"With attention deficit democracy, I am trying to wake up people to how the combination
of mass ignorance, fear mongering by the government, and lying politicians is putting our entire system of government to a
death spiral." James Bovard
How to Lick the Budget Deficits
Government deficits
are a way of life in the post republic America. The spending addiction is a plague that swept away the land of the free and
the home of the brave. The cultural curse of entitlement ‘rights’ has created a system of mob rule on the bottom
of the ladder and champagne wishes and caviar dreams by plutocrat aristocrats. The controllers of the corporatist economy
are just as adamant about their ‘right’ to dominate as the unwashed demonstrator defends their latest chanting
theme for wealth re-distribution.
So how is a government supposed to
cater and quell such a divergence of fundamental mindsets? The systemic political response is to give something to everyone
and take nothing away from anyone. Budget deficits are more than an unbalanced tally between expenditures and receipts, it
is a cowardly surrender to the lowest political motivation – protect your own ass – at the cost of resolving the
undeniable root causes, that fuel the unending fiscal shortfalls.
On
the federal level, the practice of deficit spending is engrained as a ‘right’ stemming from having the world’s
reserve currency. As long as international commerce is debited in, Federal Reserve notes, the central regime continues to
spend. Pronouncements for cutting agency budgets are the mere promises of a habitual liar. Only when the need for an actual
cure becomes unavoidable can the hard work begin to slim down the obese slob.
Since
the will to abolish entire agencies and departments is lacking, a simple method for withdrawal can and should apply a mandatory
formula. The normal increase in base line budgets is sacrosanct in Washington. Reversing this practice, not by freezing in
place by actually reducing the monies for every agency in proportion to the actual deficit, is a sensible alternative. The
GAO Government Accountability Office, CBO Congressional Budget Office or some combination of an independent oversight body,
applying generally sound accounting standards, could score the process.
Yes,
the criminal class will work day and night to circumvent this restraint, but the principle of losing department funds in relationship
to the total budget shortfall would establish that every agency has skin in the game.
Weaning
an addict off drugs causes erratic reactions, so there would be immense resistance. However, the credit markets will eventually
demand serious reform. The entire issue is whether any kind of reform is entirely valid. Therefore, the significance of tying
any future expansion of government to the reality of actual funding can stop the percentage growth of the state’s dominance
over the economy.
The true solution resides in drastically downsizing
all levels of government. How well are we doing in achieving that goal in the last decade?
Pork Lawsuit NYS Court of Appeals No. 190 Bordeleau
v NYS
Another approach from
the state level is to litigate constitutional abuses that foster spiraling budget shortfalls. In the recent essay, Slaying the New York
State Pork Dragon, the background of the court challenge in New York State is discussed. Watch
the video, Pork Lawsuit NYS
Court of Appeals No. 190 Bordeleau v NYS, of the proceeding in the Court of Appeals and observe the arguments
from the apologist for the crony corporatists and the inept lines of reasoning from the Solicitor General attorney from NYS.
No doubt, this test case will certainly reflect to what degree the judiciary is committed to observe the rule of law.
Yet, who among seasoned participants in confronting the political establishment
can reasonably contend that the fate of the nation can be entrusted into the hands of imperial courts? As long as admiralty
law supersedes common law, the courts are mere tools of the ruling elites.
The
next approach is to lobby the power structure. An example of this option took place in Albany with the Assistant Secretary
of Energy, Tom Congdon. On the instruction of Governor Andrew Cuomo, a meeting was held in the
Capital Building on October 27, 2011. The presentation included a Proposal for compliance
on Section 12 of the Power NY Act 2011 - Article X. Scheduling this conference was not automatic, since there was never a response
to a Citizen Power Alliance letter for a promised meeting, directly with the Governor. It took
a public square challenge prior to the hearing on Porky Lawsuit to push Cuomo to honor his former agreement.
