Freedom-Fighters Forum

By William J. Dell – January 1993

The Hundred and Third Congress has been sworn in and is ready to do business. What business? Hopefully it is the business for which they were elected. Chiefly to reduce the deficit and reform Congress.

This patriarch believes that a healthy chunk of the deficit could be taken care of by granting the President a line item veto to control the expenditures on Pork Barrel Projects. These projects have NO National Interest. They are simply placing our children and grand-children further into debt.

My generation’s parents grew up through the depression. I believe because of this they developed a mind set from their deprivation. They determined that their children would not want for anything. Hence my generation grew up knowing little of sacrifice and my children’s generation know of it even less. The affluence of our Nation has transferred WANTS into NEEDS regardless of the personal or governmental cost. This attitude must change if we are to reduce our personal and National deficits.

NO entitlement, NO program, NO project, and NO bureaucratic staff should be determined to be above scrutiny. If we are to save our families and Nation from financial ruin, everything must be brought to the negotiating table. If a program has outlived its day, it should be abolished. If a project truly is NOT in the National interest, it should NOT be funded. This is particularly true concerning Congressmen’s Pork Barrel Projects for their home Districts. Staffs need to be cut by at least one-third. This is because they have reached the size were the staff is generating work rather than accomplishing work that needs to be done. Literally billions of dollars can be saved in the budget if only these three things were done. The question is whether the Congress has the guts and honesty to do what “We the People” want and what they were elected to do. It is my hope for the sake of our children and grand-children, that they will finally become Statesmen rather than Politicians.