The Walker Recall, budgets and jobs

Chris Wodke

http://www.summittrainingpublications.com/

In December of this year, Governor elect Scott Walker put out a press release on his web site. 

“The State of Wisconsin is facing a $150 million current fiscal year budget shortfall and $3.3 billion long term structural deficit.  According to a report by the non partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau published this July the deficit is $2.5 billion.  The State of Wisconsin has been on a dangerous course of out of control spending.

We have been living large and putting on the charge for far too long in Wisconsin and in the nation as a whole.

Here is what some of our greatest thinkers have said about debt:

-“To Preserve or independence we must not let our rulers load us with public debt.”-Thomas Jefferson

“Thrift comes too late when you find it at the bottom of your purse.”-Seneca

“He who does not economize will have to agonize.”-Confucius

“If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting.”-Ben Franklin

“A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it, has earned- this is the sum of good government.” –Thomas Jefferson

“It is immoral for one generation to pass on the results of its extravagance in the form of debts to the next generation.”-Thomas Jefferson

“If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them, they must be happy.” –Thomas Jefferson

“…I take that it is best for all to leave each man free to acquire property as fast as he can. Some will get wealthy. I don’t believe in a law to prevent man from getting rich: it would do more harm than good.”-Abraham Lincoln

“The Utopian schemes at leveling and a community of goods are as visionary an impractical as those which vest all property in the crown.” –Samuel Adams

-“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father has acquired too much, in order to spare others who (or whose fathers) have not exercised equal industry and skill is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, to guarantee to everyone a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.”-Thomas Jefferson

-“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its constitution; I mean an article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.”

-Accumulation of debt is perhaps the Natural disease of all governments. And it is not easy to conceiver anything more likely than this to lead to great and convulsive revolutions of Empire.”- Alexander Hamilton

Walker and the legislature made tough choices to balance the budget for the State of Wisconsin. Similar tough choices must be made in Washington. Our founders never envisioned the current high spending on entitlements and growth of government. They planned for little power for the federal government. The founders planned for charity to come from private individuals, not the government. As you can see by the quotes listed, their intention was for citizens to keep as much of their property as possible they never planned to re-distribute it.   To pay for all it’s spending the state and federal government has had to raise taxes. Less money in the private sector means less for job creation.

High deficits also erode our personal freedom.  The more we send to government the less we have to achieve the things we want in our lives. We sometimes have little choice on the way our government spends and sometimes wastes money. Tax freedom day now extends well into May. That means we are working almost 5 months to pay our government. That means less time with our families, less time getting an education or pursuing our happiness. It means more time working to pay for programs that we don’t approve of or don’t benefit us.

Walker made tough choices and he and many Republician lawmakers are facing recalls. Where will the political courcage come from to balance budgets if lawmakers are recalled for making tough decisions.

We can't have an strong economy that creates jobs if we continue to spend money in government to we don't have. Think about that if faced with the decision to voter Walker and his fellow Republicians out of office.