Mmmm… Barbeque
Well, it’s time to trot on down to the “Omnibus Barbeque Pit” for a healthy dose of government pork. Who’s comin with me? It’s all you can eat, all the time! I mean, seriously folks, how else would they dispose of all the extra pork in that place?
Well, now we know. Attached hereto is a list of the top 20 “Porkers” in the senate, taken from a database compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense. I have modified the list slightly (added party and state) and deleted empty columns, but have not altered or skewed the raw data in any way.
You will see that the pork is actualy spread around both the left and right side of the table, and has been generously dished out all the way around. Does this surprise us? No, probably not. Should it concern us? Yer damn right it should. What is all this money paying for? Do we as citizens get to look at any of this before we get to pay for it? Well, I suppose we can wait for the media to tell us what all these earmarks are… nevermind. Most of us won’t live that long. I guess we could go look it up, or even call your congressman to see what’s in it. Of course, all of that is fairly reactionary in nature. How about a proactive path?
Here’s a thought: How about a constitutional ammendment that prohibits any expenditure in a Federal Budget or Spending bill that is not vital to the function of the federal government? WHAT??! Slow down the pork? You betcha. Slow down the whole system? Absolutely. Cut the federal budget in half? Amen.
Would it not be much more pallatable to the citizenry of the United States to have every expenditure of Federally collected money (note I said collected, since it is actually YOUR money) individually approved by our representatives so that we have a much more valid expression of OUR will in congress? Remember that ‘Bridge to Nowhere’? How do you think that would have fared as an idividual bill? Probably never would have seen it’s way out of committee… which is how it SHOULD be. If every one of these bills had to be individually approved, most of this garbage would disappear overnight simply because there isn’t enough time to look at all of it. The very fact that irrelevant line items can be added to whatever legislation happens to be running through the congress at the time is an affront to the very idea of tranparency of governance. Don’t put a million dollar line item for a museum in a veterans affairs bill just so that it will HAVE to be passed. That is deceitful at best (I use the above listed scenario merely as an illustration of what usually happens).
Nowhere in the constitution does it describe the far-reaching role that our national government has taken (again, note I said ‘taken’, not ‘been given’). Of course, most of this garbage would be stuffed into the ‘general welfare’ clause. Not that any of it ‘promotes the general welfare’ as the preamble to the Constitution states. Most of it encourages the disbursement of even more ‘welfare’ to the dependent class, or merely affects the ‘welfare’ of a politician’s chances at re-election. Why do you think that the government assistance program is called “Welfare”? Could it have been an underhanded way of justifying it under the constitution? Wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
Our government is nothing more than a game. It has been that way for a long time, and I doubt very much that it will change, so long as our nation stands. Should we the people, though, not continue to show our outrage at this type of irresponsible behavior? It is your duty to be outraged. My Senators are #66 and #79 on the full list, which is still higher than #99 and #100, where they should be.
Until Federal spending is brought under strict control, nothing will change and this nation will continue on its downward path to irrelevance and weakness. Any pork is too much. The government of this country owes us an explanation and a full accounting of every dime that they take from us. Anything less is a failure to uphold the confidence of the citizenry. Successful and responsible leadership depends on men and women of character and integrity. If that were the case, none of this under the table spending would even be an issue. That is why elections matter. Only the best, brightest and most upstanding should be given the mantle of governance. It is, short of joining the Armed Forces, the best way to defend the Constitution of the United States.
Oh and for all you government types out there… If I want pork in my neighborhood, I’ll head to Williamson Bros.