Francis Pedraza - Have we abandoned Limited Government?

From a friend of mine, Francis Pedraza:

Have we abandoned Limited Government?

I once thought that the battle over the size of government would wage between entrenched party lines. I was wrong.

I once expected that when Republicans prevailed, so would smaller government; just as I once feared a democratic victory would surely mark the rise of big government. I was wrong, at least partially. I still believe my characterization of the democrats holds true. But I was wrong about the Republicans.

Welcome to a party that has abandoned fiscal responsibility. January 20th marked six years of a Republican White House, and twelve years of a Republican majority in Congress. Yet, today, a day most of us conservatives would have looked forward to, the nation foots the costs of enormous government spending. With over 1,180 agencies now consuming over twenty percent of the economy through a shocking 2.3 trillion dollar ($2,300,000,000,000) congressional budget, I see now that Republican governance is anything but limited. In fact the Cato institute calculated that, “even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years.” This places him higher than either Johnson (war on poverty) or Carter. In his first term alone, our Republican Congress increased spending by 33 percent. Cato concludes: “if Republicans don’t cut spending, it won’t be because they can’t. It will be because they don’t want to.”

The debate in America, as one LA Times reporter put it, is “no longer [between] Republicans arguing with Democrats about whether government should be big or small. Instead they are at odds over what kind of big government the U.S. should have.”

Why is this? Why has the Republican Party simply abandoned its most important belief, its heart and essence and historical foundation? I guess Republicans simply don’t want to make the case for fiscal conservatism. They consider it “cruel” advocating both tax cuts and spending cuts; but tax cuts and spending increases, on the other hand, are quite fashionable. Promise the people bread and circuses, welfare and prescription drugs, but at no cost. That is the suit politicians have been wearing – it is unspeakably dishonest and damaging. In the end, spending money must come from taxes. Either we tax, or cut spending, or face tremendous economic and social ills.

What will those consequences be? The direct effect of these incompatible policies will be: inflation, unemployment, a collapse of incomes, an impairment of wealth, and a destruction of capital. Without exaggeration, I believe it will result in the literal collapse of the economy. When Congress spends money that does not exist, it destroys the value of the currency. All capital and wealth are based on a set of assumptions regarding the monetary value of the dollar. If the dollar becomes next to meaningless, then the income and savings of every American family will instantly dissolve to inflation.

The Republican Contract with America once promised “the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money.” Well, every year that Republican Congress spends money on the credit of the nation, money we do not have, money it seems we never intend to repay.

Soon, the baby boomers will retire. According to the Congressional Budget Office, if spending were limited to today’s rate, the size and increase of entitlements (social security, Medicare, Medicaid) would balloon to 78% of federal spending by the year 2040. The credit card of annual deficits (500 billion) and national debt (8.2 trillion) cannot continue. Future generations, to whom we pass on our debt, cannot sustain the burden. It is unjust to ask it of them. It is irresponsible not to control our spending now.

Today, the sentiment among many Americans is that government is the solution. Today the federal government regulates, taxes, and manages more sectors of our country than ever before, and increasingly more people depend on its doing so. Perhaps it would do the world good to remember the words of Barry Goldwater,

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.”

Thankfully, Americans do not need big government. It goes to the core of our way of freedom, this American concept: that government is limited, and the people self-governed. We, the people, do not need a government program to provide for our every need. We, the people, will raise up the businesses, the charities, the universities, the inventors our society needs. We, the sovereign people, will do it ourselves. We do not need a thousand actively damaging subsidies, grant programs, tax loopholes, pork projects, and regulations. They are unconstitutional, unnecessary, and harmful.

The fate of the United States is a choice. Either let the country die the death of a thousand cuts, a thousand ways of spending beyond our means: or we can recover our fiscal health, our heritage, and our promise to the world as the last great hope of mankind on earth.

Party of Reagan, do not abandon limited government.

Francis Pedraza is a 16-year-old from San Diego, Calif., who this year is finishing up a rigorous classical education. During last year's election, Pedraza was active in politics, with his speeches, interviews and public-service announcements airing on the radio around the U.S. He is currently working on his book, "A California Yankee in the Kangaroo Court."

Posted by Tim at March 24, 2006 08:27 PM