It is not yours to give
by
Matt Giwer (c) 1994 <12/18>

      The title is a line from a story related by Davy Crockett in his autobiography or, as he said, by Himself. It the punch line or the message a constituent gave Congressman Crockett over money voted by Congress to help a family in DC made destitute by a fire. He objected that it was not Congress's money to give.
      As related Crockett goes through the Christian, good deed, compassionate responses, the "it only cost him a penny" argument but they did not move the constituent. He held he had a contract with the government and that it was the constitution. If it was not in the constitution the government was not permitted to do it. The money was not theirs to give.
      Now comes the 104th Congress with exactly that spirit. The people's money is not their's to give if it is not in the constitution. Literally hundreds of "it only costs you pennies" agencies, activities, functions of the government are on the chopping block because it is not the government's to give.
      For the few and primarily pseudo intellectuals the one's of interest are the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Not surprisingly the whine is for the "others" who benefit. The children will lose Barney. The unwashed will not be able to afford the performing arts. Unidentified others will not be able to afford the cost of keeping a symphony orchestra in every city, a ballet company in every neighborhood, a mime on every street corner.
      The children will no longer be able to see the Purple Pedophile. There is hardly a commercial network in the country that would not jump at it being available. Given the promotional and commercial tie-ins the Barney people could buy time and still make a huge profit. And why would they focus on "for the children" when we are really talking about such great national priorities such as The Frugal Gourmet, Sit and Be Fit, 1001 and one things to make from re-cycled low calorey snack food bags?
      And they want the subsidies of orchestras and ballet companies to continue so the poor can continue to pay only the low balcony price of $35 a seat plus parking. A night at the opera with the Marx Brothers might be worth that but for two people plus parking and a couple beers each in the lobby priced like six packs (excuse me, four mixed drinks priced like a bottle of single malt scotch) you can get 6 CD versions of the same opera by the the world's greatest performances and stop it when you need a head break. It isn't the same thing but then, what price realism?
      In other words, subsidies do not one thing to put prices into the affordable range for the very people these fake intellectuals pretend to be protecting.
      But the issue is not whether there is any honesty in the crocadile tears being shed. The issue is clearly that no place in the United States Constitution does it demean itself to authorizing the support of a dinosaur shaped like Rush Limbaugh nor of your friendly, neighborhood mime. Even the most creative constructionist would hold Barney would be a better instrument of national defense by sending him in place of Jimmie Carter. Besides, Geneva is already planning to outlaw Jimmie.
      These three programs are only three drops in the bucket of the malfeasance in office, the unconstitutional spending of the federal government. Three drops are not much but remember, the bucket is already overflowing. These three drops and all of the rest of the drops are in line for zero funding if the president will not go along with abolishing them entirely.
      And those in line for the old zero funding trick often applied to essential and constituional defense projects by the liberals are things like the extra-constitutional Department of Agriculture. The Tennessee Valley Authority along with the Rural Electrification Authority along with the Army Corp of Engineers are on their way to the dustbin of unconstitutionality.
      Social Security will eventually be phased out by selling you and your employer on a better deal. Where all the Social Security payments have been squandered should be audited in great detail. The retired should be receiving at least twice what they are receiving now and the principle should be available for inheritance to the children. Yes, the magnitude of the federal rip-off is that great despite what you have heard.
      The constitution is not a contract. The constitution is not a list of suggestions. The constitution is a list of very specific things the federal government is permitted to do and none other. The penalty for exceeding those powers is dissolution of the federal government. That it may occur peacefully is to the benefit of the country.