Irresponsibility 101

As a conservative who believes in responsibility, I naturally disagree with much of the spending that President Obama and the 111th congress have shoved through the legislative process. However, we can whine about democrat spending till the cows come home or until the cowboys start winning, and it will not make much difference. Fox News reports that NASA is being forced to spend $500,000,000 on the Ares I rocket, which is cancelled. Last October, President Obama signed into law a new NASA plan, which canceled the Constellation program, an umbrella program that included the Ares I which was meant to replace NASA's aging shuttles. However, even though the program was canceled, congressmen inserted clauses into NASA's budget to prevent NASA from cutting jobs related to the program in their states.

Before anyone claims that is a good thing (they are protecting jobs, right?), may I point out that the money being spent on the program is tax money, i.e. money that has been taken from tax payers. Put simply, money is being taken from the American People to pay American People. In other words, the American People are paying themselves; and that assumes that none of the money is being spent over seas, which I find highly unlikely. It should also be remembered that we technically don't have the five hundred million dollars in our pockets, that money is being borrowed from the next couple generations.

At the same time that we are spending half a billion on building technology that may or may not be used, congressmen are talking about cutting military budgets in order to reign in the budget, despite the fact that we are fighting a war.

Bringing spending under control is simpler than many people are making it. Stop spending money we don't have on programs we don't need just so that you'll look good to your constituents.