The Patriot Post® · Learning to Say No Thank You

As the election season moves into high gear, we are again inundated with pledges, promises, and programs all in the name of less government, lower taxes and fiscal responsibility. It matters little if the voices are from new comers or incumbents; there are no differences in what they have to say. If elected, blah, blah, blah. Every politician has made the same promises and nothing has slowed down government growth in the past two decades. It is hard to believe that all of those who ran on promises to reduce the size and scope of government just changed their minds when they got there. Something else must have happened along the way to Washington.

There is a law that says there must be truth in advertising. It was designed to prevent outrageously false claims to be use to sell products. While government has been earnest in monitoring advertising in private sector, it seems to have turned a blind eye to the goings of the public trust. Political consultants have turned stretching the truth into very lucrative careers and the best have made themselves into very high prices commodities. They go by the names of spin-doctors and media consultants but they do little to enlighten the voter and much to obscure the issues and skew the truth. They have become the ruling class in politics and few if any can do anything without their knowledge and support.

They are the true power brokers, the ones who can open the right doors, make the right introductions, and ease the transition into the halls of DC. Each time a newbie arrives at the capital, they reach out a helping hand, a little assistance to help them get settled. After all, what good is it to be in the center of power if you don’t get to wield some of it? And these are the guys that will show you how.

And they are not alone. The Washington bureaucracy has become institutionalized. Department heads will serve for decades, moving up the ladder, collecting and disbursing favors to ease their way in the Washington jungle. These are the true power players, the ones who can make or break careers. They live in the shadows of government, able to live off the fat of the uncontrolled bloat that is the Federal government, serving their own interests first and catering to those who would support their department’s purpose or lack thereof. They cling to their dollars each year and their budgets have a way of growing even if their programs do not succeed. They oversee the world’s largest money pit.

It is apparent that there will never be any group at the Capital that will be willing to settle for less responsibility, less government, less employees or less control over their fiefdom. Sending people to Washington to fix the problem is not going to work. Somewhere along the line, these newcomers will succumb to trappings of power and they will lose their links to their roots and Washington will have another convert. There will never be enough people willing to sacrifice their own gain to make a serious change.

The real problem is that we have allowed Washington to take control of too much of the governance for the country. The founding fathers sought to create a government that complimented the local governments that gave birth to the revolution. The individual colonies had established their own councils, defining the rights and responsibilities that would come to define their new nation. Arguments for and against the Constitution were centered on whether these colonies would be able to maintain their own governance unimpeded by the new federal government.

Over the years, the federal government has usurped many of the responsibilities originally left to the states. The states have let the power of the federal purse entice them into letting the feds pay for local projects that would stretch the resources of the locals. Instead of being honest with their people and laying out the details of what needs to be done, they have let the feds foot the bill and claim that this is fiscally responsible.

Many states have passed balanced budget amendments limiting their spending to the revenue that they receive. Many of those who are tasked with building these budgets have found ways to be creative with the numbers and fool themselves into believing that they are doing the right thing. They could not be more wrong. Deferring payments, low or no interest loans and guarantees from the fed have allowed many stated to spend more than they receive. And the feds make them pay; there are strings attached to everything, special compliance issues, new regulations to obey, new rules to follow and it falls on the states to pay for them. And the cycle continues as the states look for more money to pay for the new expenditures.

It will be virtually impossible to shut down the colossus that is the federal government. For all the reasons above there is no interest in any of the current players to end the game. There must be a radical change in the philosophy of the populace before any attempts to rein in the feds will succeed. It will not be widespread at first and some will falter along the way but a new direction is needed. Individual cities, counties and even states that are able to should send the local feds packing by saying no thank you to current federal assistance programs. It may not be easy as first to replace the federal dollars but it can be done with a little insight and determination. They may not be able stop all the funding at once but each one that can be ended should be. The burden of unfunded federal mandates is only there because of the federal dollars and removing those dollars will remove the associated mandates, and thus the dollars to support them.

We have become dependent on far too much government. Worse still we fail to recognize this dependence when we lie to ourselves and act as if we are being responsible. Because we are not and it goes for both sides of the aisle. One senator said a long time ago, “A million here, a million there, so what difference does this million make here?” We have lost all sense of proportion and have throw good works and common sense into the toilet. Reining in the excess that is Washington is essential to reestablishing an honest American economy that will grow this country.

Left unchecked, these excesses will ruin the country. Regulatory overreach is killing industries and stifling new development. Once simple projects are now burdened by years of government interference driving up costs that ultimately bring companies to ruin. It should not be this hard to do business.

What can be done? Something in every community, every county, and every state can be stopped. It will not be stopped by some PAC out of DC, some television celebrity, or some candidate for office. It will not be on the agenda at the local party monthly meeting. It will happen when one person speaks up and says enough is enough, let’s end this now. It will happen at the city council meeting, the Board of Commissioners (Selectman, Education, fill in the blank) meeting and maybe eventually, at the state legislature. It will happen when another person is willing to add their voice and be heard. As a great patriot once said: “"It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” As it was then, so it is now. The stakes are no smaller and the rewards no greater if we are willing to again take up the responsibilities of self governance and liberty.