Tsunami Victims Benefit Most from U.S. Citizenry

CFP ^ | January 4, 2004 | Nancy Savato

[MikeEdwards]

The intention of the framers of the U.S. Constitution was to create a strong federal government, limited in authority by specific enumerated powers divided among three separate branches of government; providing a built in system of checks and balances. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the people authorized the government to tax and spend their hard earned dollars on whatever the government deems is best for the country. No, their authority was to be concerned with things such as; treaties with foreign governments, providing for the defense for our citizens, protecting the citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and property...and other stuff like that.

So, it continually amazes me when the citizenry of this country act on the belief that the government should collect roughly 1/3 of our paychecks to spend on that which often doesn't concern the laborer from which the taxed income is dependent or which could be better taken care of by the citizenry themselves. There were two glaring examples of this in the news today, one of which is the emergency aid being allocated to the victims of the Tsunami and one has to do with the insolvency of the United Airlines pension fund.

To think that the President of the United States was called stingy because of the amount of money he initially pledged to the Tsunami victims on behalf of our country is unconscionable. He showed great fiscal restraint by giving a figure of 15 million dollars, knowing full well that money would be forthcoming through the thousands of private contributions from individuals and businesses across the United States. And what better way is there to get something accomplished quickly and efficiently but through private capitalistic enterprise? Thousands of people have already donated millions of dollars . . . . .