Just Burn My Money

I really don't have any money to burn, but sometimes I would rather have the government burning my money than spending it. Over the last few months, we have witnessed a wholesale effort by the government to spend our way out of this recession. The problem is that government spending will accomplish little but increase our debt.

"Government spending" is one of the vague phrases used frequently by the media as a blanket label. They include under that umbrella, defense spending, roads, research, welfare and pet projects to name just a few. Sadly however, far too few Americans understand 1)what government spending is and 2)where it comes from. If I could shout one thing from the rooftops to the American public and make them understand one principle, it would be the truth about government spending. The government does not spend one penny that they have not taken from our pockets. Let me restate that for emphasis: every penny spent by the government is taken away from American's wallets. The government does not make money, they do not generate income in any form and they provide nothing of value in return for the services they provide (that being in contrast to services provided in the private sector). I am astonished at how many people don't understand this principle. What's even worse is the idea that it is okay to stick it to the "rich" people, in terms of taxes, if it serves their own selfish purposes. This mentality is crippling our economy, our future and our hope.

If you accepted my challenge on my last post and read the Constitution, you know that the Congress has authority "to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States." If you're a purist, everything beyond that is unconstitutional. Obviously, things have changed a great deal in our country and culture since that time and so has our government's spending obligations. The Constitution authorizes spending for the military, roads and Post Offices. That's it. I'm not suggesting we should go back to that. I have no problem paying some taxes. I am fine with my tax dollars going to the military, roads, Post Offices and general welfare expenses such as fire and police. My problem starts when the government spends beyond those things. One could even make an argument that schools should not be paid for with federal tax dollars. That is a discussion for another day. But the amount of waste and bureaucracy created at the federal levels of government is mind-boggling. Most of that waste is created by the mentality in government circles that they can always get more money, from us or from our future. 

In my world, when we have less money, we spend less. As things have tightened with the economy, we have spent less, like most Americans. When gas prices were over $4 a gallon, we drove less and thought twice before we hopped in the car. How is it that our government can be the complete opposite of that? Our economy is in the tanker, and the best the solution our representatives can come up with is to take more money out of our pockets and spend it. I would like to try that solution sometime, but I'm afraid I'd end up in bankruptcy court. Who does that? Why do we allow our politicians to do that? I would even feel better about it if most of the bailout money was being spent on something useful, like building nuclear power plants. Instead, we're spending money on things like a bridge to connect two campuses at Microsoft. The stimulus package calls for $11 million to be spent towards the building of the bridge. I don't care if they build the bridge. But why on earth would federal tax dollars be spent on a local project? Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world--why am I building a bridge for him? Bill Gates can fund the project, Microsoft can fund the project and Seattle can fund the project if they really want to. This project and many, many others like it are not an appropriate use of federal tax dollars. The very idea that we look to federal funding for every project under the sun is totally opposed to the principles written in to the Constitution. When local projects are funded locally, they are generally only pursued when they have the budgetary means, the real and demonstrable need and local approval and accountability. Once federal tax dollars are distributed there is rarely follow-up or accountability. I don't know about you, but I'm much more likely to spend someone else's money more liberally than I am my own. It's human nature. That is exactly what happens with federal funds. It's wrong. Furthermore, in Section 9 of the Constitution it states "a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time". When was the last time you saw that happen? When was the first?

Here's the bottom line. The government has become entitled and politicians have appointed themselves to be the wisest of the wise, singularly wise enough to spend our money for us. Politicians believe they have the right to take as many tax dollars as they want to pay for projects they have determined we "need". Far too often, these projects are paybacks for political favors or campaign donations and with no accountability or responsibility for how the money is spent, they just keep spending. The problem is that when they take more money away from the people who go to work every day, they limit our ability as citizens to pursue our own happiness. They take money away from entrepreneurs who would create jobs if they could reinvest in their business instead of paying their heavy tax bills. The jobs that are lost then hurt the people that are poorest in our country--part-time employees, single mothers, college students and the uneducated.

When are we going to say "enough"? When are we going to make our voices heard and tell our politicians that it is not okay to be wasteful and frivolous with our hard-earned money? Until they hear from us, loudly and consistently, they will not change. We must make them hear us. My challenge to you this week is to contact all of your state representatives and senators. Remind them to be careful and responsible with YOUR money. Tell them to spend LESS and cut out waste and if they don't, remember that during the next round of elections. We need to actively seek out those who spend our tax dollars as a sacred trust, not as a bottomless piggy bank. There are also "Tea Parties" taking place all across the country during April 2009, most of them on the 15th. Find out where one is happening near you and go. Make your voice heard.

You can find your State Representatives on http://www.house.gov/ and your Senators on http://senate.gov. You can e-mail them directly from those websites. They are debating Pres. Obama's trillion dollar budget right now. Please voice your opinion.