Austerity

Muir Boda – Libertarian for Congress in Maryland’s 1st District

The current situation we find ourselves in with respect to the financial situation of the Federal Government is one that should be of grave concern to all Americans. This problem did not arise over night; this has been a slow and gradual step up the rungs to financial insolvency.

One example is the enormous amounts of money we have spent on the War on Poverty. We were told that this would “end poverty as we know it”, and it did, it made it worse.

The extreme failure of the War on Poverty has done nothing to pull people out of poverty, because the poverty that exists is not monetary, it is a cultural poverty. It is a poverty that no government can fix; it is one that requires individuals to be responsible for their actions. Through hard work and dedication one can pull themselves up out of their own situation by attaining success through learning from their failures and doing what is right.

The culture of dependency has nearly destroyed the soul of our country. The welfare state is wrought with fraud and failure. It has deprived generations of their dignity and few ever break out of the cycle. They have become enslaved by dependency and are trapped under the giant footprint of government.

Big Government solutions only lead to more misery, with more people identified as “poor” and it places a heavier burden on hard working taxpayers. The Keynesian Economic examples of Greece, Italy and Spain are a brief glimpse into America’s near future if we do not make drastic changes now.

The successful examples of Austerity, which have been implemented into a variety of forms in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are prime examples of responsible government solutions. These countries are on the road to recovery after slashing government spending and in Latvia’s case they eliminated nearly half of their government agencies. Latvia did borrow money from the European Union, but that was coupled with significantly reducing the size of its government.

Even if we look to the north at Canada, they have seen strong economic recovery from reducing taxes and government spending while responsibly reducing their debt and their deficit.

When coming back home and looking at America’s situation we have to honestly look at our situation and recognize that it is not sustainable. There is no longer a tax base available to sustain increases in taxes to maintain our current levels of spending. We must accept that this is the greatest threat to our National Security and that when addressing these issues there cannot be any sacred cows.

We must begin the era of Austerity in America by eliminating wasteful and fraudulent programs and agencies. We must begin the era of Economic Liberty by lower taxes and eliminating stringent regulations on businesses.  We must begin the Era of A Smaller Government Footprint.