Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Sacrifice means giving things up

Thus far in this space we have written mostly about giving up low taxes, an early retirement, etc. In many ways, these are the easier sacrifices to make. The easier of the hard choices. In this post, we’d like to address what, in many ways, are much harder hard choices: dropping government programs.

In order to secure the solvency of federal, state and even local governments, it will likely be necessary to shrink those governments. This will require choosing priorities. We haven’t done that very well for a long time. When President Obama described his philosophy of government, he emphasized that he would continue the programs that worked and eliminate the programs that did not. But he never mentioned whether he would consider whether the government should even engage itself in those programs.


What follows are three suggested types of programs that could be eliminated. We do not also suggest that these will be easy choices. But of all the areas that the government is in, we believe that these either could be eliminated or should be in the discussion as to what is eliminated.

  • Arts Programs. Some of the government-sponsored art programs do not provide a significant return on our investment. Many do not significantly improve education systems or increase property values in the communities where they occur. The government should examine the benefits of each art program to determine whether they result in more than merely excess art. To justify government funding, art programs must accomplish more.
  • Farm Aid. There are small-government urban legends that feature landowners in farming areas who have no intention of farming but who still receive farming subsidies. The extent of the truth of these legends is unclear, but as a general principal, we should not pay non-farmers not to farm. Nor should we pay subsidies to profitable farms; that’s what their customers are for.
  • Defense Programs. Surprisingly, Donald Rumsfeld was spot on correct about the nature of our defense program. It’s too big, too archaic. We have a hard time responding to the modern threats of rogue states, terrorist cells, and independent actors. Much of our military is still geared toward engaging in two-front, traditional land-based wars. But almost everyone agrees that those types of wars don’t happen anymore. We tried to fight one of those wars in Iraq, and couldn’t make the new paradigm bend to the old paradigm. Our bloated military budget encourages large and expensive equipment that is not as necessary to our defense as it was during the Cold War.

Again, we don’t expect these to be popular cuts. We expect everyone in the country to take exception to at least one of the broad programs we have recommended making cuts to. But making these hard choices today will help us examine our priorities and make our governments work better. Our hard choices to today will lead to better governance for our children.

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