ASK BALLADEER: GOVERNMENT SPENDING

When Balladeer’s Blog’s readers ask me for my genuine, actual opinion on a given subject I’m always glad to oblige. So here is the latest question and my 100% sincere opinion with no jokes or sarcasm.

Q: Your origins on the Left always show in how much you talk about preserving Social Security and Medicare. How do you really feel about government spending and getting it under control?

A: That requires a two-part answer. Part One: I think that America’s Third-World level cesspool of corruption that masquerades as a government is so far gone that the type of bloated spending packages which are so confusing that almost nobody can really tell where all the money is going have become the very raison d’etre of the Swamp.

THAT is how the corruption that is part and parcel of the Swamp operates and the Swamp-Dwellers will fight to protect it like the proverbial Iroquois sorcerer protecting their hidden heart. 

That means I think that elected officials who want to get government spending under control need to grow up and accept the fact that a move like that (getting spending under control) will have to be the end goal, not the initial battle. In video game terms it will have to be the Boss Fight, something that you get to engage in after fighting your way through several other layers of corruption and graft.

I support President Trump’s efforts to Drain the Swamp but as we have seen he is making virtually a one-man stand. Both Democrats and Republicans oppose his efforts to put teeth to anti-corruption measures. It will be an uphill fight for him to simply continue the good work he has already accomplished for the poor and the working class, let alone control spending, which is, as I stated above, a desirable goal but one which he will need more bodies in Congress to accomplish.

It’s not something you can trust party labels on, since Republican Trash like Paul Ryan and John “Let’s fight wars all over the planet” McCain have been some of the biggest obstacles.

In fact, spending may be something that can’t be addressed during the entire Trump Presidency. Both Democrat and Republican office-holders milk too much graft from our current, intentionally murky budget process.

As it is I would say border security and continued policies that help the poor and the working class might be too miraculous for Trump to pull off. I repeat, spending control is the Boss Fight, and the effort to Drain the Swamp is still on Level One of the game. It is so far off that budget hawks do damage only to themselves by wasting their political capital and their time in office saving nickels and dimes while dollars are being blown everywhere else.    

Part Two: I really do consider preserving Social Security and Medicare to be priorities. I view the need to care for the elderly in particular to be so basic to any civilized nation that I’m not likely to vote for candidates who advocate cutting those programs.

With the present state of the Swamp, cutting Social Security and Medicare while virtual theft is committed in other areas is like beating up on the elderly while simultaneously turning a blind eye to a mugging going on a few feet away.