Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 03/02/2005 11:27:09 AM PST by jmc813
In 1994, I packed my suitcase and went to Washington with dreams of changing the world. For the class of 55 GOP freshmen elected that year, the unifying goal was to bring fiscal discipline to the federal government.
For a time, that dream seemed achievable. We balanced the budget within just a few years, reformed welfare, and brought new levels of efficiency to Congress and to many agencies in Washington's byzantine bureaucracy.
Oh, what a difference a decade makes.
Here we are in 2005. Like an out of control consumer who cuts up his credit cards, pays off his debt, and immediately digs a new, deeper hole, the federal government is back in the red - big time. We're spending on everything from B-2 bombers to Viagra for Medicare recipients to indoor rainforests in Iowa.
The deficit is back with a vengeance, Social Security is slowly going bankrupt. And, once again, we're leaving our kids to pay the bill.
So, what happened to those class of '94 revolutionaries? Like me, many are now doing something else. Even the jefe maximo of the Republican revolution, Newt Gingrich, is spending his time on the speaking and consulting circuit. Official Washington has no appetite for change, so it's no surprise many of us don't work there anymore.
Other budget cutters from that class of '94 now show signs of becoming budget busters, according to a recent analysis by the National Taxpayers Union. Instead of fighting the red ink, they're seeing how much deficit spending they can direct toward their districts.
In a sense, it's hard to blame them. Playing outsider on bill after bill gets you little more than sleepless nights, bad hometown press, retribution from party leaders, difficult re-election battles and fewer lucrative job offers when you leave Congress.
The key problem is that many in Congress think of themselves as representatives but rarely as statesmen. The only way to survive over the long term is to cater to the wishes of their constituencies. And the American public has sent them the same, clear message they've been sending for generations: Open the spending tap as wide as possible, consequences (and rhetoric to the contrary) be damned.
What are the consequences? The simple fact is that if you're a taxpayer under the age of about 40, you're getting the worst financial deal that any generation of Americans has ever received from the government. Your taxes are high now, and they're only going to get higher. Your parents and grandparents will benefit from government-funded health care and retirement stipends, and you'll be left to fend for yourself. The high level of services the government currently provides will drop off as revenues decrease and spending rises. Fiscally, it's the equivalent of being the designated driver and still picking up the bar tab.
If the next generation of Americans wants to change this situation, there are at least three things they have to do. First, get involved in politics as a voter and, more importantly, as an activist. So long as our system is dominated by voters who drive late-model Cadillacs, get a 15 percent senior's discount at Shoney's and never miss an election, it's their interests that are going to get attention, not yours.
Second, don't let your opinions about a single divisive social issue - whether it's gun control, abortion or gay marriage - blind you to the reality that your pocket is being picked no matter what your ideology.
And finally, don't become so wedded to a party label that it obscures the fact that big spenders in Washington spend hugely regardless of party label.
"However, if there had been a conservative third party candidate who wasn't completely pathetic, and had managed to gather near 10% of the vote nationally (as I believe Perot did) "
Hey, you voted for That Giant Sucking Sound, not me. I liked Bush the Elder and was proud to vote for him twice. My vote in GA, where Bush won handily, meant nothing in this election.
*chuckles*
Thanks, never been accused of that before. What a refreshing change of pace :)
Barr ping.
Sorry, I don't mean to sound adversarial. It just seems like we've exhausted our respective points. I think we agree on some things. But I don't think I will ever come to agreement with you on this issue that the debt should not be addressed at all. Still, I think it would boost economic confidence if it were addressed effectively, even if in a limited manner.
Fascinating. Could you provide us details of Barr's "paid ACLU" prostitution? Maybe you'd also like to include details of his "paid ACU" prostitution,too?
Or is this one of your pseudo-conservative drive-bys? ;-)
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Telling the truth always causes trouble. What else is new ? Governmet spending has risen almost 25% in little over 4 years. How long can that pace last ?
I like many, as you are doing judge people by their actions, not by their words or the type of clothes they wear aka (r) or (d).
