Most of you probably try to teach your children a valuable lesson (particularly in these hard economic times) of paying for what you get. You work hard to teach them not to expect to be handed everything they want without having to pay for it in some way. Right? After all, that's the way it is in life.
<insert imaginary video> I walk into a nice restaurant and sit down. I order lobster with all the trimmings. Only problem is, I don't want to pay for it. It's not that I don't have the money. I feel it is my right to eat and they should just give me the food.
Where do you think I would end up...Jail? Mental Facility?
Yet, each and every day I turn on one of the news networks to see what's going on in America and that is exactly what I hear.
People want better schools, better roads, better paying jobs, more police, more fire/rescue, more...more...more...more...more... But, they don't want their taxes to go up. What this looks like to me is a 'gimme' kind of attitude that just won't work. You get what you pay for in life. If you increase expenses but don't increase revenue, then you have to cut something somewhere. So, what gets cut?
The concept of simply 'stop spending' is ludicrous. It can't be done. There are payrolls to make, equipment to buy, bills to pay. What can be done is to take a slow, cautious approach that evaluates everything! Look closely at what works and what doesn't work. Trim those programs that do not work but enhance the ones that do! Create new programs where needed.
Increasing taxes is not always a bad thing. As the cost of payroll, supplies, overhead, building and vehicle maintenance go up, that money has to come from somewhere. If not in taxes, then cuts in the existing system must occur. Cuts in the existing system are going to cost you more in the long run because proper maintenance can't be done and rather than repair items/facilities have to be replaced at a later date.
Running government is not much different from running a family. You only have so much money and you have to spend it wisely. You MUST plan for the future needs of the family. As children grow, the costs of food, clothing, medical, education, etc. all rise. If you don't take the time to invest in these right now, or if you're making the same salary in ten years that you are making today, there could be serious problems.
Then, there is the topic of
EARMARKS. Sure there are the occasional weird earmarks but for the most part those earmarks are what officials at National and State level who represent YOU are trying to get through as items to increase jobs, encourage commerce, enhance tourism...all things that help to boost your local economy. These are frequently used as 'trade-off' items to get votes secured for the passage of the primary bill.
I do not think earmarks are a good thing though. I think there needs to be another process. I suppose that having each and every one of these things go through individually could help, but then that puts the strength in certain hands....the hands doing the voting. Then who decides if money for new businesses/jobs goes to New Jersey, Florida, Missouri, or Virginia (or any other state)? How do you keep such a system simple? Coming up with solutions for this is going to take new ways of thinking.
I think that overall, our government has just gotten too convoluted. We need to simplify things. Yet, at the same time, decisions made must take a systems view and look at not only the immediate project but the long term affects of that project.
All of this is not much different from how a family has to operate. The money invested today needs to be carefully evaluated for the impact it will have in the future. Knee-jerk reactions, reacting rather than responding, may provide some quick fix but these are unlikely to deal with the long-term outcome of problems and solutions.
We need people in political office that are thoughtful, ask questions, and look at all of the things that are affected by their decisions. We also need citizens who understand that you can't get something for nothing. If you want more from your government, you need to give more. This can be in the way of taxes,or in the way of being involved and helping to come up with new and different solutions that save money, or (more likely) a combination of the two.
Guess it all comes back to that old
JFK quote "Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You" speech, or just get ready to deal with being provided less.