The Founding Fathers on the Budget Deal
- Imagine Them Having Their Say
By Ed Moser
February 2018
PERMALINK
The Founders would be much disturbed by the recent budget-busting budget pushed by both parties in Congress and signed by the President. While hiking expenditures by $130 billion, not even an attempt was made at debating or slashing the huge waste in the federal agencies. At a time of massive deficits.
They might note that the British Empire they defeated, as well as the French and Spanish Empires, not to mention the Roman Empire, all lost their Empires after going broke from mammoth expenditures and debt.
This new budget gives no play to personal responsibility or fiscal or strategic sense. It has large increases for children’s healthcare programs, even though until recently that subject was the duty of parents. And large increases for the military, even though a forthcoming Pentagon audit is expected to show great amounts of largesse. (Better to spend a certain amount on heightening readiness, while rooting out the waste.) It will mean more borrowing from our adversaries the Chinese regime, putting us even more in their thrall. And it sends to the trash heap the minor spending caps that had been in place.
Coming on the heels of the budget is an infrastructure proposal that would expend another $200 billion in federal funds. Far better to clear away, as planned, the federal red tape holding up state, local, and municipal roads, airports, and bridges, and use the funds for debt reduction.
The budget busting follows on a significant tax cut. Yet, as students of U.S. history, the Founders note that tax cuts (under Jefferson, Monroe, Harding, Eisenhower, JFK but not LBJ, and Reagan) have worked when paired with budget cuts/caps, but have failed (Bush II’s 2007 mortgage bank bust) when they aren’t.
The national debt stands at $21 trillion, and the other obligations and bills coming due for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA add about another $100 trillion--all piled on future generations without asking their consent. And just wait until interest rates rise, sending the budget deficit much higher, gobbling up needed monies and triggering recession.
A complete lack of leadership and vision, a national disgrace.
Both parties take turns raiding the Treasury, stealing from those not yet born, and bankrupting the nation.
- “When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic.” – Ben Franklin
- “First by inflation, then by deflation, the [government] banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property, until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” – Thomas Jefferson
- "There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt." -- John Adams
Ed Moser was a speechwriter to President George H. W. Bush and writer for Jay Leno's The Tonight Show. Ed's latest work is an e-book, a political satire called, Foundering Fathers: What Jefferson, Franklin, and Abigail Adams Saw in Modern D.C.!