The best argument I have seen for the large federal spending in the last few years is that without it the Democrats would have come to power. Like could Kerry have picked up 100k more votes in Ohio if Bush had no perscription drug plan, and it was the centerpiece of the Kerry campaign?
He probably would have.. but if we are constantly moving towards more socialism, more bureaucracy etc.. (like its amazing these sociology professors still have their 120k a year jobs)
If we truly can't push to limit those things in a democracy, then honestly I for one, begin to question democracy's usefulness itself.
The theory is, you must kill it to save it ?
Ya I was reading one thing that I dont' know if it is completely true, but when America was created in the first place..
The president was chosen by electoral college members who were selected by state legislators. Senators were selected by state govenors. Congress was the only area chosen by the people. And it was to be in session 2 weeks out of every year.
And the people who voted for those congressmen were only wealthy white male land owners. If only land owners voted, let alone only male the government would be amazingly more right wing then it is now.
Anyway what is the point of people voting? It should be to keep life, liberty and property. Not so that we can have mob rule of the biggest mob getting to push around individuals or smaller groups.
Like right now the biggest mob on election day is seniors.. I don't think that is what the founding fathers had in mind when they thought of democracy.
"Governmet spending has risen almost 25% in little over 4 years. How long can that pace last ?"
That scares me too. Sometimes government seems like a runaway phenomenon. Like it grows 8% year after year regardless of who comes to power. Now when you have a little government 8% you don't really notice.
But when you have a 2 trillion dollar a year government, 8% a year and you are talking gigantic change every year. And just wait until 10 years later when its a 4 trillion dollar government .. still growing at 8%.
I don't think the founders saw abortion in the future and how it would make the population demographics shift to older people. What a tangled web we weave when we divert from Gods path.
Fooman that is exactly the right points..
The Irish have been among the most successful nations in the western world in the last 20 years. They never cut government... they merely stopped GROWING government.
So as their economy grew, as economies naturally do grow.. especially when you are pro-development:).. bit by bit the relative burden of the government shrinks..
Eg.. Your gdp grows at the US average of 3.2%, but government is staying steady... By 2030 government would only be half as burdensome as it is today. And you wouldn't have to reduce benefits or lay half your army off.
It's about population control, the planet can only take care of so many people. Now that we have eradicated major diseases we are stuck with turning people gay and aborting every other child. There has to be a better way.
I agree and I'm an agnostic. Its sickening to me that we as a society have flushed over 25 million babies down the toilet.
And why do I get the feeling the lefties collecting social security are often the hedonistic who didn't bother having children themselves.. then demand to be taken care of in their old age by other people's children.
I look at it like this.. Your technology just has to advance faster then the population. Eg.. few people know this but America actually retired more farmland then it opened up in the 90's.
And it wasn't just food importing.. the nation was producing more food in 2000 then 1990. But yield per acre was increasing. Better weather prediction, watering, seed lines, fertilizer, faster times to market so less loss etc.And now genetic engineering.
Of course there is another factor. Even if we choose to limit our own numbers, it doesn't mean others will. Eg, our old friends the Mohammedans dont' take kindly to abortion clinics or gay marriage.
Yes. Barr went on the ACLU payroll as a means to influence congressional legislation on privacy issues. By doing so, he adopted the ACLU's position on a right to privacy that only exists from emanating constitutional penumbras created by liberal Supreme Court Justices to justify their decisions that defy the plain intent of the U.S. Constitution.
Or is this one of your pseudo-conservative drive-bys?
I'm sick and tired of people like you assuming that anyone you disagree with who joined Free Republic after you is automatically a liberal. 1. Barr did good work during Clinton's impeachment. 2. He sold out conservative judicial principles when he went on the ACLU payroll. If you want to defend his paid stance in support of nonexistent privacy rights that served as the basis for Roe v. Wade, feel free to do so. Calling me a pseudo-conservative while doing so suggests you're blindly defending Barr based on his congressional work without examining what he has been paid to do by the ACLU.
Hey, you're a "principled" guy.
That's okay. The rest of us have you covered. Kind of the way the US does for Europe or Canda.
Bob Barr speaks the truth
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