It looks like Congress managed cobble together a budget deal that will fund government for the rest of the fiscal year.

At the last minute, lawmakers passed a short-term spending measure to fund the behemoth for another week, after substantively agreeing on a budget bill for the rest of the year.

Good work! That only took half of the year.

The proposed budget snips off about $38 billion in spending.

Lawmakers patted themselves on the back, calling themselves “courageous” for agreeing to the “biggest cuts in history.”

“Both sides have had to make tough choices.  But tough choices is what this job’s all about,” Sen. Harry Reid said.

Truth is, Congress just kicked the can down the road a little further and put off making any actual tough decisions until the next time around. They couldn’t even agree to defund Planned Parenthood, a no-brainer when you’re functionally broke.

And herein lies the problem – our so-called leaders can’t bring themselves to behave as if a problem actually exists. Few politicians have the guts to take the kind of action any half-witted family takes when faced with the prospect of spending more money that it takes in.

Here’s a little perspective.

According to the Treasury Department, the federal government spent $1.0528 trillion during the month of March – that’s trillion with a T – a staggering eight times more than it took in.

That’s like a family netting $2,000 per month spending $16, 000. It doesn’t take an accountant to figure out that kind of overspending represents a significant problem. Heck, you don’t even need to stay at a Holiday Inn Express to comprehend the looming fiscal disaster.

Clearly, that kind of deficit requires a significant change in spending; the kind of change in spending that hurts. The family can’t just switch from ordering steak to ordering salad at the nice restaurant. It must quit going to restaurants. Any restaurants. Period.

But lawmakers – indeed many Americans – can’t even bring themselves to make superfluous cuts in spending.

That’s because when it comes time to actually wield the budget axe, everybody suddenly believes their program “vital.”

Take the press release issued on behalf of the Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery in Kentucky. The president’s budget planned proposed eliminating funding for the National Fish Hatcheries. The Wolf Creek hatchery operates on an annual budget of about $907,000 of federal tax dollars every year.

“This would be a needless monumental loss to the county and state,” Jeanie Schureman said in the release.

She goes on to justify the existence of the fish hatchery program, pointing out its income generation.

“A return of more than $53 for every tax dollar spent to operate the hatchery,” Schureman said.

She needs an economics lesson.

The fact that fish hatcheries need a tax subsidy to operate proves them an inefficient allocation of resources. If fish hatcheries really constituted a money-making opportunity, an enterprising private individual or entity would undoubtedly step in. That $907,000 dollars actually represents capital diverted from more economically viable activities to hatching fish. While it may create $53 for every dollar spent, that dollar spent in a market driven activity would undoubtedly yield far more.

Not to say fish hatching doesn’t benefit somebody. Perhaps many somebodies. But all too often, we only look at the visible benefits and fail to consider the less easily recognizable costs of government programs. While certain segments of the population reap the rewards, the nation as a whole loses out.

The reapers call the programs “vital.” The general public buys into the sob story. And the government keeps on spending. And spending. And spending.

Economic realities aside, a bigger issue exists.

Vital or not, the federal government lacks the constitutional authority to fund fish hatcheries.

In fact, the federal government lacks the constitutional authority to fund a vast majority of the things it funds. The framers intended the states to retain authority on such internal policies.

James Madison wrote, “The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State.”

If Kentuckians really believe fish hatcheries vital, the state can set that priority and fund them. And some poor schmuck in Texas doesn’t have to bear the cost.

The federal government dug its fiscal hole with a backhoe powered by constitutional usurpation. The path back lies in limiting the fed to its constitutionally prescribed role.

This will require pain, sacrifice and time. We didn’t dig the hole in a day. It took over 75 years of ever-expanding government. It will require that Americans reject the notion that federal spending is “vital.” And it will require us to shed the notion that the solution to every problem lies among the marbled monuments in Washington D.C.

The stark reality is that the United States is functionally bankrupt. While we may like our various federally funded programs, and we may even personally reap the benefits, we can’t afford them.

We never could.

That’s why the framers sought to limit the power of the federal government. They understood bigger is generally badder.

It’s time to shrink the behemoth.

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Senator Brogdon is a featured speaker at Nullify Now! in Fort Worth – on September 4th
click here to get your tickets today! (or call 888-71-TICKETS)

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The only solution to our nation’s economic woes is freedom’s expansion. Washington politicians, whom many have spent the majority of their career working for the government, have become self-appointed experts on the economy. Their ideas and policies have bolstered increased debt and financial devastation for millions of Americans.

President Obama’s budget teeters upon sophomoric folly. His $4 trillion dollar budget has set a course of financial ruin for many families. Free market principles are being replaced with socialism and government control of business. Capitalism, which made America great and the envy of the world, is now at risk.

