Opinion: We're Losing Our Republic

Opinion.

I’m glad that there are hearings now into the growing GSA scandal. And the GSA director, an Obama appointee, was forced to resign.

Having said that, and granted that the hearings are happening; I honestly don’t think that any lasting change is going to happen.

Sure, there have been brave words about the need for reform. And I think reform is needed. But first, the exact scope of the problem needs to be identified. Is it systemic, or just a few bad apples in an agency that does good, cost-effective work? In all honesty, I don’t know. And that’s just about the GSA.

Is there similar money-wasting going on in other agencies? We all know it’s happened in other administrations, but that doesn’t excuse it. We all know that it’s happened in other agencies, but that doesn’t excuse it either.

In my opinion, it is deeper than just this one agency. The government takes in vast amounts of money from us tax-payers, and the agency tasked with ensuring it’s not wasted … wastes it.

During the Tea Party protests, those of us calling for smaller government and for fiscal reform were called a variety of names, including “potential domestic extremists.”

In my opinion, this scandal simply makes our point for us. This shameful waste of tax-payer dollars should have been caught much earlier than it was.

The Republicans, hoping to score political points, have taken the ball and run with it. Granted, these hearings need to be held, those responsible need to be brought to justice, and steps taken to ensure that this shameful episode is not repeated.

But the tepid response from the Democrats simply goes to help make my next point for me: and that is that many in government, on both sides of the aisle, have forgotten where the money comes from. Indeed, former Congressman Joe Knollenberg said “It is not your money.” (*)

In my opinion, these hearings are going to be nothing but a dog-and-pony show. And that’s sad. Many of us believe that the federal government is hopelessly bloated. Those talking about fiscal reform are derided by the liberals and by those self-serving politicians who are too blind to see that we are only a few steps away from losing our Republic.

(*) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZyAd_rJAx4