Trump, Musk and congressional Republicans should invoke the Crockett principle to deal with government spending.
Democrats should also embrace the wisdom of Rep. Davy Crockett. Yes that Davy Crockett.
Davy Crockett (1786-1836) was an American frontiersman and member of the House of Representatives, having been elected and defeated over the course of his political career. He eventually moved to Texas and died at the Battle of the Alamo or he was executed after being captured by the Mexican army. There is no definitive account of his demise.
The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) reprinted the speech under the title, Not Yours to Give.
The following statement by Crockett in his opening remarks should be the guide for members of regarding the spending of the public’s money.
“I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money.”
In short, the federal government is not a charitable organization. The Constitution does not authorize funding for worthy causes. Worthy causes must be funded by voluntary contributions.
There are some (many) Republicans who want to continue foreign aid and social welfare spending. Their beef with Democrats is not about whether we should have a welfare state but how much the federal government should spend and what programs to support.
This is the existential issue of our time. Voluntarism vs. coercion.
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Trump wants a US sovereign wealth fund.
The WSJ on “dumbest trade war.”
Tom DiLorenzo on Trump’s hero, President McKinley.
Rothbard’s monograph on the why the dollar should be as good as gold.
One of the best essays ever published in the WSJ by Greg Ip. Ip’s essay on risk and insurance explains why we have a huge welfare state. Risk has been socialized in America.
Tom Woods interview Tom DiLorenzo about the Axis of Evil.
Tom DiLorenzo’z pamphlet, Axis of Evil, is now available at the Mises Institute.
Order a free copy of Rothbard’s money and banking classic monograph. Or, you can read it online here.
My December 10 talk on medical care.
Bob Murphy interviews Dr. Keith Smith of the Surgery Center of OK.
Latest podcast on healthcare with host Johnathan Westover; Incentivizing wellness podcast with Bernadette Pajer; the Human Action podcast with Bob Murphy on my American journey; Joseph Cotto and I discuss Argentina and the US, and the Human podcast with Bob Murphy on healthcare; Robert Scott Bell and I discuss healthcare on the second hour of his podcast.
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Murray Sabrin, PhD, is emeritus professor of finance, Ramapo College of New Jersey. Dr. Sabrin is considered a “public intellectual” for writing about the economy in scholarly and popular publications. His book, The Finance of Health Care: Wellness and Innovative Approaches to Employee Medical Insurance (Business Expert Press, Oct. 24, 2022), and his other BEP publication, Navigating the Boom/Bust Cycle: An Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide (October 2021), provides decision makers with tools needed to help manage their businesses during the business cycle. Sabrin's autobiography, From Immigrant to Public Intellectual: An American Story, was published in November, 2022.
Especially when we are $36T in debt.
..."In short, the federal government is not a charitable organization. The Constitution does not authorize funding for worthy causes."...I am sure that every politician believes otherwise. In their minds the government is worthy of doing anything it wants to do regardless of the constitution. The DC swamp can operate in no other fashion without giving up all its power to the people.