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Conservatives come in all stripes
Limited federal government is fundamental to conservatism

By Congresswoman Virginia Foxx

When the federal government spends, taxpayers pay the bill.  So you might be interested to know that in 1965 the federal budget consumed the equivalent of $11,337 for every American household, in today’s dollars.  That might seem high until you found out that today the feds are spending the equivalent of $30,000 per household—almost triple the 1965 rate of spending.  If you think there is something wrong with this picture, you might be a conservative. 

Think about it this way: the 1965 federal budget was about $304 billion in today’s dollars.  Now it’s $3.5 trillion (or $3,500 billion).   No matter how you slice it, whether in spending per household or in absolute terms, the federal government’s rapid growth over the past several decades is remarkable.

If you want is a cradle-to-grave, European style social welfare state, you’re heading in the right direction.  On the other hand, if you want limited government, individual responsibility and personal liberty and you think this explosion of federal spending and government power is a problem, you might be a fiscal conservative. 

Thomas Jefferson said in 1788 that, “the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.”  The massive cost and unprecedented power of the federal government today illustrates Jefferson’s point. 

A bloated federal government has a direct, liberty-infringing effect on your pocketbook—and on the future pocketbooks of your grandchildren.   As government grows, so will its extraction of taxes from the citizenry.  When government growth outstrips its taxation, it takes on debt to make up the difference.  Debt, of course, is paid by future taxpayers. 

Last year the Obama administration promised that if we spent a trillion dollars on a government ‘stimulus’ plan, it would create jobs ‘immediately’ and even keep unemployment below eight percent.  The unfortunate reality is that instead, millions of Americans lost their jobs and unemployment is near double-digits.

What we do have to show for that ineffective stimulus package is a lot of additional debt.  This debt financed spending is why the stimulus will ultimately cost more than a trillion dollars, rather than the original $800 billion price tag.  It was paid for with borrowed money and the interest on that borrowing will push the final cost over a trillion dollars. 

Stimulus-related borrowing is part of the reason the federal government is racking up $1.4 trillion in new debt this year.  Every dollar of this must be repaid, with interest, by tomorrow’s taxpayers.  Paying down this amount of debt will mean the plundering of hard-working taxpayers unless spending is dramatically curtailed.  If record-breaking spending makes you want to reduce the deficit and cut federal spending, you might be a conservative.

Over-spending is one of many symptoms of a government in need of a major diet.  Crushing rules and regulations are another.  Just consider this year’s Obamacare fiasco.  It produced a litany of liberty-infringing rules that demonstrate what happens when government power goes too far. 

The healthcare overhaul contains rules forcing everyone in America to purchase health insurance—or pay a hefty tax.  This is the first time in our history that the federal government has used its power to force Americans to buy a specific product.  If you find yourself wondering whether this is a bridge too far, you might be a conservative.

Earlier this year, in another example of rule-making gone overboard, the unelected bureaucrats at the EPA set in motion plans to regulate carbon dioxide (what comes out of your mouth when you exhale) as a pollutant. 

Creating new rules governing how much carbon dioxide people or businesses can emit would deal a heavy blow to our struggling economy.  But the bureaucratic machine in Washington, being the leviathan that it is, continues to churn towards this exercise in brute regulatory power.  If you’re unsure of the wisdom of punishing anyone from farmers to manufacturers for emitting carbon dioxide you might be a conservative. 

The simple truth is that conservatives come in all stripes.  Some are concerned with our levels of spending and debt.  Others oppose an ever-expanding nanny state.  Still others are concerned with helping employers create jobs by lowering the burden of red tape and out-of-control regulation. 

At the end of the day most conservatives unite around a single theme: the federal government must be smaller and more responsive to best serve America. 

James Madison, writing in one of the Federalist Papers, put it this way: “the general [federal] government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws. Its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects”.

In other words, the federal government is not the best tool for solving all of life’s problems and should be limited in its size and power.  Often civic groups, local governments, or even individuals solve problems better.  

As a conservative this is one of my fundamental values.  Limiting the size and power of the federal government restores power to communities and endows individuals with both liberty and responsibility.  I believe this is America at its best.  If you agree, you might be a conservative.

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx represents the Fifth Congressional District of North Carolina.  She currently serves on the House Rules Committee.  You may contact her office toll free at 1-866-677-8968 or e-mail her from her website, www.foxx.house.gov.