USA: The Federal Government’s Responsibility
The precepts America was founded on are Individual Liberty, Freedom of Choice and the Opportunity for All to Succeed. Our fathers and mothers fought and won the battle to establish these as rights for every American citizen. We, Americans of all races & creeds, have defeated monarchs and dictators throughout the years all over the world to help establish the same rights for those that are downtrodden and egregiously treated. Our ethos is to: work hard, protect our family, defend the country and provide for those less well off. At least that is what many of us were raised to do.
This is being broken down. While the often quoted “over half of the population gets a governmental hand out.” is inflated with those that earned their benefit, a significant part of our population is dependent on the government taking money from someone that earned it and giving it to someone who didn’t. Many of us want to help those that are having a hard time: but, most of us would rather teach them to fish, not just give them the fish. Virtually all of us want those that earned their checks (social security, Medicare, government retirees, injured veterans and military retirees) to keep getting them.
Somehow we must re-instill into those that use the system to get something for nothing a desire to earn their own way. During the current economic downturn, we must continue to provide the safety net to keep those in need housed and fed. However, the best/ only way out of the morass is to get Americans working. As was proven after the last great recession (unemployment: 7.5%, inflation: 13%, mortgage rates: 21.5%), lowering taxes provided the money for businesses to invest. This resulted in more jobs for millions which created more dollars for the workers to enhance their standard of living and more money to be taken by the government in taxes. For the majority of the post Reagan years, most of the people’s money was spent on programs that had been established over many years and provide support the American workers and families.
In the last few years, this trust has been broken. This should not be a Democrat, Republican, Tea Party or Libertarian issue. This is a Common Sense issue. We, the tax payer, cannot spend more than we take in. Sure in the short run we can run up our credit cards. But, at the end of the day we have to pay what we owe. The Government is made up of people we hired and are obligated to follow the same rules we are. Most of the Cities, Counties and States are beginning to reign in their overspending: ie. live within their budget. The Federal Government is not. Even though we hear the President and Congress talk about “cutting the budget” they are only passing very small limits to the rapid expansion of the budget.
The Federal government is tasked with very few duties. The bottom line is to protect the country and regulate interstate trade.
