Whose Money?
"...struggle with the Republican-controlled Congress over how to
spend the federal government's money." (italics mine) These were
the media's words but reflect President Clinton's recent statements that the government
could return surplus tax revenues to taxpayers but we would not spend it correctly. His
latest statement was that the tax cut passed by Congress was "too big, too bloated,
places too great a burden on America's economy..."
To begin with, the federal government does not have any money; it is the
taxpayer's money given to them (some would say - taken from us) to spend for services
allowed by the Constitution and needed for the public security. Second, if anything is too
bloated and too big it is our present government, and this applies down to the local
level. And last, any student of Economics 101 learns that it is the government sector, not
the private sector, that burdens the economy by producing no economically stimulating
goods or services.
The liberal idea that government knows what is best for us and can be trusted to
make the wisest decisions is rampant in the media, academia, and of course government
itself. It is also alive and well "right here in River City" as seen by the
actions of our city and county elected officials to continually increase the size of our
government and make major decisions without regard for the input of citizens.
Someone once said "all politics is local". Right here is where we need
to begin to reverse these liberal ideas and get involved in giving government back to the
people.
Fred Bergmann
e-mail: fjberg@arc.net
