by Lara McKusky

Created on: February 19, 2009

When people begin to discuss government spending, they immediately launch into what programs should be kept, cut down or done away with. Personal stories about living on government and the tragedies that would abound should said programs be cut ensue. Everybody has a sick aunt, a poor grandmother, etc etc who would affected. But I say, government spending should be cut drastically, and I'll tell you why.

First of all let us look at the origins of Federal Government. Back when we were just a bunch of colonies, people noticed that certain roads weren't being kept up because they were outside of drawn county or other local lines. Buildings and people that fell between county and colony lines were left to fend for themselves. So it was decided that if everyone pitched in, they could all care for the roads that they all used for visiting and delivering of goods, among other things. As the number of people in the colonies increased, so did the list of things taxes could be used to pay for: schools, public buildings to house larger and larger gatherings of people for the purpose of government, and later libraries and post offices, all for the good of the people. It made sense to collaborate and dole out funds on ideas that made life easier for everyone. A little compromise, a little give and take, a little cooperation for the greater good.

At some point, the government grew to such a point that the farmers that had been willingly coming in on their off-seasons to help govern the people started demanding recompense for their time. The reason: government participation was starting to infringe on their primary income, farming. So they decided what was reasonable and they earned a wage for government participation for part of the year and then farmed the rest of the year.

So now let us move on to step two in this dissection: budget cutting in a general sense. We're all experiencing this recession. What are you doing at home to cut costs? You maybe cut back on "extras" that is, a smaller cell phone package, no cable TV, spending less at the grocery store. In extreme cases, financial gurus have counseled that people sell their cars or even their homes because they are so in debt. Move into a smaller home, get a car that's not a gas guzzler (thereby lowering two debts in one) and pay off bills with the money generated from the sales. In other words: prioritize, compromise and then make some sacrifices to make ends meet.

So where, I ask you, are our government's priorities?

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