The approach taken to Federal Government spending by Constitutional Entrepreneurs, such as myself, is quite simple.  The Federal Government should only spend money on functions that fulfill powers that are explicitly given to it by the Constitution, subject to the limitations imposed by the Bill Rights.  The Constitution’s 10^th Amendment specifies that all other government spending (and the taxation to fund it), should be done at the state and local levels.  Over the years, the Federal Government has eviscerated and ignored the 10^th Amendment by effectively saying that the General Welfare part of the Tax and Spend Clause means that the Federal Government has the power to do anything that Congress and the President (or even just the President alone using regulations) thinks is a good idea.

These violations of the Constitution, more than anything else, are responsible for our bloated, inefficient Federal Government including its tremendous debt.  These violations have allowed special interest groups to use the power of the Federal Government to steal trillions of dollars from current US taxpayers plus our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  Instead of competing in the market place to pay their own way, these special interest groups have used the Federal Government to put a gun to the head of US taxpayers just as surely as if they had mugged those taxpayers on the street.  The worst of this theft takes the form of unearned welfare payments to corporations and individuals.  The theft is especially insidious because these special interest groups and the establishment Democratic and Republican politicians who represent them steal from future generations by spending like drunken sailors and driving up Federal Government debt at ever increasing rates.  The States are much more likely to behave in a fiscally responsible manner because they can’t print money to minimize the immediate impact of their theft.

The most expensive, Constitutionally legitimate functions of the Federal Government that should be funded include:

• National Defense, including the Department Of Homeland Security.
• Federal law enforcement, e.g., the FBI and federal courts

It's taken us decades to get accumulate our national debt.  But we’ve accumulated most of it in the last two decades under President Bush and much more so under President Obama.  Returning to a Constitutional standard with respect to Federal spending will not happen in one year or even two.  But much of the problem could be eliminated in three to five years.  As a Constitutional Entrepreneur, I will insist that Congress develop a plan to eliminate most unconstitutional spending within three to five years and eliminate all unconstitutional spending within 20 years.  If the Congress does not do this, I will vote against all unconstitutional spending (except Social Security and Medicare, which require long-term fixes) beginning with my votes on Federal spending for 2019.

To get my support, Congress must develop and start implementing a short-term plan to end Federal Government spending in the following areas, and insist that the states take responsibility for prioritizing, funding and managing…

• Corporate welfare, e.g., mandates and subsidies for companies that focus on green energy (solar and wind power systems, and ethanol), agricultural subsidies, and subsidies for health insurance companies.
• Individual Welfare and Unearned Lifestyle Subsidies. Examples: Food Stamps, Medicaid, Housing Subsidies, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.  As these functions are transferred to the states, funding for the US Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) should decrease and be eliminated within five years.
• Education. The Federal Government should not fund or regulate education, which should be a state and local responsibility.  The US Department Of Education should be eliminated within three years.
• The US Government should not be in the insurance business. When the government gets involved, insurance (which should be the voluntary sharing of risk) almost always is transformed into coercive subsidies: people who take no risk end up paying for those who do.
  • For example, Federal flood insurance forces people who choose not to live in flood zones to pay much of the insurance premiums for those who do decide to live there.
  • Floridians don’t pay for hail damage in Colorado or wildfire damage in California because people there pay for their own insurance. There is no reason why people in Colorado, California, or anywhere else should be forced to pay for the reconstruction of beach-front houses in Florida.
  • When the Federal Government forces the rest of us to pay, it just reinforces irresponsible behavior: like building the same beach house in the same place, using the same design, so that it can be washed away again, and again, and again.
  • A big part of Personal Responsibility is taking responsibility for the risks associated with where you choose to live, voluntarily sharing those risks using commercial insurance, and not using the Federal Government to be the mafia-like enforcer to get other people to pay for your decisions.
  • Infrastructure That Is Not Directly Related To Constitutionally Legitimate Functions Of Government. Constitutionally legitimate functions of the Federal Government include, for example, defense infrastructure and the air traffic control system.  There is no reason why people in Michigan should pay to build or repair bridges or expand the freeway system around New York City.
  • Social Security and Medicare.  Unless we pass a Constitutional amendment to authorize Social Security and Medicare funding, the Federal Government should develop long term plans to reduce and then eliminate these programs. To the extent that these programs are retained, they should be put on a sound actuarial basis by, for example, gradually increasing the retirement age and reducing payments to people who do not have productive children and grandchildren.  We make two kinds of contributions to Social Security and Medicare:
    • The direct costs that we pay to fund those programs for the current beneficiaries and
    • The costs of raising productive children and grandchildren who will pay those costs when we become beneficiaries.

Social Security and Medicare are currently Ponzi schemes.  If anyone except the Federal Government was operating them, those operators would be put in jail for fraud.