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Alex McRae Columnist

Published Sunday, September 18, 2011

Who's in charge?

Fourteen months from now Americans will head to the polls to elect a president, 435 members of the House of Representatives, one-third of the U.S. Senate and thousands of others eager to fill state and local offices.

From now until Nov. 6, 2012, politicians will babble endlessly about debt, deficits, taxes, regulations and swell new policies guaranteed to fix whatever ails your particular interest group.

We might get better electoral results if, instead of listening to a candidate's political promises, we took a hard look at their personal beliefs. Particularly, their beliefs regarding the relationship of the government to the citizens.

The Declaration of Independence spells it out clearly, saying, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

There it is, plain as day. The government derives its "just powers from the consent of the governed." These days, too many politicians believe that citizens should ask the government's consent to do anything. Especially when it comes to money.

Some politicians feel that every dime earned by Americans is the government's and that We the People should only be allowed to spend our hard-earned money as the government sees fit.

This philosophy isn't new. During a 1999 speech in Buffalo, N.Y., then President Bill Clinton was asked what should be done with a federal budget surplus. By definition, governments only have a surplus when citizens pay too much in taxes. In the real world, when consumers are overcharged for goods and services, they expect a refund.

Clinton didn't think taxpayers did, though. Why? Because Clinton didn't think taxpayers were smart enough to decide how to spend their own money.

"We could give it all back to you and hope you spend it right," Clinton said. "But if you don't spend it right, here's what's going to happen ..."

Clinton essentially said it was government's job to decide how to "spend it right." Guess he forgot that "consent of the governed" thing.

During the 2008 campaign Barack Obama was swept into office talking about Hope and Change. He also talked a little bit about your money.

During a campaign stop in Ohio, Obama told a guy named Joe the Plumber that "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Obama didn't have to mention he thought government should decide how to spread the wealth around, not the people who earned it.

The latest entrant in the "government knows best about your money" derby is Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.

When recently asked how much of their own money taxpayers should be "allowed to keep," Schakowsky said, "I'll put it this way. You don't deserve to keep all of it and it's not a question of deserving because what government is, is those things that we decide to do together ..."

So Ms. Schakowsky believes "You don't deserve to keep it all."

Maybe not, but that decision is one the voters should make, not those who hold office.

Government has duties and obligations that need to be funded. But those needs should be identified and funding agreed on with the consent of the governed, not by the whim of those who hold office.

During the next election season there will be plenty of talk. Only one issue really matters: Whether the citizens or the government will run this country. Voters should elect only those public "servants" willing to declare that their job is to seek the consent of the governed, not to decide what scraps from the government table they will allow us to keep.

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(Send your e-mail comments to: alex@newnan.com)

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