Posted on 10/29/2005 11:26:41 PM PDT by Tom87
You heard what the Senate did to Tom Coburn's attempt to impose some sanity on spending.
How do they live with themselves?
Years ago, interviewing economist Walter Williams for a show ABC News called "Greed," I was perplexed when Williams said, "a thief is more moral than a congressman; when a thief steals your money, he doesn't demand you thank him."
That was silly hyperbole, I thought, but watching Congress spend, I see that I was naive and Williams was right.
When the Democrats held power, I confronted Sen. Robert Byrd about wasting our money on "Robert Byrd Highway"-type projects in West Virginia. His answer was as arrogant as he was: "I would think that the national media could rise above the temptation of being clever, decrepitarian critics who twaddlize, just as what you're doing right here."
"Twaddlizing?" I asked.
"Trivializing serious matters," he explained.
I persisted, "Is there no limit? Are you not at all embarrassed about how much you got?" Byrd glared at me in silence, and finally demanded, angrily, "Are you embarrassed when you think you're working for the good of the country? Does that embarrass you?"
The Republicans promised to change the culture. Democrats sold panic. "Don't vote for them! They're going to shrink government and take away your favorite programs!" They needn't have worried. The Republicans got elected, but if the Democrats' goal was to expand the government, they were the real winners.
Once Republicans were in power, they started spending money even faster than the Democrats did.
Big spender Ted Stevens responded to Coburn's good suggestion to kill a "Bridge to Nowhere" with a tantrum on the Senate floor: He threatened to resign and "be taken out of here on a stretcher."
Good! Sen. Stevens, please go. I'll even help carry the stretcher.
Unfortunately, Congress has an unwritten code: "Don't threaten the other congressmen's loot." The Senate reprimanded Coburn by voting 82 to 15 to save the Bridge to Nowhere.
The Ketchikan, Alaska, bridge is particularly egregious because it's a bridge to a nearly uninhabited island. Yet it will be monstrous -- higher than the Brooklyn Bridge and almost as long as the Golden Gate. Even some in Ketchikan laugh about it. One told us, "Short view is, I don't see a need for it. The long view ... I still don't see a need for it."
Last week, Alaska's other senator, Lisa Murkowski, said it would be "offensive" not to spend your money on her bridge. When she first became a senator, I asked her if Republicans believed in smaller government. She was unusually candid: "We want smaller government. But, boy, I sure want more highways and more stuff, whatever the stuff is."
I'll say. Alaska's pork projects spanned 67 pages. They get much more than other states. "Oh, you need to come up," she said. "You would realize it's not pork. It's all necessity ... People look at Alaska and say, 'Well, gee, they're getting all this money.' But we still have communities that are not tied in to sewer and water. There are certain basic things that you've got to have."
But my children shouldn't have to pay for them. If people want to live in remote areas of Alaska, why can't they pay for their own sewers and water, through state or local taxes, or better yet, through private businesses? Why should all Americans pay to run sewer lines through the vast, frozen spaces of Alaska? Because Alaska has no money?
Don't believe it. Alaska has so much money, it has no state income tax or sales tax. Instead, it gives its citizens money from something called the Alaska Permanent Fund.
Stevens, Murkowski and Don Young, who once told critics of the Bridge to Nowhere that they could "kiss his ear," are not unique. Republican politicians talk about limited government, but the longer they are in power, the more they vote to spend.
Spending your money, they want "more stuff."
I thought someone said that it was the entitlement programs that took all of our tax revenues. Then when we had to fight the cold war or a recession, or the war on terror then we have to use deficit spending.
I'll be right here, waiting for enlightenment.
But, considering everything...IMO, there are better uses for that money. This island is currently serviced by the airport ferry which operates 8 to 16 hours per day with departures every 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the season. Seems pretty adequate....Heck, if you want inconvenience, just try flying out of any major airport in CA, or TX.
And considering Ted Steven's deplorable behavior concerning this bridge...I'd take this bridge away from him...just on principle.
Doh! WV, not VW.
Carolyn
Spiting the Senator makes no sense at all.
Try a vacation to SE Alaska. You would be surprised. Sitka, for example. Or Craig. Good fishing, no place to build.
Yeah...like all that SSI money is for SSI payouts too? ROFLOL!! That's as laughable as your statement.
No...the BRIDGE makes very little sense...when placed in perspective. They already HAVE a transportation system to and from the airport. I'm sure it's more reliable than during rush hour on the 405 or the 5 Freeway in L.A. People there seem to work around, and plan ahead for the inevitable delays. Seems those hearty Alaskan souls could plan around a ferry ride. Give me a break..!!
The bridge is a boondoggle project....that's sizzling like the slab of bacon that it is.
The Senator showed his contempt for the American taxpayer...IMO. I'll spite him if I please...LOL!! The heck with him....and his bridge to "no-where"!
As a general contractor of more than 20 years, and a land developer for more than 10, I can say that there is NO place I cannot build... some are just easier...
BTW, we cruised there in 99... I like my floating hotels...
I live in suburban Miami and don't have city water or sewer. My own well and septic tank, that's all. Probably works good in Alaska too.
Yep, I agree. Plus, I wish we could pass one more amendment, that congress shall pass no additional law for the next ten years without repealing at least two laws.
"I know Coburn's amendment was symbolic, but I'd much rather send money to the bridge to nowhere than anywhere near the corrupt Louisiana political machine."
It isn't an either or question. Congress will do both. They are amazingly good at wasting other people's money. I wish we had more Tom Coburn's. The lack of fiscal responsibility is my biggest frustration with the Republican party today. They spend like Democrats.
"The truth is that we are slowly crawling toward another revolution. IMO it will be bloody and long and it is less than 50 years away."
Would never work. The difference between the technology the average citizen has and the technology the US military has is too immense. It isn't like the revolutionary war when the citizens were at least close enough technologically to have a fighting chance.
It means, IMHO, the same thing as it does to be a "liberal," it means that you have no guiding principles.
Just agreeing with you on that post, I guess.
A Republic is guided by a Constitution, not the will or whim of the majority. However, approx 75% of the money spent by the Federal Gov't is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Therefore, we are NO LONGER a Republic, and consequently, WE ARE DOOMED. (Without DRASTIC changes of course, kind of a Ghost of Christmas Future moment)
Interesting that Feingold voted yes.
As for spending and pork, that's not going to change any time soon. There are two options to change it, two that I see might work. Enough people, screaming loud enough and long enough right on the doorsteps of their offices in DC...however long it takes, or change the tax code: either set it up so that all pay taxes and have to pay them each month, not taken out of their checks so they never see it, or eliminate it at the fed level totally, have the feds tax each state, and the taxpayers pay to the state. If senators were 'elected' as they were originally, by the state house and senate, and the state was taxed by the Feds, bet you'd see some changes as to how money got spent! They'd all be fighting to keep taxes low.
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