GOVERNMENT SPENDING

Yes, Congress and the Senate and the White House waste money. They influence funding for projects which relate strongly to their area, party and/or personal influence.






But I got scared - really, I got scared - when I saw the following on Facebook:

"Here is an idea how the government can save money. Get rid of the senate. I mean... do we really need both congress AND senate? I know....it is supposed to be about checks and balances but these days it seems to be more about checks - their pay checks and they haven't balanced anything in a while. They spend most of their time arguing and insulting each other and sabotaging whatever congress cooked up."

I may have been indoctrinated a bit more than your average bear in constitutional history, simply because my husband was a political science major when we got married and had books titled like "The Origins of American Constitutionalism" for easy reading, and because of him I ended up reading a lot of similiar works and attending poly sci classes for him.

And people out there, our government was not set up casually, just on a whim, let's-see-how-this-works. It's set up the way it is DELIBERATELY.

And we've survived a lot of stupider things than where we are right now in August of 2010.

Just as an example, while you may whine about how the U.S.A. spends money, this is what has happened literally in my backyard:

• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has authorized the use of federal funds to help the state of Arizona fight the Monument Fire in Cochise County -- reimburse 75 percent of the eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling the fire

• Low-interest federal disaster loans are available to Arizona residents and business owners affected by the Monument Fire.

• Grass and vegetation seed is being spread over the Monument Fire burn area - a total of 1462 acres.
• Roadwork and stabilization is in progress on 12.3 miles of roads, which includes blading of roads and cleaning and clearing ditches and culverts along roadways.
• Five gates will be installed at White Lily, Miller Canyon, Hunter Canyon, Stump Canyon and Ash Canyon roads.
• A total of 17.5 miles of trail were planned for improvements, about three quarters of which have been completed.

 This how federal money is being spent. Really.