Fiscal Responsibility

Assertion: While it is universally understood that credit and debt play an important part in the construction and operation of a vibrant economy, the Government has no constitutional authority to wantonly spend monies from the Treasury on 90% of the programs it currently funds. The truth is, the way the government spends money is completely lacking in any sort of fiduciary responsibility. We must take control of so-called “discretionary spending,” root out fraud, waste and abuse, and do everything we possibly can to achieve some semblance of a balanced and constitution-based budget.

Why This Is Important: As the Federal Government increases spending on a plethora of unconstitutional programs it increases the National debt and destabilizes the National economy, putting America at great risk. Besides the fact that unchecked Congressional spending puts us in economic peril, there is clearly no constitutional mandate for the vast majority of the programs and agencies they fund. The first thing we need to understand is that our government works within the framework of what is called an “annual baseline budget.” This isn’t a terrible thing, in itself, but it does allow our Representatives to assume that every federal program will exist from one year to the next without really looking into the situation. It is further assumed that the funding for these programs will need to be increased each year in order to offset inflation and, naturally, a growing number of enrollees. This lack of oversight means that, year in and year out, we end up funding programs that make little sense, have outlived their usefulness, or are so rife with fraud, waste, and abuse that we would be better served by burning the program funds for heat than chucking it into this black hole of mindless spending.

The Federal Government must be made to manage the National budget much as you and I do with our salaries and the expenses related to running our households, or as businesses do with respect to remaining in business. Why, for example, would the Federal Government spend $1 million for a Lewis and Clark exhibit in Washington state, $14 million in continuing funding for research on the aurora borealis in Alaska, or $1 million to keep the brown tree snake out of Hawaii? Why do we continue to fund the National Weather Service when there are more than 300 private businesses already providing weather forecasting?

Taxpayer money is being spent on a stunning array of government boondoggles and black holes, and we must put an end to the endless, mindless, pointless spending designed to do little more than guarantee the re-election of those who are squandering the resources of the national treasury. We must examine every government department, every government job, and every government subsidy, entitlement program and hand-out, and if it is unconstitutional, or constitutional but doesn’t make sense, we must shut it down.

We are now routinely talking about trillions of dollars when we discuss budgets and deficit spending, and when we talk about cutting a million here, or ten million there, there are those who like to downplay the importance of fiscal responsibility, who like to say "It's just a drop in the bucket." Well, here's a thought that might put things in perspective for those people: You can't convince a raindrop that it is responsible for the flood.

Constitutional Basis: Article I, Section 8 outlines the powers of Congress. Based on the fiduciary responsibilities assigned to the Federal Government, the only bona fide expenditures would, then, strictly involve only those costs incurred in the operation of the Internal Revenue Service, the Commerce Department, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Treasury, the Postal Service, and the Department of Defense.

Quote: "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents...." – James Madison