Reckless Spending

Reckless Spending

Jonathan Ingram

The Federal Government recklessly spends money. I’m sure I am not the only one to have noticed. This is not news. It has been so for decades. However, the rate of government spending has increased dramatically in the last ten years. This year alone, the U.S. Government is on pace to spend about $6 trillion, with almost $2 trillion of that expected to be deficit spending. Such spending is unsustainable and will ruin the American economy.

To understand the enormity of the problem is to understand the scale of the numbers. Trillion is not a figure that is easily grasped. Breaking these numbers down should help.

The population of the U.S. is roughly 300 million. Of those, about 200 million Americans are working age. With $6 trillion in spending and a population of 300 million, the government is spending around $20,000 per person. That is $20,000 per man, woman, and child in the country. The numbers get worse when examining the spending per working aged adult, $30,000 per worker. With two workers per household, the average tax burden per household for Federal spending alone is $60,000. But the median household income in the U.S. is only $50,000! How is this possible?

Median is not the same as mean. The "average" income in the U.S. is higher than the median income because some people earn much more than others. In order to pay the bills, or rather to pay $4 trillion of this year’s $6 trillion, Americans who earn higher incomes are taxed much more heavily than those who earn less. I don’t intend to write about the merits of progressive, regressive, or flat taxation. Taxing those that make more money at a higher rate may not be a problem. However, many Americans pay no Federal Income Tax at all (most do pay Social Security and Medicare taxes). Many actually get money from the Federal Government. They are on the dole. Now, I’m not cheering for more taxes. I wish that all American’s who paid taxes paid less, and I don’t want those who don’t pay taxes to have to pay more either. However, having those who pay no taxes vote for the leaders who determine our economic policies is foolish.

Now don’t think that I am attacking the poor. Some poor people are competent and principled voters. Even those who vote for candidates that promise them more – more money, more services, more of everything – are only acting rationally. No, I blame the system and those who manipulate it. I blame the politicians and their pimps who pander to the poor.

Getting elected takes money and politicians know how to get it. They cozy up with big businesses, lobbyists, and well heeled special interest groups in order to get the money to win a campaign. They then tailor their campaigns to appeal to the large portion of the citizenry that is on the take. This is true whether it is President Bush promising to leave no child behind, sending out tax rebate checks, and bailing out the banks, or if it is President Obama promising socialized medicine and a college education for all while bailing out the car companies and the banks. They pander to slightly different groups, but by and large, Republicans and Democrats are alike. It is the system that is broken.

Politicians are bought and paid for by special interests. Pandering determines the outcome of political elections. Out of control government spending is the inevitable result. Voting is not a viable way to change policy because of the flaws in the system – getting elected takes lots of money, which makes politicians beholden to special interest groups, and lots of promises for votes, which ensure more spending. So what is a concerned Southerner to do? Make your voice heard through an alternate institution, the Southern National Congress.

The Southern National Congress is a forum to give voice to Southerners who realize that they are not well represented by Washington politicians. The forum is composed of delegations from each of fourteen Southern States. The delegates are not elected by popular vote. Rather they are volunteers who meet a limited number of requirements. Why should you or any other American take seriously a body composed of members who are not elected democratically? Precisely because they are not elected in such a process. As shown above, the democratic process in its current form in these United States has led to the control of government by well backed special interests that demagogue to the masses. The Southern National Congress on the other hand is a place for those who believe free men should act in their national interest.

The Southern National Congress recognizes the danger posed by the current system. In the initial meeting of the Congress, December 5 – 7 in Hendersonville North Carolina, the Congress remonstrated against run away spending and the system that has produced it. The present crisis threatens a catastrophe more encompassing and ruinous than the Great Depression, yet the only “cure” we are offered is more of the disease itself: massive inflation, huge bailouts, and astronomical government spending. These will only prolong and deepen the crisis and destroy the dollar, and with it, the South’s remaining wealth.