Betty Freauf -- Budget Committee Members Don't Have to Know Subtraction

Who is in charge of handing out those massive sums of tax dollars in Washington, D.C.? Well, back in the sixties and seventies it was Senator S.I. Hayawaka but according to the book: RESTORING THE AMERICAN DREAM (c) 1974 by Robert J. Ringer, Hayawaka was perplexed about his appointment to the budget committee since he admitted having "the greatest difficulty balancing (his) own checkbook." He considered his appointment "appallingly irresponsible on the part of the U.S. Senate."

When I read that on page 93, I remembered reading an article in our local paper about our former Senator Mark Hatfield (R-Oregon) admitting his wife handled all the money in their family and yet we trusting Americans turn these rascals loose to manage OUR money.

If you are nervous about who is handling your money, read Sen. Hayakawa's description of how it is handled "on the hill:"

"A member of the committee will say, for instance, 'Here's an appropriation for such and such. It was 1.7 for 1977. So for the 1978 budget we ought to make it 2.9.' So all we do is add 1.2; that's not hard. The next item is 2.5. The members discuss it back and forth and someone says, 'Let's raise it to 3.7.' They look around at each other. Everybody in favor? Yes, sir, okay. So in five minutes we have disposed of $2 billion - not $2 million - $2 billion! I never realized it could be so easy. It's all simple addition. You don't even have to know subtraction."

And that's how the Sammy Corp, as author Ringer calls them, grows and grows and grows. In other words, government agencies are encouraged to work exactly the opposite of private businesses. Public employees are rewarded for being inefficient and spending more money than necessary.

And both at the state and national levels these types of political expedient vote-getting decisions by politicians create economic disaster resulting in chaos, class warfare and eventually the downfall of a nation.

A number of years ago I questioned my Oregon representative about some dumb legislation he sponsored. His wife, who was on his staff so they both were getting an income and pension perks, said, "He's only human and he's getting better on his voting." Some of our elected officials must believe their job amounts to some sort of "on- the- job training" exercise.

Government employees breed more government employees (just like generation after generation of welfare recipients) which gives the Sammy Corps increasingly more voting power, which in turn causes an increase in public-employee salaries and benefits. In Oregon on January 28th we voted down Measure 28 http:www.newswithviews.com/Betty/Freauf7.htm

Instead of crying the blues that public employees are being singled out, school teachers, for example, who claim to love the kids and teaching could volunteer to work an extra few weeks without pay rather than sit at home moping about "poor me!" Administrators, janitors and others in the system could do likewise. If the school year is shortened by about a month, again this could affect federal revenue sharing. Oh yes, union regulations may forbid such a sacrifice by school personnel but it's time these people started standing up to their union goons too. Other government workers could do the same instead of looking to "bump" some other co-workers with less seniority out of a job but I guess this is a way to reduce government employees except the last one to get the boot on the food chain is probably some single mother just barely making ends meet while the mid-management employees making the big bucks would still be in place.

This "bumping" practice is dirty business and government union workers seem unrelenting when it comes to their pocket books. In the meantime, in the private sector we see employees who are threatened with loss of jobs, chip in to save their company and their jobs. This is what makes America stand out among other nations -- individuality and that "can do" spirit.

Government provides thousands of "services" on a federal, state and local level which oftentimes are redundant but with the passage of the Revenue Sharing Act on Oct. 20, 1972 on Republican President Richard Nixon's watch, the feds had local authorities on the ropes. If they did not jump through certain hoops, revenues would be withheld and because most elected officials leave their spines checked at the Capitol door, they do not stand up to the feds.

Only in one instance do I remember an elected official saying "no". A few years ago in Oregon, the feds wanted our national guard to do some special training in some foreign country threatening the loss of revenues if we refused. Our then Democrat governor refused to bow to federal pressure. I later inquired of my congressman whether we lost those funds and found out we had not. This game between state control -vs- federal control is a game of poker. The one who can bluff the longest and best wins!

All I can say is, "Lord give us some mighty men and women of valor with the intestinal fortitude at the state and county levels to stand up to the big guys on the Potomac." Since the passage of this Revenue Sharing Act, it has been continual blackmail by the feds.

In 1997, Oregon had a child-support bill which allowed the state to tap into Oregonians' bank and financial records. The bill was to bring Oregon into compliance with federal welfare laws and go after parents who didn't pay child support. Critics said it would mean intrusion into the privacy of all Oregonians.

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PUTS THE SADDLE ON THE HORSE AND WE HAVE TO RIDE IT.

But again, federal funds were at stake. Oregon stood to lose $400 million in federal aid during the next two years if it didn't pass the bill. "The federal government put the saddle on the horse, and we have to ride it," said the governor's policy advisor. It passed the GOP -controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate and a Democrat governor signed it.

Under Revenue Sharing, President Nixon failed to tell the people that strings would be attached before states got any money, Revenue sharing was another one of several totalitarian pieces of legislation ever to come out of the Congress of the United States, until another Republican, President George W. Bush got his Homeland Security agency. The Revenue Sharing bill was the financial leverage to FORCE states to convert to full United Nations regionalism sidestepping our constitutional republic.

Revenue sharing is granted to those local governments who "cooperate" and it is denied to those who do not. Revenue sharing was the bait! United Nations administrative regional government was the trap! But again, in Oregon, we were ahead of the curve for Oregon's Republican Governor Tom McCall, a former Portland, Oregon T.V. anchor man, had already signed executive order 68-11 in 1968 creating state administrative districts claiming overlapping boundaries of state, local and federal programs had created a chaotic, inefficient operating system which led to confusion among public officials and citizens. Such a system had worked just fine for nearly 200 years but now suddenly this "change agent" McCall felt it needed fixing and local control went out the window. The locals were controlled by the state which was, in turn, beholden to the feds.

In McCall's testimony before the Interior and Insular Affairs committee in Washington, D.C. with Laurence Rockefeller as chair on February 7, 1973, he said, "It might be sort of a 'cop out' to use that phrase again but when some county commissioners do some things under state law that are unpopular, they can blame it on old Tom and old Tom can blame it on the feds. It is sort of convenient. They say this is what they ordered us to do. It gives you leverage..."

I'm often asked for solutions. One suggestion would be to vote principle over the two-party political prattle. Study your constitutions, learn your rights and hold your elected officials accountable to their constitutional oath and when they violate it, throw the bums (who don't know how to subtract) out the next election cycle. Feel no mercy for the traitors. The middle class is being eliminated through a tax system designed to redistribute the wealth so it boils down to them -vs- us and time is running out.

Related Article:
The Day After in Oregon

Other Related Articles:
The Oregon Tax Trail The Wall Street Journal
Hypocritical Politicians
They Will Come Into Your Homes

Betty is a former Oregon Republican Party activist having served as state party secretary, county chairman, 5th congressional vice chairman and then elected chairman, a precinct worker for many years and twice ran unsuccessfully for the Oregon State Legislature. The Republican tradition is to stay neutral in Primary races but in Betty's case. they supported her opponent. E-Mail: bettyfreauf@webtv.com

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