An Open Letter to Crossroads GPS and Karl Rove

I have to agree with what the Tea Party has been saying - we don’t have a debt crises we have a spending crises.  Over the past decade total federal expenditures have increased by fifty percent and military expenditures have increased by sixty percent.  Yet revenue has grown by six percent.  This is how we put ourselves in this pork barrel.  Everyone in Congress wanted, demanded federal dollars be spent in their district for whatever.

I think a good question is can the situation be reversed?  If you look at the period 1998-2001 we had budget surplus of $559,407,000,000.  So yes it can be reversed.

In order to achieve a reversal we as a nation are going to have undertake some significant changes.  Historically Senators and Congressmen/women have been judged, in large part, by their ability to bring home the bacon.  During the period 2008-2010 Representative CW Bill Young was the most prolific author of solo earmarks in the House of Representatives.  He sponsored 170 solo earmarks with a total value of $292,164,250.  Thad Cochran led the Senate, during the same period, with 308 solo earmarks having a total value of $541,529,975.
Earlier this year there was much ado about banning earmarks.  The self imposed ban of earmarks in part lead to the debacle of the debt ceiling passageHow realistic is this self imposed ban, witness this article

All of our members of Congress must understand that resources are finite.  There are real societal obligations that must be met by the government.  Members of Congress can not allow pet projects to be included in various pieces of legislation.  

No more bridges to nowhere can be allowed.  The various states must accept responsibility for their own houses and not push off the cost of home maintenance on to the federal government.  Nor can we allow industries to pawn off their obligations and responsibilities on to the federal government.

I would hope that members of Congress would stand publicly, as an individual, and state unequivocally that will not condone or allow spending to go through any piece of legislation that smacks of an earmark or pet project.  No more bridges to nowhere, no more log rolling.