Government over-spending is people driven. Special interests that gather together and make themselves into a political force to be feared by politicians have created the fiscal messes that surround us.
This has come about because too many Americans somehow think “We the People” doesn’t apply to them when it comes to insuring the proper function of their own government. Sorry, but it does apply.
You don’t want to provide oversight when it comes to the government run schools that your children attend? Don’t be surprised when your kids are taking remedial courses in college, and don’t be surprised when you read about how your kids’ teachers are retiring at 56 years old and receiving an amazing taxpayer funded pension.
You don’t want to take responsibility for your own pension system but instead prefer to rely on Social Security? I’ll let you do the research on that one — visit www.heritage.org and get ready for some really bad news about your future.
The list of governmental boondoggles and entitlement program scams runs long. So, what can little old you do about it? You can wait for the Republican Party to reform itself if you want, but you’re probably too old for political Santa-like stories.
This is a rough way to begin a column that starts a new decade, but as reformers we have a lot of work ahead, and we need you. Politics is a contact sport, and this decade will bring victory or defeat for this country when it comes to a whole host of fiscal, social, and foreign policy decisions. Reformers need you in the fight.
The good news is that leaders like Bruce Donnelly at Surge USA are outlining what can be done at the local level by anyone willing to step up and re-engage in their democracy. That’s what the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) party movement is all about — individuals showing that they care and aren’t just going to just sit around and complain but actually get up and act. Donnelly writes:
“That was one of the keys to the whole Tea Party movement – the sense that we are not alone, and don’t have to just sit down and shut up and accept whatever comes our way because we lost the last election. Instead, it leads from shared frustration into the action plan question — ‘What are you prepared to do about it?'”
Surge USA is a fantastic resource for information and ideas on what you can do instead of just resisting the urge to throw something at your TV. The website –
” — is about empowering many conservative individuals to pursue their own self-interests, and to become actively engaged in the local challenge of stopping the national liberal insurgency as quickly as possible.”
I would encourage you to spend as much time there as needed to gather ideas and formulate an action plan for your street, neighborhood, and community. Read the call-to-action page here.
Bruce Donnelly notes on the margin of this page:
“Create your local Surge.
You are the leaders.
Every person matters.
It’s not about joining a social network group to chat.
It’s not about asking others to sacrifice more and change.
It’s about achieving success by working together.
Be social entrepreneurs.
Figure out what works and help others to replicate it.
Spread the word.”
Get informed. Reach out to your friends and neighbors. Develop low-cost ways to help inform as many people as possible about the local, state and national issues that concern you. This can’t be about waiting for others to do their part.
One foreign diplomat last spring noted that our nation”succumbed to economic ‘groupthink’ and believed its own mythology about being a ‘culture of individual responsibility’ even as it indulged every whim.”
In this new decade Americans must change course — and we all have a duty to contribute to the necessary political solution that has to come before the needed policy solutions.
Happy New Year — and New Decade. Let’s get to work.