There is never any shortage of challenges and problems for us as a nation. Today, two very big problems are recurring federal budget deficits and the painful unemployment among our people.
Ironically, 536 people — the 535 members of Congress and the president — have it within their power almost immediately to solve the federal deficit problem!
Unfortunately, the 10 percent unemployment problem is much more complex and will be much harder for us to solve.
How could Congress and the president solve the deficit problem?
The first step should be for them to read the Constitution — and abide by it.
The Constitution specifies what the federal government should do — and says specifically that it should not do any other things, leaving them to the states or the people.
Much of the excess federal government spending — which causes huge deficits — is a result of unconstitutional activities undertaken by the government. So we should insist it quit doing the unconstitutional things.
We do not need to raise taxes — certainly not!
Raising taxes would cause lots of additional problems of many kinds. But if we quit spending so much and taxing so much, free enterprisers would be left with the means to create more jobs, goods and services, from which low and reasonable taxes could provide more income for the federal government to balance reasonable, constitutional budgets.
So the first step in deficit solution should be to insist that Congress, the president and the rest of the federal government quit spending for things that are not specifically constitutional.
That would go a long way toward reducing the trillion dollars-plus red ink each year, which some presidents and many members of Congress are eager to continue.
Solving the unemployment problem obviously would be more difficult and more complex, and would require reasonable actions by millions of us Americans, not just by 536 people in government. But real solutions are not “secret.”
What has created most of the jobs in our country? We would like to say “free enterprise.” Unfortunately, however, excessive government has come to be a huge employer, too. That not only has helped run up deficits, but government has imposed so many restrictions, regulations and unnecessary burdens upon free enterprisers that there has been discouragement of the creation of really desirable and really productive jobs.
Some say government should “do something” to create jobs. But wouldn’t it be better if government just “quit doing the wrong, unconstitutional, unproductive things” that discourage free enterprise job creation?
We suggest that many would be tremendously surprised how many good jobs would be created — and how much more economic prosperity there would be all across America — if government did only what the Constitution says it should do, and then just “got out of the way,” letting free enterprisers engage in job-producing, prosperity-generating enterprises of many kinds.
America still is a land of potential opportunity. We still have many intelligent, eager, energetic and visionary free enterprisers. Why don’t we “turn them loose,” get government out of the way and see how that would create a real economic boom?
Incidentally, a big economic recovery could solve both the unemployment and federal deficit problems — if we kept spending low and let free enterprise work.
Wouldn’t you like to try that?