"Vote Early And Often" - Voting Results

On May 29, 2010, we ran a post entitled, "Vote Early and Often." The main theme of that post was to allow you to go to two websites and vote on wasteful spending programs you wanted to see the political class eliminate. The post discussed the fact that the political class has rigged the election processes, almost always ensuring that incumbents would get re-elected so that there is currently no viable way to recall politicians from office for wasteful spending. These two websites provide that opportunity to start a process of finally getting Federal government under control.

The first website is www.republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut. Every week you can vote on one of five spending wastes that the Federal government currently supports and the Republicans in the House have committed to taking the most popular one (i.e. the spending program that got the most votes for elimination) and bring that program to the floor of the House Of Representatives for a vote. In only the first two weeks, the website has seen hundreds of thousands of Americans vote for which wasteful programs they wanted to see eliminated. In the first week, the House, mostly Democrats, defeated the first issue voted for repeal, a $2.5 billion welfare program adjustment that incented people not to work. In the second week, the House, again mostly Democrats, defeated the second issue voted for repeal, an effort to freeze all Federal workers salaries, including Congressional members, for one year. This would to help get spending under control during a time when millions of Americans do not even have a job, never mind getting raises.

The sad part of this process is that Democrats did not even have the courage to make a few very modest budget cuts to help reduce the deficit. You can bet that they will not have the guts to take the truly difficult steps of cutting trillions of dollars from future budgets. The freezing of salaries is particularly galling since we have shown in this blog that the vast majority of Federal workers already make far more in salary and benefits than their counterparts in the private sector. Also, we saw yesterday that three quarters of Americans, according to a Pew Research study, feel that Congress does not have a positive impact on society. Thus, if we were truly grading their performance, I am sure the current Federal politicians would not get their annual raise, we might even ask them to start giving money back, given their poor record of performance.

The other website we asked you to visit and vote on wasteful government programs was at www.loathemygovernment.com and go to the Misspending page. On that page are listed 43 actual Federal spending programs that we have gathered from several credible news sources including Parade Magazine, the Associated Press, and Martin Gross's book, "The Government Racket 2000, All New Washington Waste From A to Z." Those 43 programs are listed below. The voting to date, i.e. since the website went up, has yielded the following results:

• Nineteen of the 43 programs have never received a vote supporting the funding of the project. Thus, 100% of the respondents felt that the $1,000,000 spent to study how to cross the street in Utah, the $300,000 of taxpayer money spent to study the feasibility of building an enclosed raceway in Ohio, or seventeen other Federal projects received received absolutely no support.
• Twenty two of the projects listed received less than 10% favorable views from those who voted, i.e. over 90% of the voters did not think that these twenty two projects were worthwhile.
• Only one project out of the 43 received more than 10% support and that was item number 21, $150,000 to support the Grammy Foundation. However, it was not overwhelmingly supported with only 13% of the voters supporting this expenditure.

It is clear from the results of Americans' voting at both websites that we are not tolerant of wasteful spending in these tough economic times. However, it does not stop the politicians from continuing to spend on these wasteful programs and blocking all efforts to curtail their spending. Remember, when the Statue Of Liberty needed to be refurbished in the 1970s, it was done via private funding. To now spend taxpayer money to build a farmers' market in Kentucky or a bike trail in Michigan when the symbol of our country had to make do with private funds is an insult to our heritage. If Miss Liberty did not get taxpayer money than pork barrel projects of the political class should not get taxpayer money either. It's a disgrace.

Let me leave you with one other insult tonight. According to a June 8, 2010 article by Jim McElhaton on the Newsmax website, American taxpayers recently paid out $8 million to build a public walkway and park space in front of a Hoboken, New Jersey luxury condominium complex. Why did the owners of the luxury condo building get taxpayer help, even though public records show that the originally agreed to pay the $8 millions themselves in order to get building approval? Seems that New Jersey's Senators, Lautenberg and Menendez, agreed to get the owners $8 million in funding in exchange for about $100,000 in campaign donations. Pathetic.

