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When I was a kid, adults always advised me that You
can't have your cake and eat it, too.
It finally dawned
on me that they were probably right, but if I had just
persisted in believing that I could keep the cake that I'd
just eaten, I might have grown up to amount to something --
a congressman.
Usually, we get all our mass mailings from Rep. Joel Hefley in the early fall of even-numbered years. So it was a real surprise to get one of his newsletters when 22 months remain before the next election.
After passing a huge tax-raising budget package to
satisfy its addictive spending habits,
Hefley writes,
Congress must go on a diet.... We don't need new
taxes. Instead, we should roll back the unnecessary taxes
imposed by the 101st Congress, enact a balanced budget
amendment that will force Congress to live within its
means, and give the President a line-item veto so he can
put a check on wasteful, pork-barrel spending by
Congress.
Now that we know precisely where Hefley
stands, what does he want to do this year?
Spend more money, of course. Repeal the Social
Security Earnings Limit,
he says. That increases Social
Security pay-outs, and the money has to come from
somewhere. But old people vote, and the working people who
pay their way often don't. Hefley's understanding of
re-election procedures is vastly greater than his
understanding of fairness or economics.
Commit to COLAs.
COLAs here are not soft drinks,
but Cost of Living Adjustments
-- that is, increased
federal pensions. That's a curious way to save money.
Develop a National Energy Policy.
He wants some
research into solar, biomass, alternative fuels, etc. Good
idea, but it's still a way to spend more tax money. And
besides, Hefley's views are the exact opposite of the
leader of his party, George Bush, whose energy
policy
is to go to war over oil wells.
Continue to fight the War on Drugs.
Continue
to shred the U.S. Constitution
would be more accurate
-- a big expense with no discernible benefit except to
lawyers and bureaucrats.
Make a solid investment in SDI programs.
If SDI
research were based in some other congressional district,
it would qualify as wasteful, pork-barrel spending.
But Colorado Springs, Hefley's base, gets a lot of SDI
money, so SDI is a solid investment.
Hefley wants to cut federal spending, but everything he says he wants to do in the coming year will require more federal spending. He doesn't mention a single program that should be cut.
If you want to eat your cake and have it, too, just get elected to Congress. Are they all this weird, or is it just a peculiarity of the Fifth District?
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