Do you know how many gallons of water your toilet holds? You probably do not, and neither do I. But, more importantly, did you know the government tells you how much water you can have in your toilet?
Don’t worry; this column isn’t about our toilets and how we use them. The point is our federal government has become bloated, intrusive and entirely too expensive. This week President Bush sent a $2.23 trillion budget to Congress with a record deficit of $307 billion.
As a supporter of President Bush and a supporter of the necessary war against enemies of democracy, I agree that certain spending increases in military and defense are necessary. However, war and national security are not excuses for an unbalanced budget.
Gone are the good old days when the most influence the government had on your daily life was the delivery of your mail. Where did we go wrong? When did this massive and expensive federal bureaucracy come into existence and who is to blame?
In the 1930s the United States experienced one of its worst economic crises in history, the Great Depression. Nearly one quarter of all Americans were without jobs. Rather than promote pro-business policies or devise a recovery plan, President Franklin Roosevelt decided to create massive federal programs and departments that would forever change the nature of the federal government. Millions of Americans went to work for the government, and since then it has been the country’s largest employer. Roosevelt’s irresponsible policy of creating and handing out government-paid jobs created this massive government. Suffice it to say I am not a fan of Franklin Roosevelt.
It is not the government’s responsibility to employ or find jobs for Americans, nor is it the job of government to manage retirement accounts. The social security program, which was started in 1935 by none other than Franklin Roosevelt, is a travesty. Social Security has become a program that by 2018 will post billion dollar deficits. Previous generations have mortgaged the futures of this generation and of future generations by requiring tribute to the Social Security train wreck that is certain to come.
Congress should allow anyone in the Social Security program (all workers are required to participate unless they belong to government pension funds) to withdraw and start his own retirement account. In order to encourage the creation of retirement accounts, Congress should make retirements tax-free.
Taxation is another area where the government should be put on a diet. Our federal tax code consists of thousands of pages of rules and regulations. The best solution to this situation is to enact a simple flat tax rate of anywhere from 9 to 13 percent. A flat tax eliminates the complications of our current tax code and treats everyone equally under the law.
Similarly, the government should permanently abolish the death tax–taxation on inherited property. Other forms of double taxation, such as the capital gains tax, which is a tax on stock and investment earnings, also should be abolished.
Many public opinion polls show average Americans support most of the ideas I just proposed. But why aren’t these ideas enacted? The main reason is spin, which can be attributed to both the Republicans and the Democrats.
An effective solution to the problem of out-of-touch government is the enactment of term limits on members of Congress. If a member of Congress only serves six years, for example, he would be less likely to become indifferent to an outrageous federal bureaucracy. A good place to start with government reform is to elect citizen legislators to Congress for a limited period of time.
President Thomas Jefferson said, “The best government is that which governs the least.” I agree with the late President Jefferson. President Bush, a so-called “conservative,” should act like a conservative. Cut the budget. Cut and reduce taxes. And most importantly, take that government in Washington and squeeze the fat out of it.