That is why it is critical to dump all incumbents in November and start the process outlined in Step 39 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government", term limits for all Congressional seats, since this set of politicians is incapable of controlling their spending and bribery for campaign donations. It is truly pathetic.

Wasteful Federal Spending From www.loathemygovernment.com

1. $500,000 for a “Teapot Museum” in North Carolina

2. $3,000,000 to the First Tee Organization whose mission is to “promote character development and life enhancing values through the game of golf.”

3. $500,000 to buy 21 train cabooses to be repurposed for a “caboose motel” in Titusville, Pennsylvania.

4. $500,000 to buy 21 train cabooses to be repurposed for a “caboose motel” in Titusville, Pennsylvania.

5. $500,000 to buy 21 train cabooses to be repurposed for a “caboose motel” in Titusville, Pennsylvania.

6. $5,000,000 to build a new Parliament building in the Solomon Islands, a part of the British Commonwealth.

7. $1,500,000 for a federal study of parking at truck stops.

8. Over $200,000 for a cat and dog census in a California county.

9. $445,000 for a Hudson River scenic overlook from Route 9 to the waterfront in Poughkeepsie, New York.

10. $77,826 for the study, “Coping With Change in Czachoslovakia.”

11. $125,000 to compile a “Simo-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus.”

12. $400,000 to study the “The Expressive Culture of the San Blas Islands” in Panama.

13. A $1,000,000 Utah study on how to cross the street.

14. $250,000 for research to cut asparagus industry labor costs.

15. $200,000 to Ocean Spray to market white cranberry juice in Great Britain.

16. $2,000,000 to construct a parking facility at the University of Incarnate World, a Catholic institution in San Antonio despite adequate existing parking facilities.

17. $70,000 for a Paper Industry Hall of Fame in Wisconsin.

18. $70,000 for a Paper Industry Hall of Fame in Wisconsin.

19. $519,000,000 in farm subsidies in the 1995 - 2003 period, to Riceland Foods in Arkansas. Riceland receives more Federal money in a typical year than all the farmers in 12 other states combined.

20. $300,000 for a feasibility study for the world’s first fully enclosed motor speedway in Ohio.

21. $150,000 to the Grammy Foundation to support Grammy Camp where 60 students learn the music business.

22. $775,000 to the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida - part of a project to provide economic opportunity in areas of low or moderate income. However, Coral Gables’ per capita income is almost 20 percent above the national average.

23. $213,000 for olive fruit fly research in France.

24. $1,900,000 for the Center For Grape Genetics in New York.

25. $2,500,000 for fish waste research in Alaska.

26. $1,200,000 for cormorant control in several states (cormorants are birds - this is one example where you honestly say your taxpayer money is “for the birds”, “flying the coop”, etc.).

27. $750,000 for the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa.

28. $350,000 for the Museum Of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia.

29. $250,000 for a bike path between Lexington and Port Sanilax, Michigan

30. $350,000 to widen Bristol Street in Santa Ana, California

31. $1.8 million to renovate the Historical Fort Hamilton Community Club in the New York City area.

32. $18.9 million for a center at the University of Massachusetts "dedicated to educating the general public, students, teachers, new Senators and Senate staff about the role and importance of the Senate."

33. $200,000 for the Arkansas Commercial Driver Training Institute.

34. $150,000 for education programs and exhibitions at the Washington DC National Building Museum.

35. $134,000 for the Montana World Trade Center.

36. $100,000 for the Myrtle Beach International Trade and Conference Center.

37. $500,000 for exhibits at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa.

38. $150,000 for exhibits and interactive displays at the Teddy Roosevelt Inaugural Site Foundation.

39. $250,000 for construction of the Monroe County Farmer's Market in Kentucky.

40. $250,000 to renovate the Murphy Theater in Ohio

41. $194,000 for restoration of the Slater Mill in Rhode Island.

42. $150,000 to renovate the Pregone Theater in the Bronx.

43. $100,000 to build the Santa Ana River Trail in California.

Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.