The Fears over Sequestration are Unwarranted

With the sequester set to take effect on March 1st, many politicians and pundits are acting like the world is going to end. But the American people should have no fear: this is just another one of Washington’s manufactured crises.

Just look at this graph posted on Senator Rand Paul’s Facebook page: 

As the graph shows, the sequester is not going to cut a single dime of spending. It will only slightly reduce the rate of spending growth. Federal spending is still going to be higher this year than it was last year and it will rise by $2.4 trillion instead of $2.5 trillion over the next decade. Yes, believe it or not, this minuscule change has put some people into a frenzy. 

This just goes to show how unserious most politicians in Washington are when it comes to fiscal responsibility. Many Republicans preach about limited government and reducing the national debt but they aren’t willing to walk their talk. The hysteria in Washington over the sequester is another reason why Congress has such a low approval rating. 

The sequester is better than nothing but it is still isn’t what we really need. Congress needs to actually reduce spending and stop with the fuzzy math. For starters, how about spending less money this year than they did last year? It seems so easy—but most members of Congress refuse to put their sacred cows on the table. Most Republicans are unwilling to put wasteful Pentagon spending on the table and most Democrats are unwilling to put “social” programs on the table. 

The U.S. is over $16 trillion dollars in debt—not counting unfunded liabilities—and most Republicans and Democrats do not even want to reduce the rate at which spending increases. Now that’s scary. That is something to truly worry about for the sake of the long-term stability of this country.