Earkmarks, Earmarks, Earmarks!
This is how it goes: a politician points out a couple earmarks that sound horrible and continually talk about them in an effort to stir up your emotions and get your vote. I've talked about this before but I think it's important to remind everyone what earmarks are. Earmarks, while they can seem wasteful, are not bad. Earmarks are a way for politicians to give a little back to the tax payer and fund worthy projects in their precinct. If every dime were earmarked we would know exactly how our money is being spent.
Stop allowing the politicians to dangle million dollar projects in your face when earmarks are but a fraction of our budget and hardly an issue.
Earmarks account for approximately 1% of the entire budget. Instead of pointing out wasteful spending on unnecessary projects and unnecessary country building all you hear about is a very small fraction of the budget being spend on earmarks. Nobody is talking about the cost to maintain our military presence in 150 countries. No one is talking about the costs to pay for welfare, SSI and medicare. Nobody wants to hear about that, they just want to hear one more time about that bridge to nowhere.
59% of our budget went to national defense last year. "National defense" is a term used lightly, obviously. With much of our troops and budget being spent to defend other countries you have to wonder why they call it national defense and not international defense. You can't talk about these numbers. Both parties know that people expect their government checks and you don't dare tell people we're wasting money in 150 other countries.
Pittsburgh Tax Day Tea Party
What are you doing on April 15th? I know what I'll be doing. I'm planning on joining the protest for the Tax Day Tea Party in Pittsburgh. If you are in the Pittsburgh area keep an eye out for me. I'm sure I won't be hard to spot. If you aren't in the Pittsburgh area there are plenty of other Tea Party's going on. Check here to see if there is one near you.
If you are on Facebook there is also a group.
Check out #TLOT and @TLOT on Twitter for updates on the event and much more.
What is Going On?
I can't help but feel a little confused. I almost have to ask myself, "where am I?" This surely isn't America. The bailouts were the begining of the end. The U.S. government, paying off the debts of a private company? Then you have congress, angry over a private company paying their employees bonuses. Yes, with bailout money, that they shouldn't have to begin with. To top the crap sandwich off we have the President of the United States forcing the CEO of GM to resign.
The over reaching from our government is disturbing. They've been getting involved in more ways than ever necessary. The President of the United States has no business firing the CEO of a private company, congress has no right to bailout private industries or controlling their employee's bonuses. Some people feel that we must do whatever it takes to save our industries. Those people have a fundamental misunderstand of how the system works. Nothing is too big too fail.
I wonder why more people aren't upset. The mood in our country has turned for the worse and mostly towards Wall Street and the way congress is handling the mess. The anger is rightfully so. They need to be reminded the restraints created by the constitution aren't there to be worked around. They have been allowed absolute power for far too long. They need to be voted out, Republicans and Democrats, if they are not fighting for us and the constitution.
Welcome!
Welcome to the new TDC, where your voice is heard.
I decided to move away from the standard one man blogging system of Wordpress to a network built with Drupal to allow more people to have a say on TDC. If you've even been to Dailykos.com (a liberal diary system) or RedState.com (a right-wing diary system) you know what I'm going for. The Daily Conservative is not trying to take these people head on. I see this site as an alternative to both of them.
What is the difference?
If you are a far right conservative RedState.com is a great place to go. If you are a neoconservative you'll feel right at home with them. That may offend some of their users but hey, we are what we are. If you are more of a traditional conservative, someone who aligns themselves a little more towards Libertarian ideals, you will feel more at home with The Daily Conservative.
