Big Enough To Give, Strong Enough To Take

Last week President Obama and First Lady Michelle flew to Los Angeles to each appear on entertainment television shows. The President did a segment on comedian Jimmy Kimmel's show while the First Lady taped a show with daytime host Ellen Degeneres. Nothing wrong with that, plenty of Presidents and First Ladies have appeared on television shows.

But, instead of both of them flying on the same flight, they each flew on separate planes. The First Lady taped the show and then returned to Washington while the President stayed around for another day to attend a fundraiser then stopped by Phoenix before returning to Washington.

So both of them were in the same town on the same day but couldn't take the same flight. I wonder what was so important that the First Lady couldn't have stuck around for another day and saved the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in additional costs? Those are our tax dollars that are funding those trips and I wonder if they took even a single second to think about how much it was costing for them to appear on a comedian show and a day time talk show?

Lest you think this whole column is bashing the Obamas, then think again. This is just the latest example of a government that doesn't seem to understand that money comes from somewhere. If we wanted to do just a very little research we can come up with example after example of government waste by all political parties at every level of government.

Now, granted, some elected and government officials take their fiduciary responsibilities very seriously and try to ensure that they are always stingy with our money. But even the most fiscally conservative (read in the word tightest) of us will slip up from time to time and spend money frivolously. I always tried to remember that any dollars that I spent or voted on had to come from the people but I know that I probably made decisions that people could question my reasoning.

So, I understand that those entrusted with our money will not always make the best decisions. But, there are honest disagreements of spending and flat out waste. Unfortunately there are far too many people that just don't care that they are wasting our dollars. They aren't held accountable so why should they be concerned.

But, before we lay all the blame on the bureaucrats and politicians, let's take a hard look at ourselves and what we ask out of our government. I found during my time in Jefferson City that everyone was in favor of limited spending right up until the budget cuts affected some issue that they particularly liked and then we "had" to find the money to keep that program funded.

It's true that you are always going to have differing opinions of what is important and what isn't. But, if we ever want to get serious about getting government spending under control then all of us need to be willing to put everything under the microscope and be honest as to whether or not our favorite or "pet" programs are really necessary. Until we are willing to do that then we are going to just see the deficit soar to new and higher levels unthinkable just a very few years ago.

In our ever striving to make our lives easier and more comfortable, we have forgotten what are necessities and what are desires. Of course, all of us can justify just about everything in our lives as a necessity but if we were to take an honest assessment we would find a big difference exists between a need and a want.

I am not saying that wanting nice things is a bad thing. But, when we start talking about our tax dollars, we should be more focused on the things that government should be providing with those dollars than on what we think are just "nice to have." I'm pretty sure that some folks could justify spending over a million dollars for the President and the First Lady to be able to fly to Los Angeles to appear on a couple of entertainment shows.

But, can anyone truly believe that those are necessities? And just because everyone else has done it is not a good excuse. Didn't buy that from my kids and sure not going to buy it from my government. I think about the quote I read that says, "A government that is big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have." Think about that one.