Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky just introduced a plan to fix Washington D.C.’s compulsive spending problem – but will it work?
Squandering taxpayer dollars seems to be a driving urge that neither party can resist completely. The habit has resulted in the deeply irresponsible procurement of $30 trillion in national debt – a huge burden on future generations of Americans.
Regrettably, the political establishment is unwilling to touch the issue despite a broad public consensus that the debt must be dealt with. According to one poll, 75% of Americans “agree that we should worry about the national debt and that too much federal debt could hurt the economy.”
But Washington D.C. isn’t interested.
Most politicians fecklessly keep squandering money, heedless of our mounting debt. The small handful who do more than just talk about limiting our debt and actually do something about it, never get far.
Senator Paul’s proposed budget, his “Six Penny Plan,” is well-intentioned, and, if passed, would balance the federal government’s budget in 5 years.
“We cannot keep ignoring this problem at the expense of taxpayers and my budget will put our nation on track to solve this crisis that Congress created.”
His press release on the topic explained that, “Americans everywhere are feeling the effects of historical high inflation and sustaining labor and supply chain issues. Short-term political gains of the past, are in fact causing us harm now. Not to our children and grandchildren off in the future, but to us here today.”
Senator Paul understands why Congress needs to balance its budget, and his efforts are respectable but they are bound to end in defeat – and he knows it.
In the past, the Senator from Kentucky has introduced similar proposals, all of which failed in Congress. For those who doubt just how out of touch Congress has become, this is the proof: an issue that has broad, bi-partisan concurrence amongst the American people has repeatedly been snubbed by our elected officials.
Daily, we stagger closer to the brink of insolvency. Something must be done about our debt. Rand Paul may receive worthless kudos from his political base for at least trying, but we need more than that.
For as long as attempts to decelerate spending are made through Congress, they will fail. That’s why we need the Convention of States.
The Convention of States has a viable solution to impose fiscal restraints on the federal government – and we don’t need Congress’ approval. By calling a convention, we can work around our politicians and do what they refuse to do: protect our future by demanding responsibility and prudence from those who spend our money.
To do something meaningful about our massive national debt, sign the petition!
Physicians for COS
The diagnosis is clear.
We have a growing cancer today known as the Obamacare. As a result physicians are no longer free to practice medicine.No profession feels the full force of the federal government more than physicians. The medical profession is the most highly regulated profession in the United States. The practice of medicine is controlled, taxed, and regulated to the point of being destroyed by the heavy hand of the federal government.
Physicians are told how to bill, how much to charge, and how to treat patients. They are mandated to use expensive electronic medical records. The federally enacted HIPPA (Health Information Privacy and Portability Act) makes the communication between physicians and atients burdensome, inefficient,and expensive. Every physician is required by federal mandate to register with the government to obtain an NPI (national provider identifier.) We are required by federal law to obtain and pay for a license to prescribe medication through the DEA, which is separate from our state licensure.
This heavy hand of government not only oversees the largest federal health bureaucracy ever created, but by extension reaches into every state, every city, and every small town to regulate how every licensed physician practices the art of medicine and how citizens obtain care.
The treatment is also clear.
The prescription for a cure was written into our constitution by our founders. Article V of our constitution allows for the states to call for a convention of states to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government through the proposal of constitutional amendments. Physicians should be the strongest supporters of this brilliantly-crafted states’ rights tool placed into our constitution by our founders.
I urge my fellow American physicians to join with me in supporting an Article V Convention of States to take back control of the practice of medicine. It’s the only way that we can return the practice of medicine back to the intimate relationship between a doctor and patient without interference by the heavy hand of a distant, national government.
Jeffrey I. Barke, M.D. Family Physician Newport Beach, CA