Have you met your representative and senator? He is a nice guy. She isn’t bad either. They certainly sound good on TV. Let me explain why they don’t listen to us and why our government gets bigger and bigger. The reason is simple. Government gives away big things to big people. That isn’t a fault; it’s a feature.
Let’s say a Democrat proposes another late night class for immigrants. A Republican proposes another restriction on imports. Each bill only costs you another dollar in taxes. Each bill only adds one more form to the sea of regulation controlling US business. What you don’t see is that each bill puts a hundred million dollars into a contractor’s hands as they administer the new program. See what happens next.
You won’t show up for the vote on this bill. It’s not worth it to show up for a new bill that only costs you a dollar a year. You won’t show up and promise campaign donations for a bill that only adds one single new regulation on your business. It isn’t worth it. It costs you hundreds of dollars to visit your legislators home office in your district. It costs you thousands of dollars to see your legislators in DC. You won’t go lobby against these bills, but the contractor will. He will go lobby, because it is millions of dollars to him. The contractor will talk to your legislators because that new bill regulates more of his completion out of business.
You won’t write a position paper saying the bill is worthless. The contractor and his lobbyist will fund a research paper… from academics in the senator’s home state, that show that this bill will part the seas and make bread and honey fall from the skies. Don’t worry; if the first academic paper doesn’t say this, the second or third one will.
The senator reads this paper into the record, because you didn’t show up and tell your side of the story. Not for a dollar. You’re not there when the funding is renewed next year either. Not for a dollar a year. In theory a government rules for all of us. In practice, each bill has to concentrate the benefits rather than spread them around.
Repeat this series of events a thousand times a year. You’re a thousand dollars poorer every year. The politician is millions of dollars richer. Real needs go unmet and our nation is farther in debt. The power to regulate is the power to control.
This is an election year. There is one simple rule that saves us. Vote against the incumbent unless he made government smaller. It is a simple rule and it works. I didn’t say it was easy. You have to do your homework and check your legislator’s record. Is it worth it? It only costs you a few thousand dollars a year and the life of your business. Is that worth it to you?
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/speakup-global/8655666008/
