WASTE IS ALSO THEFT A s early as 1799, Congressman John Randolph was relishing “that most delicious of all privileges - spending other people’s money.” Contrast this to Thomas Jefferson who said, ‘The same prudence which in private life could forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys.” While we may agree with Jefferson in spirit, the reality is that we envy the privilege noted by Randolph and want more of the same for ourselves. As a result Congress can’t resist. Congress is set up to fund causes it favors and then Congressmen are rewarded for funding them. The system has helped create a spending ma- chine. Once something gets in the budget, it stays. The attitude is that if one program falls, all are in danger. The machine can’t be turned off. This is not about just the notion that “I’ll trade you my vote for your support on this bill,” instead it’s the whole Congress saying each member must defend every other member’s spending or he runs the risk of losing his. And what spending. In the Government Racket, Martin L. Gross has listed some of the more brilliant items out of the past few Federal budgets: • $13 million for an industrial theme park in Pennsylvania. • $500,000 for a museum to honor former Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
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