In my last post, I discussed the original constraints placed by the Founders on the federal government, constraints which have largely been abandoned in the intervening centuries. So much so, in fact, that it is arguable that the Founding Fathers would have difficulty in recognizing the country we inherited from them.
I’m going to attempt to use my “Junior E-man” ["E" for "economics"] skillz and to a numerical analysis of the impact of government encroachment beyond its Constitutional bounds.
In terms of power, [specifically, addressing the powers and legislative influence of the President created in the Alien and Sedition Acts — of which the Alien Enemies Act (50 USC §21-24) remains in effect today] then, let there be no more heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.
— Thomas Jefferson, “Resolutions Relative to the Alien and Sedition Acts”
The Founding Fathers intentionally, and wisely, placed great constraints on the power and scope of the federal government. The powers listed in the Constitution were intended to be exhaustive: any power not specifically listed therein was not granted the government.
The Fiscal Year 2009 budget proposal includes discretionary spending levels of over $3.1 trillion. [I don't know about you, but to me, that number doesn’t even really mean anything. The most actual cash money I've ever seen at once — in real life, where I could actually feel and smell it — was maybe in the high hundreds; the most I've ever spent at once — signed for, at least, when I bought a house — was in the low six-figure range. Trillion? I'm not sure that really exists]
To put it in perspective, the total market value of all final goods and services produced in the US during the same period — the GDP — is expected to be about $15 trillion. [though, the way things are shaping up, that may need to be adjusted down] This means that fully 20% of our blood, sweat, and tears next year will be claimed by the government. In more tangible terms, if the fiscal year begins October 1st, you’ll be working for Uncle Sam until mid-December. Then you can move on to paying off your state and local obligations. [Can you hear it now? "Sorry, kids, no Christmas this year. Master is hungry."]
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
— attributed (perhaps falsely) to George Washington
So where does the pollen go? I thought you’d never ask! Let’s take a look:
The stated number is $3.107 trillion, but my math brings it to $3.152 trillion, plus change. [I include loan guarantees as federal outlays, because I assume all government loans will default — it's more realistic that way] The three big kahunas are Defense [$651 billion — but we know that's a lowball], Health & Human Services [$737 billion — including redistribution schemes like welfare, Medicare and Medicaid], and the stalwart Social Security Administration [$695 billion — that's money I'll never see again].
By way of comparison, the “evil, dangerous” Islamic Republic of Iran comes in 29th in the world GDP race, with a 2007 estimated GDP of $294.1 billion [with a "B"; this is according to the CIA World Factbook]. That’s about 1/10th the size of the FY 2008 federal budget. (Did I mention the high unemployment and rampant inflation — driven by government price controls — that have been plaguing Iran for several years now?)
Bearing in mind that the Constitution was actually intended to list all the powers of government, there’s a little parsing we could do with the above graph. A close review of the first two Articles reveals that the vast majority of the valid functions currently performed by the Executive were meant to be the work of Congress. Almost everything else was left “to the States respectively, or to the People.”
What are the valid government — specifically, executive — functions? Check out this post for a discussion of the valid powers of the federal government.
[HINT: The President can't legally do everything we allow him to do; hardly anything, in fact. The Congress has enumerated powers, with several restrictions thrown in for good measure. There are even specific restrictions placed on the states.]
Being, largely, self-made men, I somehow doubt it was ever the Framers’ intention that “provide… for the general welfare” be interpreted as “make transfer payments of all kinds from the bulk of the people to certain politically and economically protected classes.” And yet, farmers are subsidized to grow or not grow certain crops. Oil companies making “record profits” are subsidized to do so. What my father-in-law calls “work-brittle” people are subsidized not only to not work, but also to raise their children into trans-generational poverty. Foreign actors are subsidized for… well… for being foreign, I guess.
So, if all these are the exhaustive, enumerated powers of the President and the Congress, what about our pie? What happens to it?
Corrected FY 2009 budget
When we “trim the fat” – remove, that is, those governmental organs the existence of which violates the bounds of lawful, Constitutional government, the picture looks radically different.
Without changing current spending levels, simply reverting the scope of government to its foundations would reduce the federal budget requirements by a whopping 77%! If eliminating the federal income tax entirely would reduce federal receipts by 40%, [and it would — back to the level of the last pre-9/11 budget] we’d still have a 37% (of current budget) surplus, or $1.17 trillion annually. Without changing a thing further, that means we could continue to pursue our Central Asian empire and still pay off our national debt in a mere eight years and change. [Of course, the next logical and moral step would be to cease our Middle Eastern hegemony]
Would that not be just swimming in awesomeness?
The basic facts are these: each and every “New Deal” and “Great Society” reform [read: social program for wealth redistribution] is outdone each and every year by charitable donations from private individuals. That means, after paying, on average, ⅓ of their income to the Beast [in one way or another], Americans still manage to out give even the most philanthropic government in the world — the USA.
And private donors are more likely to ensure their money is properly allocated and actually used in the manner intended.
But I digress. We Americans need to get our noses out of the trough and force our elected representatives to represent us [as opposed to the legion of special interests to whom they pander] and return this country’s government to its Constitutional size and scope. We are the last, best hope of humanity: if we fail to reign in our “small,” “free” government, what hope has the rest of the world? The US is the — to the best of my knowledge — only country that holds inviolate the rights of its citizens to both speak freely [as in, against its government] and defend that speech by force of arms, against foreign or domestic tyranny.
If not us, whom? If not now, when?
More to come….