The lesson is not that success is an expected outcome, but persistency
coupled with media attention drives political responses. Linking sound public policy with prudent fiscal accountability should
be a natural goal for any civil servant. Nevertheless, finding such responsible officials is rare and should be commended
when one-steps forward. First term Assemblyman Sean
T. Hanna, District 130, demonstrated his fortitude with his presence at this
CPA meeting.
Since this effort is driven by a wise recognition that budget
deficits are economic killers, any effort or interchange that seeks constructive reduction in squandering public funds should
be championed. Now this seems like a noble ambition, but in the real world, there is little interest in being reliable stewards
of the public trust.
Government excess has a partner
Public demands feed the State
The reason is quite
simple. The current relationship between bureaucrats and the public often coincide. The administrators enjoy expanding budgets
and the public clamors for greater levels of public monies to feed their insatiable appetites, for more unearned income or
services. Government is often portrayed as the gloated Jabba the Hut, because of its voracious power to devourer
funds and resources in the quest of ever advancing central control.
In
reality, it takes an unholy alliance with down trodden dependent serfs, who revel in their emancipation from individual responsibility.
The drumbeat for more government benefits, without a correlation to actual wealth creation and sufficient funding, seems to
be the anthem that has swept the country for generations.
As fate had
it, the Occupy Albany rally in the Capital Building took place just outside the conference room
where the CPA meeting was held. Now it would be easy to criticize the rhetoric of the protestors, but the vintage assortment
of demonstrators indicated that the motivation for their discontent crossed different age brackets.
Occupy Albany protesters rally in Capitol
View the You Tune video,
Occupy Albany protesters
rally in Capitol and go beyond the script and shouts. Consider that New York is rational
enough to respect the right of citizens to petition their government. The lack of understanding that government revenues have
a proportional relationship to the taxable receipts derived from economic activity, is a sad commentary on the fiscal illiteracy
of social utopians.
Should there be major tax
reform, should the banking system be totally retooled and should the imbalance of money accumulation between the 1% and the
99% be reversed? Of course, but you will never get to that point as long as an oligarchy controls political policy.
Citizens of all stripes and ideology
need to learn the art of push back. One of the bigger mistakes is to assume that legislators are the driving force behind
government administration. Frankly, as desirable as it would be to empower an elected legislative branch of government, the
stark fact of politics is that bureaucratic agencies ignore the spirit and intent of most laws and go merrily on their way
to build their own fiefdoms of influence and regulation. These bureaus are in the business of dispensing favoritism towards
expedient allies.
In order to lick the budget deficit it will take more
than capping the growth of expenditures. It requires an actual reduction in the scope and intervention of government activism.
The grass root proponents of the Tea Party movement understand this principle. When will the Occupy movement come to accept
that the failed government system is no solution to novena?
The rudimentary
steps necessary to shrink government, on all levels, is pure Jeffersonian wisdom. The fat and blotted tyranny that is synonymous
with the nanny state is the cause of the fiscal nightmare, which is tearing apart every aspect of society.
Most of the attention on budget disparity centers on the Federal deficit. The ludicrous
attempt to deflect the political heat unto a "Super Committee" is a sign of the acute desperation of a political
system rotten from within.
Populace activism needs to be encouraged,
even when proposals or demands are seen as outrageous or unreasonable. Critical mass of citizen dissent needs to be translated
into serious and constructive negotiations with officials, no matter what rank or title they hold. Soon, sleeping subjects
will never wake from their slumber.
The time to act is now. Organize
and learn how to become effective. Engage the political process, not just on selection day when you vote, but whenever you
interact with an agency or a representative of the suspect authority, that deems to control your existence.
The entire legitimacy of the political system is in play. Those who still cling to the myth
- government of the people, by the people, for the people - need to rethink their false placed loyalty. Our task
is to support true representative leadership and to confront bureaucratic arbitrariness and despotism. Reversing the budget
deficit is just one component in the long path to a genuine Republic form of responsible government.
"Deficits mean future tax increases, pure
and simple. Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be
exposed as tax hikers." Ron Paul
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