The Perils of Spending

It’s easy to talk in the abstract about government waste, about excessive spending, about Washington bloat. It’s bad! And most everyone, right and left, agrees that it’s bad (appropriators, of course, are the exception). But with all the talk about how bad it is, we often forget to look at why, exactly, and what happens when spending goes compkletely out of control. As Cato’s Elizabeth Karasmeighan explains, that’s exactly what’s happened in California – and now Governor Schwarzenegger is facing the consequences: constituencies angry they’re being cut off from the public dole, backwards spending rules that make cutting spending extremely difficult, and a general fiscal crisis – what to do when there just isn’t enough money?

This is what FreedomWorks’ earmark pledge is about, of course, and why it’s so important for legislators to make a commitment to at least stop the most egregious examples of federal waste. If Congress can’t control itself on something as relatively small as earmarks, is there any chance it will control itself elsewhere?