Pink-slipping Washington

The U.S. Department of Labor Building, Washington, D.C.

The late novelist and historian Shelby Foote once said something to the effect that, before the Civil War, we said, “The United States are …” and afterward we said, “The United States is … ”

Today if someone merely brings up the subject of states rights he can count on the left branding him a paranoid-rightwing-gun-wielding-racist nutcase. Interesting observations coming from the party that institutionalized slavery and picked up guns to defend it. The party that has advocated the murder of 40 million unborn babies.

But Foote was right. The Civil War signaled the end of states rights, as we then knew them, and the beginning of government encroachment into the minutia of our daily lives.

The size of our government is a primary cause of every ill that troubles our society today. We have allowed the bureaucrats we elect to run amok, creating monolithic departments such as Energy, and Health, and Agriculture, without ever questioning the necessity of those entities. Every year they grow and consume taxpayer dollars like the money-eating machines they are and no one can stop them.

Tell me why we need a Department of Labor? In 25 words or less, tell me. Energy? Tell me why the seventh largest economy in the world, the State of California, should have one dime of Texas money to bail it out of the mess its legislators created? Why is there a Public Broadcasting System or a National Endowment for the Arts? Why should our tax dollars finance them? Your individual state has a labor department and an education department. Why should the government have any say so in the matter?

I know it sounds peevish to declare our rights under the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. So many departments, agencies and bureaucracies have been put in place over the years that we just shake our heads and accept that they must be required. They are in very few cases required. We need a Department of Defense. We need a State Department, and we need a Justice Department, with a pared down mandate.

Ronald Reagan attempted to close the Department of Education in 1982, but was prevented from doing so by – you guessed it – the Democratic controlled Congress. But Reagan recognized the dangers of Washington’s bloated bureaucracies.

It can be strongly argued that George Bush’s creation of the Department of Homeland Security was a waste. Dozens of agencies in our government have the capability required to do the job. Roll a few heads and they’ll communicate with each other!

Well, my purpose here is not to pick and choose wasteful government programs, but merely to point out that they are enormous, and that it is our fault. It is within our power to stop the waist, not only with our votes, but with our vociferous demands. Individual rights are powerful tools in reducing the size of government, but we have to step up to assert those rights.

As few as 100,000 letters could end a department or bureau in Washington. The minute your congressmen and senators know their jobs are on the line, believe me, they will cut costs.