Congress has a bad habit of passing unfunded mandates upon the states. They require the states to make expenditures, or require certain conditions from the states in exchange for federally funded programs. This undermines the States authority and sovereignty, and usurps powers that are not granted to the federal Congress, in violation of the 9th and 10th amendments.
Congress takes money through federal taxation and spends it on many projects at local and state levels. In order for States to qualify for these federally funded programs, State and local governments must apply to federal bureaucrats for federal grants, we must follow federal laws written by the Congress (often proposed and passed with no support from our own representatives) along with regulations put forth by unelected bureaucrats in various federal departments. If we please all the powers that be, and luck is with us, we get a grant of our own tax dollars that we can spend, subject to the rules and restrictions, on our local project. This causes the federal budget to grow out of control as expenditures on local projects require more and more federal tax dollars. Further, this undermines local sovereignty and usurps powers that are not delegated to the Congress, in violation of the 9th and 10th amendments.
The Proposed Solution: A Federalism tax credit more ...
Obama Agenda Survey (RNC fund raising package, and my response) Yesterday, I received a fundraising plea from the Republican National Committee. It included a letter from Chairman Michale Steele, and this survey, which I found most curious. I thought I would share the survey, along with my replies. more...
Think of the American people as the frogs. And Washington DC as the kitchen. Over the years (many many years, like since at least the 1930s, perhaps since the teens of last century), both political parties have been advocates of cooking the frogs. The Republicans have advocated a slow simmer, because if you cook the frogs too quickly, they jump out of the pot. The Democrats favor a high, rolling boil.
In 2008, Democrats won big in the elections, and they looked at how much the Republicans had turned up the heat in the last ten years and figured the frogs are finally dead. So, they thought, lets put the burner up to high and finish cooking them. To their surprise, the frogs started jumping out of the pot. more ...
First theres the steady erosion of our basic rights, the ones a lot of people call our constitutional rights, though thats not a good name for them. Its better to think of them as natural rights, the way our Founding Fathers didor think of them as God-given rights if you want. Thinking of them as constitutional rights is part of what is getting us in trouble. ...