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Taxes & Spending

The Founding Fathers envisioned a country with power in the hands of the people, and a very weak central government that focused only on protecting our rights and defending us from foreign invaders.  If our federal government did nothing but those two things, it could do them better and at a very small fraction of their current budget.  However, both Republican and Democratic politicians continue to find new and creative ways to invade your wallet, and come up with important-sounding justifications for their actions.

With as many taxes as Americans pay (income taxes, social security taxes, medicare taxes, payroll taxes, fuel taxes, telephone taxes, etc), the federal government still can't manage to limit spending to the revenue they collect.  Deficit spending can only be fueled by borrowing or "printing" new money, which leads to higher taxes and inflation.

First, it is important that the government cut spending in the following areas:

• Stop bailing everyone out.  The market is extremely efficient at punishing inefficient businesses.  It's called "let poorly-run companies fail, and allow more efficient competitors to swoop in and do a better job."  Bailing out companies that don't know how to meet consumer demand only delays the inevitable -- At our expense.
• End Needless Wars: In addition to our soliders fighting an endless war in the Middle East, we have troops stationed in 130 countries around the globe, including wealthy nations such as Germany and Japan.  We need to spend our defense dollars on defending America, not other countries.  Bringing our troops home would be one of the single largest moves we could make to cut spending.
• Eliminate the Department of Education.  The Department of Education does nothing but soak up money and lower the standard of education.  The federal government needs to get their hands out of education, not only because they have no Constitutional authority to be involved, but because this is an issue best handled at the local level.  Schools should be held accountable to parents, not bureaucrats.
• Eliminate the Department of Energy.  Throughout our country's history, free markets have been the driving forces behind innovation.  If we are ever going to adopt clean and renewable energy on a large scale, and solve any environmental problems that may exist due to global climate change, it will be because the free market is able to compete with oil on a level playing field without government interference.  Our government provides subsidies to oil companies that give them a "leg up" on any alternative forms of energy.  Getting rid of government roadblocks will do more to boost the alternative energy industry than anything else.

Once spending has been cut, we can work on reducing the tax burden for Americans.  We should start by eliminating the personal income tax.  It was before 1913, when the income tax was instated, that our country became the most prosperous on earth.  Today, our jobs are moving to other countries that will soon overtake us in economic prosperity if we don't change this course.