I have a voice

Patty Murray (Senator for my state) emailed me this morning saying the committee needed to “marshal every idea and resource” to get our deficit under control.  This is what I submitted as a reply.

If you’re interested in reducing Government spending, start by reading the Simpson/Bowles recommendation for getting the government’s wallet in order. That would be an excellent start. Obama ignored the report because it cut EVERYTHING and wasn’t what he wanted to hear, however necessary the cutting is.

Then start pulling the government out of those areas where the government has no constitutionally mandated place. Return control and funding of education to the states. Get the government out of the business of trying to control health care. It’s not in the constitution and the government has no place there. Get the government out of trying to manage finance. Return control of Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae to private sector. The government has no place trying to manage mortgage risk as the entire housing crisis has graphically displayed. Audit the Fed. Better yet, shut down the Federal Bank. The government has ZERO business trying to be in any aspect of banking. Turn the Post Office over to the private sector. The government cannot manage it efficiently as proven by the necessity to again extend the credit limit to keep the Post Office operating.

Stop borrowing money. Stop printing money. Stop monetizing the debt. Stop trying to micromanage the economy. The more the government fiddles, the wider the ripples are and the more the citizens suffer as a result.

The EPA has gotten totally out of control. It needs to be stripped of 90% of its power, 90% of its budget. Any regulation it wants to put in place needs to be run through Congress. Our constitution does not include a provision by which agencies could be created to write regulation outside the legislative process. This is wrong on so many fronts it should be obvious.

Reduce regulation so businesses can afford to grow their businesses and hire people. Of everything, this is the single most important thing you can do to get our economy moving again. Connect the dots. Increasing business activity will increase the economy which will increase revenue to the government, this providing money to pay down our debt, assuming those in Washington DC can figure out how to stop wasting the people’s money.

And finally, accept that our founders meant “regular” as in “all states treated the same” when they spoke of interstate commerce, not that the government should regulate how and what could be traded/sold/bartered/swapped. According to the Constitution, all states have to be given exactly the same deal in trade. Reinterpreting what the founders meant by interstate commerce being “regular” between states is an enormous power grab which is continually biting the American public. This one item has caused endless problems, the current largest being with health care and the inability to buy insurance policies across state lines.

Big government is bad government. It intrudes on our liberty and is contrary to our Constitution. Make government smaller. Do it now.

One more thing. Take a lesson from Arkansas on how they handle their budget. It works. It’s not a rich state, it’s not a prosperous state, but those are unchanged historically. The budget mechanism they implemented in the 40’s after going bankrupt during the great depression has stood this state in good stead. They have a balanced budget, they don’t go into debt and the method they use will work on the federal level as well.

I don’t expect much to come from the select committee. It is, after all, governmental.