-By Frank Hyland
No one is asking public officials THE key question from our standpoint, yours and mine. As you hear and see and read about the discussions on the budget, whether local, state, or federal, ask yourself if THE question fits my description as the “key” question. That question is, simply, “Where will the money come from?” It is very simple and straightforward, easy to respond to unless the other person is trying to deceive. And pay no attention to any public official who says, “This is a complicated situation.” Whether it is just you, you and your family, your county, state or nation, NO ONE can endlessly spend money that they have not earned. If you borrow money, you can tell your Congressman or President (as soon as you get one), whether it is on a credit card or from a bank, you MUST repay it at some point. If you did what the Federal Government does in these situations – print more money – you would be imprisoned for counterfeiting. Notwithstanding what “they” tell us over and over, their problem is no more complicated than our family budgets.
So when labor union activists in Wisconsin (and every other state) say that we are balancing the budget “on the backs of the middle class,” THE question should follow: “Where will you get the money from for the raises?” When US Senators and/or Congressmen/Congresswomen tell us we must go along with an earmark that delivers millions of your tax dollars to study the sex habits of worms or the smell emanating from pig farms, THE question should follow. When the make-believe president tells us that we must “invest” in solar power and wind power, THE question should follow. Actually, the make-believe president should explain where the money comes from to fly his Personal Trainer from Chicago to Washington every week.
There are, indeed, legitimate uses for our tax dollars. Who decides on the legitimacy, though, has changed over time and now not only are you not asked your opinion (except in the voting booth) but you are excluded from the deliberations while they meet behind closed doors to make the decisions. There comes a time, though, when the “Pork” begins to smell so strongly that surprising discoveries are made: One government, but with 80 programs for economic development, 100 programs for surface transportation, seven departments and agencies working on U.S.-Mexican border water quality and 20 involved in managing federal cars, trucks and airplanes. There are some two dozen presidential appointees who are running programs to prevent bioterrorism, 15 agencies with responsibility for food safety, 44 different programs offering employment and training programs, 54 programs for financial literacy (and not one member of Congress or the White House in attendance), 82 programs aimed at improving teacher quality, and 18 responsible for food assistance to Americans.
Until THE answer to THE key question becomes a reflexive response on the part of everyone who seeks entry to your pocketbook, you and I need to remind our public officials over and over by asking them THE question.
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Frank Hyland is a long-time Writer/Editor who has written for The New Media Alliance, and also for The Reality Check and has appeared weekly on Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Conservatism on Sunday evenings on Blog Talk Radio, along with Babe Huggett and Warner Todd Huston.