The Final Score: Spending Is the Real Problem

Let's get something clear: Americans don't want taxes to go up; they want spending to go down. The problem in America is not that the government should have more of our money; the problem is that the government is spending too much of our money.

Some politicians keep claiming that all we have to do to fix things is raise taxes and give government even more money. But that's as ridiculous as saying cure a cold by catching a pneumonia. We've seen what government does with our money, and we don't like it.

We've seen stimulus bridges to nowhere. We've seen stimulus money go to bail out states that give clerks million dollar salaries and pensions. We've seen billions in bailout money go to rich foreign banks. And we've seen sweetheart deals for politicians and their families paid for with our tax dollars.

For all these reasons and billions more, we think we handle our money a lot better than government can. Americans work hard for their money. And we work hard to save it and invest it wisely.

Politicians, on the other hand, throw away billions without thinking. It's not their money, so why should they care. That's the difference between money in our hands, and money in their hands.  We're careful with our money. They're not.  That's why every tax increase means we'll be transferring money from folks who earned it and spend it carefully to folks who didn't earn it and spend it foolishly. Does that make sense?  Is it any wonder with that attitude that the trillion dollar expenditures of the past few years have failed. We have to leave more money in the hands of the private sector, not less. That’s why we should be talking about more tax cuts, or perhaps, at long last, a flat tax of 18%..no more, no less.

But the tax hikers say that would “cost” too much. People who count tax cuts like any other government expenditure are folks who don't understand the difference between leaving money in the hands of those who've worked hard to earn it and politicians who didn't earn it and throw it around in the billions. And we're not just talking Democrats. All politicians develop the taste for spending other people's money.

It's a bad habit that comes with the addiction of power. And it's our duty to break the habit. They won't do it on their own. Like an alcoholic, they have to stand up, take a pledge and be forced to keep it. And the pledge is simple: Starve the beast. No new taxes. Another contract with America. The last one worked pretty well. Perhaps it's time for another. Otherwise, today's political promises made at tea parties will join the many broken promises made by politicians year after year.