23,266,411,000,000
That’s in round numbers what the National Debt Clock read as I began this article. In fact, this is one criticism of the State of the Union I have. Of all the great spending proposals, I kept wondering, “Where’s the money to pay for all of this if we are in trillions of dollars of debt?
Welcome back to our book study of “The 5000 Year Leap” (Skousen, W. Cleon. The Five Thousand Year Leap: 28 Ideas That Changed the World. National Center for Constitutional Studies, 1981). We are on the 27th Principle, and how timely:
“The burden of debt is as destructive to freedom as subjugation by conquest.”
Cleon Skousen opens this chapter with a quote from Benjamin Franklin. “Think what you do when you run in debt: you give to another power over your liberty.” Franklin was a financially disciplined man, we are told, and a frugal one at that.
As a nation, we seem to love the great job numbers and the wonderful proposals for infrastructure ( a necessity), military, and educational opportunities. We want our social security, medicare, and welfare (by far and away, the highest expenses are the entitlement programs). People seem to forget that debt robs us of freedom.
Debt, according to Skousen, is “simply borrowing against the future. It exchanges a present advantage for a future obligation. It will require not only the return of the original advance of funds, but a substantial compensation to the creditor for the use of his money.” (Ibid., p. 291) It’s that “substantial compensation” that keeps racking up debt by the millisecond. Just check in with the debt clock every 15 minutes or so. It will astound you.
What happens when its payback time? Wouldn’t it be better to pay down the debt sooner than later? Skousen thinks so. He reminds us that the Founders’ attitude toward debt was to recognize it for the bondage that it is.
Now, we are told that the Founders recognized the need to borrow in a dire emergency, so they provided for this event in Article I of the Constitution. The Founders, in general, believed that the “debts of one generation should be paid for by the generation that incurred them” (Ibid., p. 295) Thomas Jefferson, we learn, considered debt to be immoral. Splurge spending was considered to be the worst form of debt.
23,266,474,000,000 The numbers go so fast that I can only round them out.
Remember the saying, “Waste not, want not?” Some of us had grandparents that preached it, as well as “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Our great-great-grandparents wanted us to be born in freedom, not in bondage to debt. Why do we feel differently? Could it be because prosperity has better feels to it than erasing the deficit? We surely don’t want politicians telling us we can’t have our entitlements. After all, haven’t we spent a lifetime of hard work contributing to social security and medicare? Politicians know that to confront us with our country’s out of control spending is political suicide.
If our politicians don’t speak the truth about the debt, We the People need to wise up, grow up, and tighten up the belts. What would you be willing to do? Pay more taxes? Do with fewer entitlement dollars? Vote consistently for fiscal frugality over “helpful” spending?
I went back to check on the debt. It’s 6.5 hours later, and the National Debt Clock is a whopping 23,267,194,000,000.
What would you be willing to do to eliminate the national debt???
