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Crossing The Line From Common Sense To Nonsense

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JOHN REINIERS More Than Words

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 27, 2009

Common sense tells us a number of things about government from the local to the federal level. First, just a cursory review of our Founders' commentaries tell us they intended us to be a nation of people, not governments. Secondly, we can no longer afford our governments; the corollary of which is that we now can no longer even afford ourselves - given that feds have been engaging in pandering populism since the New Deal with a creative spending frenzy which has effectively bankrupt the taxpayer. (The cost of all our wars has been chicken feed compared to these spending programs.)

John Locke, from the school of English "Common Sense" philosophy, had enormous influence on both French revolutionaries and our Founding Fathers. (Passages from his works can be found verbatim in the Declaration of Independence.) Some consider him the father of "modern liberalism," meaning the precise opposite of the dogma of the big government social democrats of today. He was a firm believer in Individualism and the preservation of property rights; and observed that the chief reason for men to "put themselves under government, is the preservation of their property." This was perhaps the most compelling rationale behind our Constitution. In fact after John Jay makes it clear in Federalist No. 3 that "safety" was the first "object of a people's attention," James Madison followed up in Federalist No. 10 with the protection of the rights of property as being "the first object of government."

So how did we get from a government "instituted no less for protection of the property than of the persons of individuals" (Federalist No. 54), to where we are today with a behemoth sized government with programs and an employee class which working class taxpayers can no longer afford? The federal government, even excluding the postal service, is the nation's largest employer whose employees are five times more likely to belong to a union - to protect themselves from taxpayers.

But the nation's largest employer pales in comparison to state and local governments which are the largest employment sector in the U.S. with a headcount of more than the population of 45 states and heavily unionized. Ironically, the political "spoils system" of the 19{+t}{+h} century led to the federal Civil Service Commission which was extended over time to state governments resulting in an explosion of bureaucrats at all levels of government - which has now become a "spoils system" of its own by virtue of its political clout as a significant part of the Democratic Party coalition - which, too, is baffling, because the intent behind "civil service" was to divorce government employment from politics!

Given this political clout it is no wonder they are more protected from economic hardship than the very taxpayers who pay their salary and benefits. And this is certainly true at the highest levels, as we see in academia and with top government workers. The Miami Herald reported that "Governor Crist proposes increasing the amount taxpayers pay to subsidized health insurance for 26,000 top-level state workers. Salaries of the most highly-paid workers are safe, too." (The big guys would like to hide under a rock, and let the little guys take the heat.)

California is a bankrupt basket case with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger struggling to reign in costs for the state's 230,000 employee payroll and facing a $42 billion deficit. The Democrats solution is to raise taxes. Some years ago I read an article applauding California's "defined benefit" pension plan - better than any 401K defined contribution plan - that could result in a state employee becoming a millionaire after only 22 years of work! California is not alone, and governors of both parties and all states are concerned with mounting deficits. Oregon has one of the most generous pension plans. After 30 years, a pension could equal or exceed a state employee's working salary.

Even Joe Biden's tiny Delaware is suffering, with the state being Delaware's largest employer by far, at an employee cost of $1.56 billion this year - 46 percent of the general fund budget. These lucky folks pay an average of only $54 a month for health insurance. Taxpayers pick up the remaining $411 million. This a state with only 30,000 employees.

The list of states goes on. Democrat strongholds such as New Jersey, Hawaii and Pennsylvania are planning to trim paid holidays, pursue furloughs, or ask employees to pay a larger share of their health insurance. Wow!

Public employees are doing better in average pay and benefits than the average taxpayer. (USA Today reports that "State and local government workers now earn an average of $39.50 per hour in total compensation... From 2000 to 2007, public employees enjoyed a 16 percent increase in compensation after adjusting for inflation...") Most Federal and state pensions have subsidized health insurance even in retirement, as well as cost-of-living adjustments - unheard of in the private sector of taxpayers.

It will be very difficult for politicians to eliminate taxpayer largess given to the rank and file government employee without sooner or later addressing their own salary and benefits. So far it hasn't happened.

As I said at the beginning, our founders intended us to be a nation of people, not of governments. At our founding, our goals were rather limited - to simply have government provide for our safety and to protect our property. Some quipster recently said that the Democratic party is now a "taking" coalition made up of groups that want government to take things from others and give to them. Whatever happened to that commendable goal of "protecting our property?"

We surely have reached the point of return from nonsense to common sense.

John Reiniers, a regular columnist for Hernando Today, lives in Spring Hill.

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