I have written close to 2,000 columns. I have been sifting through many of them from 2010. Here’s one, dated April 15, 2010, edited a bit. Hope you like it. (Note that the national debt 11 years ago, was close to $13 trillion, and now it’s over $28 trillion.)
“look at us. We have debts, currently, at close to $13 trillion and committed spending of $170 trillion, both amounts far too large to comprehend. The federal government has borrowed from citizens, China, and anyone else who will lend. It used to be that the income tax paid for expenses, but now it doesn’t even pay the interest.
“We have managed to create enemies around the world by interfering in others’ business, lifestyles, and politics, especially in Muslim nations. Why are we in Afghanistan, and Iraq? Why are we responsible for millions of innocents being put to death in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Korea? Did any of these nations harm or threaten us? Those wars have reduced the value of our dollar so much, that they will buy but perhaps 30% of what they bought before Korea. The devaluing dollar has made saving in it stupid, even though most still do. We have decapitated cities, jobs and manufacturing gone overseas, plus a huge underclass. How did it happen?
“Several things happened, and not just when FDR came into office. They all rotate around, and have been committed by…the Federal Government. Every single problem or situation we have now, in this once land of the free and home of the brave, was instigated by the Federal Government, Congress, and the Presidency, which operates it. The concept of public schools, and for that matter ‘public’ anything, is certain to lead to corruption, inefficiency, huge costs, and little accomplished. Would you rather use a private bathroom or a public restroom? The concept of public schools, arose from the usual reasons which politicians always use, and that is, ‘it’s for the public good,’ or ‘everyone should have an education’. Everyone should have a car, nice home, and ample food too. So far, everyone isn’t going to get those things at taxpayer expense, so why should government force taxpayers to pay for, and force attendance to a public school? Public schools are a disaster, simply because they are ‘public,’ and everyone thinks they are ‘free.’ Property taxes on everything, pays for public schools, and they are not ‘free.’ Before public schools, America was infinitely better educated than they are now. Check out a fourth grade McGuffy’s Reader of 125 years ago and see for yourself. The public school idea, has proven to be a disaster of titanic proportions, but no one knows how to stop it. (McGuffys are available at Amazon -2021)
“Voting used to require people to be able to pass a literacy test and pay a small poll tax before they were allowed to vote. This sifted out those who were unable to make a good decision, or even know what they were voting for, and a dollar poll tax paid for the cost of the election. When the ‘voter rights act’ was passed, do-gooder liberals invaded poor sections of America, registering everyone Democratic, and a result, we have even more inept voters, succumbing to the lure of Democrat promises of ever more largess from the public treasury. America has a crop of politicians who are an absolute disgrace, because of the overwhelming number of inept, low IQ, uneducated voters they have fostered. What is wrong with a voter being able to know what’s going on, and to have to pay a dollar to vote? As an addition, why not require a voter to prove he has a job or even own property?
“When FDR and his Democrats passed Social Security, which has naturally become a habit-forming nightmare, Americans forgot how to prepare for the future and save. Social Security will be with us forever, its cost will escalate infinitely, and is already bankrupt, with not a single dime in the till. What everyone ‘needs,’ and what our Constitution says government should do and provide, are opposites. People should work and produce for what they ‘need,’ and not have it given to them by vote buying politicians who love to tell us what we ‘need,’ so they can stay in office and run up the national debt. They passed food stamps, Medicare, and Medicaid, ‘because everyone needs good health and food to eat.’ The camel got its foot in the tent, and now is in the tent, eating us alive. We’ve just become another cog in the big wheel of socialism, communism, totalitarianism, and total government.
“The first public housing was built in 1937, to the delight of FDR and his Democrats, because ‘people need to have a place to live,’ and the ruin of our cities was begun. White flight, huge oil consumption, taxpayer paid freeways, air pollution, slums, abandoned houses and cars, crime, frayed nerves, billions of hours wasted in travel time, lost city tax base, downtown shopping, profitable convenient, streetcar, and bus travel commuting to work in the cities, was lost, just to name a few. I haven’t even mentioned the Federal Reserve, which has no reserve, and is not federal, plus the income tax, which was sneaked into law in 1913, and probably caused the great depression. (The word ”snuck,” is terrible grammar, and far too many use it!). The 16th Amendment (income tax) was not legally ratified, but the Supremes say it was, even though absolute proof exists that its ratification was totally unconstitutional. We’ll keep paying forever, I assume. If all these things were stopped dead in their tracks, here’s what I would do:
“(1) Prohibit any new entries into Social Security, but allow those in it to continue. We would be rid of it in a couple of decades.
“(2) Prohibit any new entries into Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, and refund to all those under 30, what they have put in.
“(3) Eliminate all federal subsidies for public schools, public housing, and public anything. Let states decide what they want to pay for, al la the Tenth Amendment.
“(4) Gradually eliminate all federal bureaucracies, beginning with the immediate removal of the Department of Education. Want a shocker? Google “Federal bureaucracies and agencies,” and you’ll be amazed at the nonsense which goes on in D.C.
“(5) Eliminate all federal mandates to states, counties, and cities. These cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and are in obvious contradiction to the Tenth Amendment.
“(6) Stop all foreign aid, and that’s another Google request you will be amazed at viewing. We pay over $50 billion a year, and to many who don’t even like us.
“(7) Naturally, bring all troops home, declare neutrality, and have the strongest, most efficient, most modern, armed forces in the world, at home, not anywhere else. Let the rest of the world be envious of our newfound freedom, small government, strength, and strong dollar. Let them know we will destroy any attack on us, and let the rest of the world be on their own.
“We are at a time in history, when it might be possible to save America from the natural progression of nations throughout history, which seem to have a lifespan of about 200 years. We’re way past that. It would be difficult, seeing the low quality of voters who always vote for Democrats, and have been hooked on handouts from the public treasury. Mistakenly, most people look to government to fix things, but government always makes things worse, and at a huge cost to debt and decline of the dollar. Government, rather than fixing anything, creates ever more bureaucracies, destructive laws, regulations, rules, and mandates, which have destroyed America.” That’s what I thought eleven years ago, and still do.
-Don Stott
don@coloradogold.com