A longtime correspondent of TPOL recently (in her own column) suggested that a big part of government’s failure here in the States is due to the poor financial knowledge and actions of government employees.
She pointed out that she has been running businesses since she was 14 (she’s now in her eighties) and learned quickly as she ran her family farm, later publishing and other businesses, how to do things that government employees seem incapable of understanding and doing. And has done that all her life. But that government, and not just today, has constantly demonstrated their inability to do so.
She is right about small, family, “mom-and-pop” businesses. The world and the media may fixate on mega-corporations, but most of the American economy (even in the decadent days of 2023) is built upon such small businesses. Not just in frontier and rural areas, but in the urban jungles and suburban buffer zones, as well. We can’t borrow anything and everything we need: we have to make our books balance or we fail. And if we fail in the wrong way, we suffer and our families and employees and community also suffer. And the suffering can be great.
And she is right about government. About “government employees” who can’t keep books and can’t balance a checkbook. They spend billions and trillions of dollars that the government doesn’t have, even with a license to steal in the form of taxes. They seem incapable of dealing with money in a responsible way.
But (sit down so you don’t fall over in shock) the usual government employees are NOT to blame for this. Indeed, government employees from GS-3 and Private E-1 up to at least GM-13s and O-6s (Colonels or Navy Captains) constantly count the beans, balance the books, and don’t dare spend money they are not authorized to spend. They have to abide by tens of thousands of pages of rules telling when, how, where, and what to do to spend “taxpayer money.” And generally, they are held accountable for it.
But they are NOT the cause.
She is right, to the extent that the Congress-critturs and POTUS and VPOTUS are “government employees” the government is incapable of responsibly handling money. Constantly, consistently, and the latest deficit game we’ve suffered through shows that. THIRTY trillion is NOT enough debt for the FedGov.
But we need to lay the blame where it belongs: it is CONGRESS: 435 Representatives and 100 Senators; who cannot and WILL not balance the books and seem unable to do basic bookkeeping and math. Actually, many of them DO know how, as they have or did have businesses. Or were government employees (in uniform or civil service) and had to. But now? They live in a fantasy world where money is power and like it, seems unlimited.
Yes, the other govt employees aid and abet them in doing this, but the fault lies FIRST with the men and women in Congress. (As I told the correspondent, including ALL three of ours in South Dakota and her five in Nebraska as well as everyone in the past hundred years in those positions.)
But is Congress and the District of Criminals the only place to lay blame? Hardly.
SECOND, the fault lies with the voters who keep sending these people to DC and keep them there! Instead of sending them to prison for fraud, theft, and perjury. I know it sounds harsh… but we are beyond gently prodding, aren’t we?
Why do we think that government can behave and be treated differently from private business? Or that matter, from individuals? (Although the modern welfare state is rapidly corrupting virtually the entire population, teaching them to believe that they need have no personal financial responsibility (or knowledge).)
Because that is what we, our parents, and our grandparents have been taught for a century and more. Government is special! It is beloved of God and created by Him! It is essential and is not expected to meet the same basic requirements of morality, accountability, and responsibility. And we believe that garbage and act accordingly.
As TPOL constantly points out, we must educate ourselves and all those around us, and end this attitude, taking away the power we have ceded to government.
The choice is ours.
About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.
The Price of Liberty 
Are we wrong to blame Congress?
A longtime correspondent of TPOL recently (in her own column) suggested that a big part of government’s failure here in the States is due to the poor financial knowledge and actions of government employees.
She pointed out that she has been running businesses since she was 14 (she’s now in her eighties) and learned quickly as she ran her family farm, later publishing and other businesses, how to do things that government employees seem incapable of understanding and doing. And has done that all her life. But that government, and not just today, has constantly demonstrated their inability to do so.
She is right about small, family, “mom-and-pop” businesses. The world and the media may fixate on mega-corporations, but most of the American economy (even in the decadent days of 2023) is built upon such small businesses. Not just in frontier and rural areas, but in the urban jungles and suburban buffer zones, as well. We can’t borrow anything and everything we need: we have to make our books balance or we fail. And if we fail in the wrong way, we suffer and our families and employees and community also suffer. And the suffering can be great.
And she is right about government. About “government employees” who can’t keep books and can’t balance a checkbook. They spend billions and trillions of dollars that the government doesn’t have, even with a license to steal in the form of taxes. They seem incapable of dealing with money in a responsible way.
But (sit down so you don’t fall over in shock) the usual government employees are NOT to blame for this. Indeed, government employees from GS-3 and Private E-1 up to at least GM-13s and O-6s (Colonels or Navy Captains) constantly count the beans, balance the books, and don’t dare spend money they are not authorized to spend. They have to abide by tens of thousands of pages of rules telling when, how, where, and what to do to spend “taxpayer money.” And generally, they are held accountable for it.
But they are NOT the cause.
She is right, to the extent that the Congress-critturs and POTUS and VPOTUS are “government employees” the government is incapable of responsibly handling money. Constantly, consistently, and the latest deficit game we’ve suffered through shows that. THIRTY trillion is NOT enough debt for the FedGov.
But we need to lay the blame where it belongs: it is CONGRESS: 435 Representatives and 100 Senators; who cannot and WILL not balance the books and seem unable to do basic bookkeeping and math. Actually, many of them DO know how, as they have or did have businesses. Or were government employees (in uniform or civil service) and had to. But now? They live in a fantasy world where money is power and like it, seems unlimited.
Yes, the other govt employees aid and abet them in doing this, but the fault lies FIRST with the men and women in Congress. (As I told the correspondent, including ALL three of ours in South Dakota and her five in Nebraska as well as everyone in the past hundred years in those positions.)
But is Congress and the District of Criminals the only place to lay blame? Hardly.
SECOND, the fault lies with the voters who keep sending these people to DC and keep them there! Instead of sending them to prison for fraud, theft, and perjury. I know it sounds harsh… but we are beyond gently prodding, aren’t we?
Why do we think that government can behave and be treated differently from private business? Or that matter, from individuals? (Although the modern welfare state is rapidly corrupting virtually the entire population, teaching them to believe that they need have no personal financial responsibility (or knowledge).)
Because that is what we, our parents, and our grandparents have been taught for a century and more. Government is special! It is beloved of God and created by Him! It is essential and is not expected to meet the same basic requirements of morality, accountability, and responsibility. And we believe that garbage and act accordingly.
As TPOL constantly points out, we must educate ourselves and all those around us, and end this attitude, taking away the power we have ceded to government.
The choice is ours.
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About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.