AMERICA FIRST BUDGET
“Provide”
or “Promote”?
If you have
NOT read the “America First” budget proposal, but insist on taking a position
on it because of something you read in an op/ed or other media piece, you add
nothing worthwhile to the conversation.
Step one: Read
the Constitution (especially, in this case, the Preamble).
Step two: Read
the budget. https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/2018_blueprint.pdf
Step three:
Research budget items.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to
form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the
general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America.”
Keep in mind that the purpose of the Constitution
is to define the specific role of our government; to define its three branches
and specify the roles of each. In the Preamble, two very important distinctions
are made clear, with respect to those roles: to “…provide for the common
defense…” and to “…promote the general welfare…”.
“Provide” and “promote”. THESE are the
two key words (and concepts), both in the Constitution as well as the “America
First” budget proposal.
In the “America First” budget proposal,
toward the bottom, are various Summary Tables. Table 3 is a good place to start
to understand the budget proposal. The “America First” budget seeks to bolster
the “provide”, keeping it revenue-neutral by restoring the “promote”; fund the
military while getting the government fiscally out of non-Constitutional issues.
Perhaps the second area worth reading is
the “Major Agency Budget Highlights” (Page 5). This provides somewhat further
details on areas of focus for the budget (and its balancing). One paragraph has
the media and Democrats, along with “Establishment” Republicans in a fury:
“The Budget also proposes to eliminate funding for
other independent agencies, including: the African Development Foundation; the
Appalachian Regional Commission; the Chemical Safety Board; the Corporation for
National and Community Service; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the
Delta Regional Authority; the Denali Commission; the Institute of Museum and
Library Services; the Inter-American Foundation; the U.S. Trade and Development
Agency; the Legal Services Corporation; the National Endowment for the Arts;
the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Neighborhood Reinvestment
Corporation; the Northern Border Regional Commission; the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation; the United States Institute of Peace; the United States
Interagency Council on Homelessness; and the Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars.”
But, as I
said, if you are not looking into these budget items, you add nothing to the
conversation.
Two questions
worth researching:
1. How much does the
government grant to these programs now?
2. Are there any private
institutions that do the same thing are these programs?
By way of
example, let’s look at Meals on Wheels (which falls under the Community Development
Block Grant program), a particular touchstone for the media’s, Democrats’ and
Establishment Republicans’ hostility.
The CDBG’s
budget is $3 billion. According to the Meals on Wheels 2015 independently-audited
financial statement (http://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/docs/default-source/financials/meals-on-wheels-america-audited-financial-statements-2015.pdf?sfvrsn=2),
on page 4 (Statement of Activities), Government Grants totaled $248,347.00.
Total revenues (mostly private and corporate donations) were $7,564,588.00. So,
of its total budget, the Government kicked in 3.2%.
THIS is
what has the media, Democrats and Establishment Republicans up in arms.
And, let’s be VERY clear: If I can do this simple
research, THEY can…..and DID….it, too. They KNOW these numbers. BUT, they are BETTING
that Americans will NOT to do their own research. And, these days…..it’s not a
bad bet.
And one
more thing (about the CDBG, since it’s the current topic, but is RAMPANT in all
these programs): These programs are a cesspool of fraud and waste. An example:
in Riverside, CA, an audit in 2016 for poor documentation of their expenses.
They were granted $761,744 from the CDBG, and the audit revealed that most of
the grant money was used to renovate the playground at ONE school. NO money
went to local Meals on Wheels program. ZERO.
What
President Trump is seeking to achieve in the “America First” budget is simply
this: the beginning of the process to restore the government to its
Constitutional principles and limits. He seeks to bolster the “provide” and end
the providing of the “promote”.
