 Last Name

 [ ![LA DWP #2 (Pay Your Bill Help)](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/LADWP/dwp%20level%20pay%205-7-25.jpg) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/82 "LA DWP #2 (Pay Your Bill Help)")

 [ ![Home - HHR Rent is too High - SB-2](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/HHR/AHF-rent-too-high.jpg) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/104 "Home - HHR Rent is too High - SB-2")

---

##  Featured CityWatch Stories

 [ ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/media/yootheme/cache/bb/062a-bb8ffb47.jpg) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33163:4-4-billion-later-inside-the-broken-machinery-of-los-angeles-homelessness-system&catid=312)

### [ $4.4 Billion Later: Inside the Broken Machinery of Los Angeles’ Homelessness System](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33163:4-4-billion-later-inside-the-broken-machinery-of-los-angeles-homelessness-system&catid=312)

THE BOTTOM LINE - When Karen Bass became mayor of Los Angeles in December 2022, she declared a state of emergency on ho…

 [ ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/media/yootheme/cache/fd/064h-fdb0b507.jpg) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29355:remembering-ken-draper-citywatch-and-transparency-are-his-legacy&catid=12)

### [Remembering Ken Draper: CityWatch and Transparency Are his Legacy](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29355:remembering-ken-draper-citywatch-and-transparency-are-his-legacy&catid=12)

LA WATCHDOG - Ken Draper, the editor and publisher of CityWatch for more than 20 years, passed away on August 8, 2022…

 [ ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/media/yootheme/cache/0f/061a-0f1ada2f.jpg) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33148:brace-yourself-for-a-worse-housing-crisis&catid=398)

### [Brace Yourself For A Worse Housing Crisis](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33148:brace-yourself-for-a-worse-housing-crisis&catid=398)

PLANNING WATCH - The California State Legislature will soon vote on the following draft legislation. Please carefully…

 [ ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/media/yootheme/cache/04/063g-04ad33d5.jpg) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33173:netanyahus-challengers-are-selling-the-same-poison&catid=332)

### [Netanyahu’s Challengers Are Selling The Same Poison](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33173:netanyahus-challengers-are-selling-the-same-poison&catid=332)

SPEAKING OUT - One would think that after October 7 and the Gaza war that followed, the leaders from the main oppositio…

 [ ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/media/yootheme/cache/19/062f-19a66144.jpg) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33162:prolonged-ignorance-of-a-ticking-bomb-does-not-neutralize-it&catid=9)

### [Prolonged Ignorance Of A Ticking Bomb Does Not Neutralize It](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33162:prolonged-ignorance-of-a-ticking-bomb-does-not-neutralize-it&catid=9)

OP/ED - The recent landslide of chemical leaks, fires and extremely dangerous events have proven, without any doubt, th…

---

##  [ ARCHIVE ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=16)

 [ ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Apr-2018/034e.png) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15339:early-intervention-and-jobs-are-key-to-stemming-chronic-homelessness-in-los-angeles&catid=16)### [Early Intervention and Jobs are Key to Stemming Chronic Homelessness in Los Angeles](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15339:early-intervention-and-jobs-are-key-to-stemming-chronic-homelessness-in-los-angeles&catid=16)

### [Tucker Carlson and Gay Rightwinger Blame California Wildfires On Hiring LGBTQ People](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18755:tucker-carlson-and-gay-rightwinger-blame-california-wildfires-on-hiring-lgbtq-people&catid=16)

### [Anti-LGBTQ Veep Just Can’t Stop Talking about Mayor Pete](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17690:anti-lgbtq-veep-just-can-t-stop-talking-about-mayor-pete&catid=16)

 [ ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Apr-2018/033j.png) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15316:news-pulse-corrupt-system-reason-for-not-voting-in-2018-majority-wants-more-than-two-parties&catid=16)### [NEWS PULSE: ‘Corrupt System’ Reason for Not Voting in 2018 … Majority Wants More Than Two Parties](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15316:news-pulse-corrupt-system-reason-for-not-voting-in-2018-majority-wants-more-than-two-parties&catid=16)

 [ ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2016/1404d.png) ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10245:dead-dog-set-on-fire-sparks-fears-for-strays-in-los-angeles&catid=16)### [Dead Dog Set on Fire … Sparks Fears for Strays in Los Angeles](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10245:dead-dog-set-on-fire-sparks-fears-for-strays-in-los-angeles&catid=16)

   [![citywatch logo](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/joomlart/cwlogo.png)](https://www.citywatchla.com/)

- [](https://www.youtube.com/CityWatchLosAngeles)
- [](https://www.facebook.com/CityWatchLA/)

---

If you only give once a month, would you consider giving to CityWatch? Your support fuels our mission to promote and facilitate civic engagement and neighborhood empowerment, and to hold area government and its politicians accountable. **Would you like to help? Even if you can only give $5, it will make a difference.** [Click here to give.](https://www.citywatchla.com/donate)

