Oh, that crazy federal government! It just keeps growing and growing and growing! What to do?
Well, every new session of Congress, the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank, issues another edition of their Cato Handbook. The Handbook invites our representatives to take a look at what they’re doing and how they might do it better. The handbook is fatter than ever this time around. Cato says it’s because the government is fatter than ever.
Ed Crane, Cato’s president, says, “Washington now controls a $2 trillion budget, most of which it redistributes to buy votes, ‘reform’ problems it created, and keep the incumbents of both political parties in power.”
I am happy to report that, in addition to all its other fine proposals to fix things, the Handbook makes a solid case for term limits. After all, term limits would help increase the number of citizen legislators who give the other reforms a fair chance.
The Handbook surveys the successes in the 19 term-limited statehouses around the country and invites legislators in our nation’s capital to limit their terms voluntarily. It reports that it’s the self-limiters in Congress like Matt Salmon of Arizona and Mark Sanford of South Carolina who have proven the most willing to resist the culture of spending in DC.
Want to read all about it? Just visit the Cato website at cato.org. The entire volume is online. And be sure to tell your congressman to start reforming that crazy federal government of ours.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.