I dare say most junior high school students understand a simple principle; “borrowed” money cannot be used to pay off a debt. Borrowing money to pay off a debt only creates double indebtedness. It is a mystery how politicians cannot understand a simple principled fact of Economics 101.

As Washington insiders, bureaucrats, and politicians continue to “pickpocket” the taxpayers, it’s more than our money that is lost; our freedom is in jeopardy. Every legislative policy that transfers wealth from the people to the politicians will be listed on the negative side of the balance sheet of liberty. It is impossible to multiply wealth by dividing, and giving to others.

Washington politicians continue to trick people by lulling them into a false sense of security. They have created an atmosphere of entitlements by promising “a chicken in every pot” without regard for the future. Most politicians’ vision of the future is determined by reading yesterday’s headlines. It is easier for them to be a Monday morning quarterback than an inspirational leader and visionary.

President Obama presented the “club” in Washington a budget that will raise taxes, slow the economy, and devastate the family budget for future generations to come. Priorities have been shunned; pork barrel spending and earmarks have set a new disgraceful high and the politicians are stumbling over themselves in an effort to “bring home the bacon”.

Elected officials, who neither respect the Constitution nor understand its basic tenets, should be expelled from Washington and sent home to live under the conditions and mandates they have created. Sound judgment and wisdom should be the minimum benchmark for public servants; rather than, the perpetual aggrandizing and pontificating of one’s attributes and authority. Washington politicians rarely have all the answers, but today, they are the source of most of our problems.

I have a much different vision. I believe that freedom is the welcome mat at the door of America. When individuals exercise their freedom, atrophy is negated and our nation becomes stronger. A policy that empowers the people and binds the politician is favored. Ideas that support private sector profits are superior to government bailouts. Individual liberty and personal responsibility must always take presidents over government intrusion.

Given the choice of bailouts or freedom, I choose freedom.

Senator Randy Brogdon was elected to his first term in the Oklahoma Senate in 2002. Randy Brogdon is also the author of SJR 10, otherwise known as the 10th Amendment Resolution. This resolution is designed to protect states rights and prevent the federal government from overexerting its legislative power. His efforts on the 10th Amendment Initiative have brought him national attention from several media outlets across the country. In March of 2009, Senator Brogdon was invited to speak to members of the Pennsylvania State Legislature about his work on the 10th Amendment Initiative.

From the article:

Despite having no experience in education, Neil Bush is the founder of a Texas-based company called Ignite! Learning, which, since 1999 has peddled strange little devices called “Curriculums on Wheels” (COWs) to schools state and nationwide. Rather than anything bovine, COWs actually resemble bright plastic droids or office chairs gone terribly wrong. Described as “computer/projectors,” it’s not really clear what they do or how they work, and a cursory look at the company’s website does not help. (Apparently it involves swivel action.) Regardless, there are COWs for different subjects: the Math COW, the Science COW (“the ultimate classroom sidekick!”) and the Social Studies COW.

But here’s the kicker – Neil gets (surprise, surprise) federal funding for his COWs! It’s just another miracle provided to you and I by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Well, of course, there are some people who aren’t happy with this, and another acronym is speaking out against the possible impropriety:

Recently, a three-month investigation by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) revealed that schools are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, including No Child Left Behind funds, on Neil Bush’s COWs. “It is astonishing that taxpayer dollars are being spent on unproven educational products to the financial benefit of the president’s brother,” CREW’s executive director, Melanie Sloan, said in a press release.

There’s definitely a problem here.  But, where I see both Liliana and Melanie missing the mark is that they seem to focus primarily on the symptoms rather than the cause. Melanie’s statement is representative of this; “…It is astonishing that taxpayer dollars are being spent on unproven educational products…”

While it is a potential waste to spend money on unproven educational products, this isn’t the biggest problem. The real issue is that the federal government should not be taking your money and spending it on local concerns – at all.

First of all, there’s nothing in the Constitution which authorizes the federal government to engage in such spending. Readers of this site are probably quite familiar with the fact that the Constitution was written under the principle of “positive grant.” What this means is that the federal government can exercise only those powers which are specifically given to it in the Constitution. Everything else is left to “the States, respectively, or to the people.”

Constitutional arguments aside, there’s also a principle that needs to be followed – the idea that centralized bureaucracies are always loaded with corruption. Remember, it’s not the abuse of power that we should be most concerned with, but rather, the power to abuse. The ability to spend vast sums of money will inevitably lead to more and more corruption in government.

As long as this kind of spending exists, there will always – always – be corruption through kickbacks, contracts with friends and family, and the like. Unless we accept this reality, we’ll always end up with the short end of the stick when trying to improve education in this country.

Whether it’s Bush and his brother getting favored status and federal funding, or a future president and their family getting rich from your income, doesn’t really matter. As long as the power exists, it’s liable to be abused. And that’s the sad truth.