---

---

© ~ CityWatch: Politics. Perspective. Participation. Built by [JSM](https://www.jasonscottmontoya.com)

- [ Home ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=teline-copy:blank&id=8&Itemid=113)
- [ Advertise ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1614&Itemid=242)
- [ Contact ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1561&Itemid=243)
- [ Featured Writers ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=384&Itemid=244)
- [ About CityWatch ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1560&Itemid=374)
- [ Search ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_finder&view=search&Itemid=392)
- [ Donate ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_jdonation&view=donation&campaign_id=1&Itemid=511)

 [](#)

Back to Top
<div data-id="1" 
	class="eb-inst eb-hide eb-emailform eb-1 eboxContentLocker"
	data-options='{"trigger":"onPageLoad","trigger_selector":"","delay":3000,"early_trigger":true,"scroll_depth":"percentage","scroll_depth_value":80,"firing_frequency":1,"reverse_scroll_close":true,"threshold":0,"close_out_viewport":false,"exit_timer":1000,"idle_time":10000,"close_on_esc":false,"animation_open":"slideInDown","animation_close":"fadeOutDown","animation_duration":400,"disable_page_scroll":true,"test_mode":false,"debug":false,"ga_tracking":true,"ga_tracking_id":"G-P16BQ7X1SW","ga_tracking_event_category":"EngageBox","ga_tracking_event_label":"Box #1 - Global Email Signup Form","auto_focus":false}'
	data-type='popup'
	>

	<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-outside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>
	<div class="eb-dialog eb-formVer" role="dialog" aria-modal="true" id="dialog1" aria-label="dialog1">
		
		<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-inside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>	
		<div class="eb-container">
						<div class="eb-content">
				
<form action="https://citywatchla.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=34d69f33624fd058ee9b56516&amp;id=4bfa422f51&amp;f_id=00d6c2e1f0" class="eb" method="post" id="mcform-1" name="mcform-1" target="_blank">
			<div class="eb-form-header"><p><img src="/images/2023/06/be-a-city-watcher.png" alt="be a city watcher" width="350" height="97" loading="lazy" data-path="local-images:/2023/06/be-a-city-watcher.png"></p>
<p>Sign up to receive our special e-news blasts on Monday and Thursday evenings!</p></div>
	
					<div class="eb-field-row">

			
			
			
			<input class="eb-input" type="email" name="EMAIL"  placeholder="Email address"  id="EMAIL" value="" required>

			
		</div>
										
	<div class="eb-footer">
    	<button class="eb-btn" type="submit" name="subscribe" style="background-color:rgba(93, 183, 93, 1);color:rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">
    		Sign up    	</button>
    </div>
</form>			</div>
		</div>
	</div>	
</div>
<div data-id="3" 
	class="eb-inst eb-hide eb-yesno eb-3 "
	data-options='{"trigger":"onScrollDepth","trigger_selector":"","delay":0,"early_trigger":false,"scroll_depth":"percentage","scroll_depth_value":80,"firing_frequency":2,"reverse_scroll_close":false,"threshold":0,"close_out_viewport":false,"exit_timer":1000,"idle_time":1000,"close_on_esc":false,"animation_open":"fadeInUp","animation_close":"fadeOut","animation_duration":300,"disable_page_scroll":false,"test_mode":false,"debug":false,"ga_tracking":true,"ga_tracking_id":"G-P16BQ7X1SW","ga_tracking_event_category":"EngageBox","ga_tracking_event_label":"Box #3 - Yes \/ No Donation Popup Box","auto_focus":false}'
	data-type='popup'
	>

	<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-outside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>
	<div class="eb-dialog " role="dialog" aria-modal="true" id="dialog3" aria-label="dialog3">
		
		<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-inside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>	
		<div class="eb-container">
						<div class="eb-content">
				
<div class="ebox-yes-no">
	<div class="ebox-yn-text">
		
		
		<div class="ebox-yn-headline" style="font-size:22px;color:#888888">
			<p>If you only give once a month, would you consider giving to CityWatch?</p>
<p>Your support fuels our mission to promote and facilitate civic engagement and neighborhood empowerment, and to hold area government and its politicians accountable.</p>
<p>Would you like to help? Even if you can only give $5, it will make a difference.</p>		</div>
			</div>
	
	<div class="ebox-ys-buttons" style="font-size: 16px;">
		
<a
					data-ebox-prevent="0"
		data-ebox-cmd="close"
				target="_self"
		href="https://www.citywatchla.com/donate"
		rel="noopener"
	
	
	
	
	class="ebox-ys-btn"
	style="background-color:#2ec664;color:#ffffff;min-width:100px">
	Yes
	</a>
<a
	
	
			data-ebox-cmd="close"
		href="#"
	
	
	class="ebox-ys-btn"
	style="background-color:#ef2345;color:#ffffff;min-width:100px">
	Not Right Now
	</a>	</div>

	</div>			</div>
		</div>
	</div>	
</div>