“We need to spit out our federally issued pacifiers; it’s not a good look for anyone over the age of two.” – Government Gone Wild
On December 23, Senator Rand Paul released his annual 2024 Festivus Report, named after the secular holiday rivaling Christmas. Since Festivus includes an airing of grievances for the past year, Rand too, provides his biggest disappointment in government spending for 2024 in a 2000-page report. Noting over 1 trillion in waste, fraud, and abuse, Rand highlights some of the most outrageous spending including 7 million for magic projects, 10 million on cat experiments, and 20 million for a new Sesame Street Show in Iraq.
In addition to opening the eyes of Americans to government malfeasance, Rand’s report will go far in returning the United States to its early promise of constitutional government when DOGE, Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, run by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, begins dismantling the bureaucracy that created so much debt, to start with, namely, the 36 trillion in accumulated debt and annual deficits of nearly another 2 trillion per year. While DOGE is not a federal executive department, Musk, and Ramaswamy will advise Congress and the Office of Budget and Management (OMB) on programs for elimination due to the flagrant misuse of funds. Since 55 percent of the federal budget is for entitlement programs, DOGE’s influence may be limited. What they can do to rein costs under Trump’s second term may be the best we can hope for.
In Kristin Tate’s 2016 book, “Government Gone Wild”, Tate recounts how Constitutional government has gone awry, growing its budgets and power in perverse ways. From unauthorized wars, unlawful surveillance, illegitimate overspending, and overregulation, Uncle Sam has exceeded its authority in every conceivable way. Using a libertarian lens, Tate summarizes government interference in our lives, from failing schools, bankrupt cities, a deteriorating VA, crime, debt, and deficits.
What started as a promise of autonomy and the freedom to every American citizen to sink or swim, must be reclaimed. Returning to a government without federal safety nets means returning to personal responsibility and the American pioneering spirit that brought us unprecedented wealth. Restoring freedom of association, expression, and religion will enable citizens to choose their associations, express their views, and decide on services like baking a cake. Restoring federalism and states' rights requires decentralizing the federal government. There is no better time to turn back the tide, the time for DOGE is now.
The libertarian ideal of doing what you want as long as you don’t infringe on another’s rights was the founder’s dream. For example, using recreational drugs may not be for everyone, and indeed, may not even be good, but denying the constitutional right to act badly has only resulted in a war on drugs that grows the government, drains the Treasury, puts too many non-violent people in jail, and created the mafia, cartels that destroy lives. Today, most drug arrests are for possession only. A return to the legalization of all drugs will result in greater safety for those who choose to indulge while subjecting the consequences of the ensuing behavior to all the laws currently in effect for alcohol. Regulated drugs are safer drugs, making the seller subject to lawsuits if the product is defective. As we have already seen, making something illegal doesn’t stop the demand. And, in fact, drug legalization in many states has spurred positive results with less crime, fewer arrests, and less unemployment.
While protecting American citizens and their borders is a constitutional mandate, the military as we know it has become an abomination. From policing the world, invading sovereign countries, and creating undue animosity towards Americans, America’s military has also exceeded its bounds. As one of the top three highest budget items, all too often the military has been used for imperialist intentions while failing our veterans at every turn.
Ending the federal department is an easy DOGE move. An unconstitutional overreach of the federal government, the Department of Education has become more of a jobs program expanding its employment, than a purveyor of education. Since its inception, America has dropped from first in the world in education to 24th. Once education is returned to its proper authority at the state and local level, with added competition through charter, private, religious, etc., we can expect to see America make its way back to the top of the world stage.
By not allowing entrepreneurs to pursue their economic happiness, government interference through licensing, taxes, and regulations, has resulted in lower growth, less innovation, and loss of autonomy for millions of Americans. Capitalists, those who have mortgaged their homes to start their businesses, should be allowed to make the rules and let the market provide the consequences. The stars of capitalism reside primarily on Main Street, whether it is Joe’s Garage or Betty’s Bakery, they are Americans who freely entered a market full of competition in a free economy, hoping to provide the best product or service. Government interference, in fact, encourages black markets and playing outside the rules of the game, while taxation discourages success and subsidizes sloth. A nation with millionaires and billionaires is a sign of a healthy economy where resources are being put to their best use.
Instead, a nanny state has resulted in a slacker nation willing to accept free money in exchange for votes, discourages work, and creates a dependency on the lures of government. Tate notes how 10 years ago, the federal government spent 800 million dollars through 92 separate programs to help the poor, with little evidence of improvement. Expansion of eligibility is being implemented to grow the state and attract more takers, which now increasingly includes illegal immigrants. The growing debt makes the future more unstable by producing less growth, less wealth, and less freedom for its citizens. Interference in retirement by requiring participation in social security, and in health care by controlling coverage, and costs, has led to a one-size-fits-all-all approach that ignores the diverse needs of a diverse nation.
The more the government spends, the fewer jobs, economic growth, and wealth for society. We must be left alone to flourish or fail. Did the wake-up call on November 5, 2024 finally come? DOGE will help answer that question.
Comments