“Blessed are the young people, for they will inherit the national debt.” – Herbert Hoover
“I’d rather go to bed without dinner than get into debt.” -Benjamin Franklin
Eighteen Republican senators voted for the monstrosity known as the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill, thus forever giving up their claim to membership in a party that strives for less spending, smaller government and personal responsibility.
The 4,100-page publication, which I almost guarantee no one has read in its entirety, contains more pork than Porky Pig has on his obese body.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is among the few calling on his colleagues to organize a spending orgy, though few seem to care as long as they get their share of the largesse. In his annual “Festival Report,” Senator Paul lists some of the financial sins committed by Congress. They include what he called “a waste of $482,276,543,907, including a steroid-induced hamster fighting club, a study to see if children love their pets, and a study of romantic designs of parrots and coffee machines for the Pentagon.”
This is just for starters.
The Conservative Heritage Foundation lists even more.
$1.2 million for “LGBTQIA+ Pride Centers” and another $1.2 million for “DACA recipient support services” (that is, taxpayer-funded migrant assistance) at San Diego Community College.
$477,000 for the Equity Institute in Rhode Island to equip teachers with “virtual anti-racism labs.”
$1 million for Zora’s House in Ohio, a “coworking and social space” for “gendered women and people of color.”
$3 million for the American LGBTQ+ Museum in New York.
$3.6 million for Michelle Obama’s trail in Georgia.
$750,000 for “LGBTQ and gender non-conforming housing” in Albany, New York
$2 million for the Great Black Wax Museum in Baltimore.
$856,000 for an “LGBTQ Center” in New York.
$750,000 to the “TransLatin@ Coalition” to provide “workforce development programs and support services for transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex immigrant (TGI) women in Los Angeles.”
No wonder they waited until after the election to enact what Heritage rightly calls “a betrayal of the wishes of American voters” expressed at the ballot box. Can anyone who voted for this embarrassment explain why this is even the federal government’s responsibility? Bonus question: With debt at $32 trillion and rising, is there a red line that members wouldn’t cross? In other words, is there any limit to their spending? How much more debt would they accept?
As noted in previous columns, no nation has ever been able to survive this level of public debt. Taxpayers’ money is being wasted, as is the money we borrow (and print) from other countries. This is the main cause of inflation, which hurts the purchasing power of most Americans. We ignore the powerful “waste not, want not” adage that accompanied Americans of the World War II generation. They were called “great” for this and other reasons that we also ignore.
18 Republican senators resigned, as they always do, out of fear of a government shutdown. This is a perennial threat from Democrats, who operate the media to present a choice between keeping the government open or denying seniors Social Security checks. This has always been a false choice, but few point it out.
Until voters adopt an entitlement mentality and vote for people who won’t stop spending, we will be “another day older and more in debt,” as the old song goes. It was said that if we did not stop spending, we would pass the debt on to future generations. It’s sheltered to say now that if this doesn’t end, there may be no future generations of Americans as we know them.
