$16 Trillion Dollars Of Moral, Cultural And Political Decay

The National Debt  is but a symptom of a corrupt polity, divided nation and decadent culture

by Bill Flax

Wow! We’ll soon cross Sixteen Trillion Dollars in Federal Debt! S-i-x-t-e-e-n T-r-i-l-l-i-o-n D-o-l-l-a-r-s. That’s a lot of vote buying even for Washington. Is this ruin? Have we indentured our children into servitude? Solomon warned borrowers will be slaves to their lenders. Add $120 plus trillion in unfunded forthcoming liabilities and, well, we’re doomed.

Yet, as significant as this looks, and sixteen trillion of anything cannot be insignificant, the economic repercussions are the least of America’s worries. We still finance this cheaply. Rates on Treasuries remain low. Moreover, America endures as the world’s preeminent economic engine.

Obviously, debt weighs heavily on markets, especially the spending which spurred annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion. Government intervention smothers more gainful private pursuits. As Washington nonchalantly politicizes capital the economy suffers. Private actors would invest far better than politicians bribing the electorate.

As resources filter through the state’s machinations, liberty and prosperity are sacrificed to political ends. Massive debt is economically bad, really bad, and perhaps even hopeless; but much, much worse is what this reveals about America’s moral, cultural and political decay.

Our present debt debacle frequents comparison to World War II. We borrowed then to save Western Civilization. That war would end in triumph. Today, we spend subsidizing civilization’s demise with no victory evident and no end apparent. These debts and the moral morass they sponsor will worsen. Acceleration is baked in as baby boomers only begin to retire and taxpayer supported illegitimacy spawns multi-generational dependency.

Washington’s principal endeavor is rewarding recipients to shun work. Entitlements and relief exceed seventy percent of expenditures; social services then cushion the fallout. Increasingly generous handouts and steeply progressive taxes make entitlement reform treacherous. Politicians spout lip service to frugality, but are so beholden to continuing this largesse the Senate cannot even pass a budget.

We push almost $1 trillion uphill in means-tested poverty programs, devoid of accountability. Welfare imprisons vulnerable lives to the public dole. To what avail? If we spent $2 trillion, poverty would double. The Welfare State’s only winners are politicians so base as to abuse the poor as props.

Per the Census Bureau, poverty rates for married couples were 6.2 percent, but 27.3 percent for single-parent families.Children reared without fathers are more likely to engage in promiscuity, dabble in drugs, commit crime or quit school. Yet the Safety Net’s overriding purpose is underwriting single-parenthood.

Subsidizing prodigality assists neither those souls mired in dependency; nor the larger community. Government taxes productivity to purchase un-productivity; while economic foolishness, a moral and cultural disaster. Safety nets encourage irresponsibility as others cover the costs. The Nanny State inculcates childlike dependence.

Cradle to grave reliance on public support undermines families and the private institutions such as churches which should stand between government and the individual. Weakened communities result from a godless federal Leviathan saturating life. Society withers as individuals succumb by deferring moral responsibilities to government.

Why save for retirement, care for struggling relatives or assist distraught neighbors when politicians furnish freebies? Washington performs what should be private functions bribing obeisance like a frog in boiling water through social security, government healthcare, unemployment insurance and food stamps. According to the Heritage Foundation, reliance on federal assistance has exploded fifteen fold in the last fifty years.

When government takes care of us, who will take care of government? Not a citizenry thus stunted in character.

Daily, more hop aboard the federal bandwagon, leaving fewer to bear the burden. The taxman’s whip stings mercilessly. Adding insult, Washington muddles the path to prosperity with regulatory quicksand. Businesses’ ability to launch life-enriching goods suffocates in bureaucracy. Dodd Frank was 849 pages generating thousands of rules. Obamacare’s implementation surpasses 13,000 pages and counting.

The Constitution required sixteen pages.

If Washington honored the Constitution, no deficits would exist; debts would be quickly extinguished. More government power means more political corruption. As federal authority overflows its banks, an unseemly political swamp no longer warrants the consent of the governed. America has devolved to where, as James DeLong observes, “systemic corruption is accepted as the normal and inevitable way of doing political business.”

A debauched tax code and federal intrusion intensify strife. The 73,608 page tax code and 82,419 page federal register accomplish little save carving nooks for cronies and protected classes. Government permeating society simmers fears of favoritism as lobbyists swarm to the Potomac. When political stakes increase, so does discord. A bloated political system having lost legitimacy lets confusion and ultimately chaos fester.

Incessant intervention affixes subjects to government like spokes on a wheel, spinning a rigged roulette table where Washington rewards the connected.  Lobbyists representing businesses, unions and others wrestle like hogs nudging through the slop for larger shares of public loot. As Leviathan’s tentacles stretch, commerce re-orients toward pleasing politicians and circumventing cumbersome bureaucracy rather than satisfying customers.

A polity built on patronage to rival medieval feudalism.

America’s ideological divide would also be less contentious if Washington left local affairs alone. Special interests usurping government to impose their wishes provoke conflict. Federal meddling welcomes mischief and acrimony.

The Founders forbid the federal authority from tampering with social matters. The benefits and burdens of public services and efforts to maintain decency are best balanced nearer to individuals. Decisions made locally will more likely reflect a community’s values and inflict fewer burdens on dissenters.

When larger governing powers enact overarching decrees the cost and oppressiveness of compliance rises dramatically. As Washington expands, people have less ability to evade disagreeable laws. If Ohio socializes medicine, Kentucky beckons. But, freedom is diminished and politics takes on urgency to co-opt the federal behemoth when Washington dictates policy across the nation.

America has funded this extravagance cheaply, letting both parties funnel tax money to their preferred demographics and political allies; sixteen trillion dollars worth of can kicking so politicians never had to say no. Elections merely decide which party distributes more from the public purse.

President Obama, severe as his deficits have grown, mostly expanded programs pioneered by his predecessors. Government seeks to be all things to all people. When finite resources eventually prompt prioritization the increased factiousness of American politics and a people bereft of moral vitality may come unraveled. A system rife with racial identity politics and multi-cultural grievance mongering forebodes Balkanization.

Sixteen trillion dollars in debt isn’t the issue, but a symptom of a corrupt polity, divided nation and decadent culture. These factors will finish America long before financial collapse comes.