This week, the director of the Congressional Budget Office announced the health care legislation is going to cost about $115 billion more than expected. This brings the total in health care spending up to about $1 trillion — so far.
I have a pet skunk. His name is Odysseus. He is 4 years old and was rescued from an exotic pet store. He is a creature of little action who knows what is necessary and what isn’t. He would make the perfect modern legislator.
The added $115 billion to the already hefty price tag for health care reform should come as no shock to anyone. I bet living under our government would be far less expensive if we replaced many of the spend-happy politicians in Washington with pet skunks. Just imagine: It wouldn’t cost America trillions of dollars to satisfy politicians’ egos with “legacy, landmark legislature,” but only about $40 a month in vegetables and the occasional peanut. Unfortunately, politicians aren’t so easily satisfied. Instead, the modern politician desires giant spending projects that only glorify their own time with little concern for cost or practicality.
They should be looking out for America’s best interests—including financial interests. We are now witnessing in Europe what happens when governments run out of other people’s money to borrow and spend. Our federal deficit last month was four times higher than it was in April 2009. We are headed in the wrong direction. We are different from Greece in degree, but not in kind.
Congress needs to act more concerned with the interest of the public than with its own agenda. Seeing as how our government has no interest in implementing free-market strategies to accomplish goals, I see little immediate hope for a reduction in the bill Congress is racking up.
So: Odysseus for Congress in 2012! While many modern legislators see “protecting our financial interests” as a gray area, with Odysseus, it’s all black and white.
Bryan Griffin is a first-year law student.
