Posted on 06/24/2002 2:23:29 PM PDT by GalvestonBeachcomber
President George Bush recently did a photo opportunity in which he announced the United States would contribute $500 million to fight AIDS in undeveloped countries.
Another example this is of phony philanthropy. The $500 million isn't Mr. Bush's money, it's the American people's money, and did he ask the American people if that is how they want to spend their own money? Of course not.
Aside from the fact that 32 million Americans are living below the government's poverty level, aside from the fact that there is nothing whatsoever in the Constitution authorizing the federal government to give the people's money away to foreigners, Mr. Bush counts on the American people to be so mush-headed that they will say, "Oh, isn't he compassionate."
No. Bill Gates and Ted Turner are compassionate. They give away their own money. Politicians who give away our money without our permission and in defiance of the Constitution are not being compassionate. They're being phony-baloney, image-conscious, substance-lacking office seekers.
The money the government so easily confiscates in taxes and so easily spends by the trillion is not so easily earned by the American people. You would think the politicians in Washington would have some respect for the working men and women whose sweat and labor provides those tax dollars. You would think they would respect the risk and the stress entrepreneurs have to endure to make money Congress will take in the form of taxes.
The word that has passed out of the English language, at least in America, is "frugal." The very idea that government at all levels should be frugal is an anathema to the modern politician. They like to spend lavishly, whether it's on a county courthouse or some foreign-aid program. They especially like to spend lavishly on their own salaries, perks and pensions.
Well, sooner or later, all of this lavish living and lavish spending is going to come to a crashing halt. When debt, public and private, is measured in the trillions — meaning that trillions of dollars of future income have already been spent — then common sense tells you a bad day of reckoning is coming. I don't see how people, corporations and the government are going to earn the trillions necessary to pay for past consumption and fund future needs.
It hasn't been that long since Congressmen made about $40,000 a year and took the summer off because their offices in Washington weren't air-conditioned. One of my old colleagues always enjoyed telling the true story of a Kansas farmer who was elected to Congress. On his first trip home, my friend asked him how he liked being a Congressman.
"Why, Don," he said. "It's the greatest job in the world. It pays $40,000 in salary alone." Now, of course, it pays more than $130,000 in salary alone, plus perks that would have made that old Kansas farmer think he was the king of Saudi Arabia.
Harry Truman was the last president in the American tradition. When his term ended, he and his wife rode in a cab to the train station, where they bought, with their own money, tickets to take them home to Missouri. Truman had gotten the usual offers of being on this board or that board, but he turned them all down. He said the corporations didn't want him, they wanted presidency, and that belonged to the people and was not for sale. Contrast that attitude with these recent bums who cost us as much money after they leave office as they did when they were in. What I think of politicians, with rare exceptions, cannot be said in a family newspaper.
Who the hell is Charley Reese's editor, Yoda?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.