Can we get some grant money for that?

By the way, I hate to break the news but grant money is not “free money”. Santa Claus didn’t just one day decide to leaves bags and bags of money somewhere so that fans of big government, that are very clever at thinking up things that the government has no business getting involved in and that love’s spending other people’s money can have a free shopping spree.

Someone always pays, and if one pays, ultimately we all pay. So cut it out! If you are a government official and if you are not willing to pay for it out of your own wallet, then I don’t want to either! Just walk away, you’ve probably ventured into government overreach and the practice of bribing ignorant voters.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate who promises them the most benefits from the public treasury,” was disputably spoken by 18th century Scot historian Alexander Tytler.

I don’t care who said it – I want to discuss what was said. You know that it’s true. You have personally heard many people say that they were going to vote for a particular candidate because of some government spending that they want kept…or worse (i.e. hauling and patronage).

Alexander Hamilton said, “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end” and the wise Benjamin Franklin agreed.

I am honestly scared because we have become poverty minded beggars that are constantly on the lookout for every handout we can get from state and federal governments. Never mind that they all come with hooks in them, like 99-year contracts, increased regulation and mandated spending that can’t just simply be stopped on a dime. Why can’t they…for fear of losing out on future handouts!

Large portions of area voters do not realize that grant money has to be paid for by someone. Just tax the other guy!

Far too many area voters seem to be die hard believers in the nanny state and the fairy tale that the government is here to help…they know better and if we do as they say (including jumping through every ignorant hoop and giving away freedom for government interference), they will give us “free money.” You know, money to pay for part of something that we really don’t need anyway.

Winston Churchill once said, “The best argument against democracy is a five–minute conversation with the average voter” and President Thomas Jefferson said, “That government is best which governs least.”

We have become so addicted to our “free stuff” (that is not really free) that we eventually begin to believe that our wants have become constitutional rights. Socialized medicine and public golf courses are not constitutional rights. It matters not whether it is Obamacare or Rhinocare! Neither are cell phones, walking trails or most any other subsidy not listed in the U.S. Constitution.

We are quick to ask for freebies, without considering the entire cost. We listen intently as our politicians tell us “they are going to GIVE us such and such amount of money” but we don’t force them to tell us that it is going to cost us an additional “such and such more” from our wallets. We have become so addicted to our perks that we aren’t willing to take the heat politically and cut out waste. But when budget time comes up, our needs have to get cut to protect our wants.

That is the same as saying I can’t afford a new SUV, but the dealer is going to give me $10,000 off (free money, i.e. grant) but in order to receive it I must pay a new expense for the next six years that I don’t have the money for. And because of the new expense (don’t forget I was given $10,000 in “free money”) I now can’t pay my water bill.

Actually its even goes even deeper than that. That $10,000 that the dealer knocked off the price is actually knocked off of an inflated price. Just like the free federal grant is charged to us in our inflated individual income taxes. Either way, we are falling for the hugest of cons – buying stuff that we can’t afford, cutting what we do need, agreeing to increased regulation or red tape, all while kissing the ring of some grant giver as though that are charitable Saint Nick.

All things not listed in the U.S. Constitution are either not supposed to be done or they are supposed to be done by state and local governments. Cut the pork and we can cut the tax bills and stop mortgaging our children’s future.

One more thing…we also have a very bad habit of pointing to the government program addictions of others have and complain about our taxes, but we hardly ever blame ourselves for contributing to the problem. We must retrain our leaders to cut till it hurts and then cut some more. We must lower taxes and stop raising them. We must get the government, all levels of government, out of those areas that were reserved for the private sector. We also must either return to self-dependent, hardworking, small-government, American republicanism or we must admit that we have cast off our entire past and freedom and begin calling each other “comrade.”

thenry@blythevillecourier.com