Reversing the Flow Would Solve Many Problems

Reversing the flow of public revenues would be a great idea!


This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions.




Just Who Got Stimulated? – I don’t think it was the private sector. The Federal Government used the State Governments as the disbursing agents for the billions and billions of Recovery Act funds we call the Stimulus Funds. As a result, the states siphoned off a major portion of these funds to alleviate budget short falls which were created by the revenue declines associated with the recession.

As a result, most of the states were able to “save” the jobs of most of the state bureaucrats, using the stimulus monies to avoid laying off the “crats” which fill those thousands of State offices in every capitol city….Tallahassee included. Meanwhile, the private sector was forced to endure massive layoffs of personnel and reductions in expenditures at the same moment in history. Only a small percentage of these “jobs creating” funds actually reached the private sector. Certainly none of it went to help small businesses remain in business, or to stimulate local economies.

Thus, when the federal government brags about the jobs it “saved” through the stimulus plan…most of those jobs were “crat” jobs. However, in this next round of budgeting, unless they can get a second massive “stimulus program” funded, the states will be forced to finally endure the same pain and suffering that is being experienced within the private sector this year.

Since much of our local economy here in Jackson County is based on local, state, and federal employment, we have not yet experienced the real pain and suffering which most of the nation has endured. In some areas of the US, unemployment exceeds 20%, businesses have been forced to close, and the streets are empty. If we do have to actually cut the employment of the sacred “crat” next year, we may experience some of that nightmare here.

Let us all pray that is not the case.



Reversing the Flow…A Good Idea!- The relative relationships between the newly created Federal government and the State governments envisioned by the founders of our nation was the exact reversal of what we have evolved into. They desired a central government with a minimum of influence, function, and funding. As they penned the Constitution they did all they could to assure State’s Rights would be retained and nurtured. They would be saddened and appalled at what we have today.

Through the power of the federal income taxing authority over individuals and businesses, the federal government has been able to “suck” a major portion of all public revenues up to the federal level. This money is the source of the federal government’s power.

In order to regain the rightful position of State governments in the U.S. social, political, and economic structure of our nation, States must regain control of funding.. This could best be accomplished through forcing reduction of the Federal taxing authority and increasing the State level taxing authority. This could be accomplished one functional area at a time.

I would suggest beginning with the national educational systems. I feel that we would be much better off if our Federal government was out of the educational process. The U.S. Department of Education should be eliminated. The funding for education should be collected by the state governments, and then appropriated to the counties within the state for the operation of the schools….no federal funding….no federal guidelines, requirements, policies or rules.

This same process of elimination could then be expanded to include social programs, industrial controls, environmental controls, and many, many other areas where the federal government overrides state and local control. The role of the federal government in our society should be limited to only those areas where it is absolutely necessary that a central authority be in control. This would include inter-state transportation systems, international trade, national military, diplomatic corps, the coining of money, international banking, Wall Street, veterans affairs, federal prisons, and other international and interstate requirements.

The central Federal government has become too powerful, too domineering, too huge to manage, and too incompetent to properly perform. They have become the monster which was most feared by our founding fathers as they penned the Constitution. We must act to reverse this situation if our nation is to ever achieve any level of reform.

As Conservatives we should move enhancement of “States Rights” to the forefront of our goals and objectives.



Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning –

● As you read this I am in the Dominican Republic, performing some engineering-management consulting there for an American Company. This is what I did in my previous life, B.N. … (before newspaper). When I return to good ole Marianna next Saturday I hope to hear that our Commissioners were wise enough to put the prospect of a new $10 million tax dollar funded Admin Building aside until our economy stabilizes.

● (Say something Nice…My New Years Resolution) I was especially touched by the events of the Marianna City Commission last week. Over 100 desperate residents pleaded to their elected representatives to do something to help them cope with electric bills which were consuming almost all of their incomes. Some are in danger of losing their subsidized housing because of their electricity being cut off. Some say their electric bill is more than their social security check…making it impossible for them to pay the bill and survive. They were truly desperate….and pleading for a solution. The desperate tone in their voices still haunts me. For the sake of all of us…I hope there is a remedy.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.