Jim Hightower’s recent article titled, “Playing politics with humanitarian aid”, (see Jim Hightower.com) is just another anti-TEA Party screed falsely attempting to link it with the Republican Party. The article can be summarized: Republicans and TEA Partiers cannot complain about Democrat wasteful and irresponsible spending which rewards Democrat supporters because Republicans similarly spend to reward Republican supporters.
The TEA Party objects, equally strenuously, to wasteful and irresponsible spending by both parties.
The TEA Party believes that politicians in Washington are only authorized to raise and spend money to pay for Constitutionally authorized functions. Politicians are not authorized to tax or borrow money to reward friends or to buy political support.
Government is a terribly wasteful way for doing almost anything. There are no natural forces compelling efficiency or assessing value versus cost. Government bureaucracies became special interest groups which grow without the competition forcing businesses to require efficient, effective, and valuable spending. Thus, politicians continue supporting ever more costly inefficient, ineffective, and often counter-productive programs. E.g., despite spending hundreds of billions the Department of Energy has overseen increased, not reduced, dependence on foreign oil! We’d be better off WITHOUT a Department of Energy.
Additionally, special interest groups surround Federal and State governments arguing for their interests at the expense of the taxpayer. What else explains spending millions to teach Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly?
In fact, hundreds of billions are spent against the overwhelming wishes of the American people. Given a vote Americans would eliminate all subsidies including oil, ethanol, agriculture, alternate energy, etc., all bailouts, all government actions picking winners and losers, all pork barrel spending, all earmarks, and all redundant, failing, low-value, and counter-productive programs. But, politicians fund these programs because special interest groups reward them for wasting hard-earned taxpayer money.
In 2010 the TEA Party worked hard to replace traditional self-interested politicians with a new kind of representative. We fought to elect people committed to the people’s interests, to restoring our country’s greatness, and especially to restoring fiscal responsibility.
Everyone should realize that our country is in trouble. Traditional politicians keep kicking problems down the road.
The TEA Party demands that politicians ignore both leftist and rightist special interests and start addressing our country’s problems. The TEA Party opposes politicians of any party who continue the disastrous policies of the last 50 years. It will support politicians of any party who are dedicated to returning to the policies that made our country the greatest in human history: personal responsibility, small Constitutionally authorized and fiscally responsible government, the rule of law equally applied to rich and poor regardless of political influence, and opportunity for all to work for their dreams.
The TEA Party is dedicated to restoring the policies favoring life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and our country’s financial well-being. If you agree that we owe our children and subsequent generations a better future than the debt ridden one we have currently created, if President Kennedy’s words, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” stir you, then you should join a TEA Party and become part of the effort to put our country back on the right path.
Don Ewing
