Dakota Beacon

With all the alarm about the outrageous costs of the Porkulus bill, we aren’t even seeing the half of it.  And already we’re being threatened with a second edition of this travesty.  Before we permit further assault on our future generations and our national integrity, we should take a closer look at how this money will be used to ensnare and bankrupt our state governments while they effectively void our Constitution.

        Recently a member brought copies of an important article to a meeting of Americans for Constitutional Government.  It was by Lynn Stuter, dated February 24, 2009, on NewsWithViews.com.  Stuter displayed keen insight in recognition of some unseen hazards here.  Stuter cites the following:  $789 billion (the nominal amount of the Porkulus bill – all borrowed), $744 billion (debt service on this loan) and a whopping $2.527 trillion in “new programs and expansion of existing programs over the next decade”.  Not quite what you thought, you say?

        Much of this Porkulus, when it is finally dispensed, will be in the form of “federal discretionary grants”.  Money appropriation follows enactment of the law.  Invitation is issued to apply for funding and state agencies get out their pens and start writing.  There are many conditions that the applicant must accept and rules to be followed.  These aren’t necessarily procedural, nor even relevant to the project for which funding is sought.  They do increase federal control and involvement in state policy.

        When an application is successful, upon commitment and consent of the state and/or its agency by someone in authority, money is disbursed and a federally enforceable contract is created – with it a plethora of regulation from Washington.

        One of the troubling aspects of this is that the federal money usually covers only a fraction of the total cost of the project for which it is allocated.  The rest of the project must be completed and maintained to specification by state or local funding.  This is the definition of an “unfunded mandate”.  This deprives a state government of its ability to control its budget and order its priorities, thus destabilizing our state governments.  Because these mandates take precedence, or heavy financial penalties will ensue. 

        Another problem that arises is with the unrelated regulations which become a condition of acceptance of this money.  Utah, according to Stuter, had some of this grant money.  When the state wished to reject the “No Child Left Behind” program its objections were silenced when the feds brought out the Big Gun, threatening to take away “their” federal money.  It is easy to see why Liberals and Socialists love these spending programs.  For them the Constitution and its restraints no longer exist.  It is a very dangerous turn of events for Americans’ freedom.

        The bright side of this dire picture, however, is obvious.  It is we, the people, who actually have to power to control this.  But we need to see all that lies below the murky surface of these grants.  Armed with this knowledge, we can simply decide to prevent our state and local governments from applying for or accepting these grants.  Voila!  Now we’ve closed that door.  The following is my own suggestion to put an end to this problem. 

        A resolution petition can be drafted which says, in essence, that:

No official or agency in authority in the state or local government be permitted by law to apply for federal monies in the form of grants which carry unfunded mandates or regulations which abridge Constitutional states’ rights and responsibilities.

                And

The Attorney General of the State cause all federal agencies established and/or operating in direct violation of the United States Constitution to be challenged in the courts.

        This resolution should be signed on to by every candidate, which purports to represent a “conservative” viewpoint.  We should ask for their signatures.  We should take this to our State Republican caucuses and conventions and presented and campaigned for!  This needs to gather steam.  We really can’t keep blaming Congress for reckless spending or for taking away our freedom or for dissolving our states’ rights and thus demolishing our Constitution and its guarantees. 

We are the receivers, the other end of this bargain, without which it could not succeed for the Socialists.  They bank on our greed and acquisitiveness.  Our City Councils grab for Community Development Block Grants, our State legislatures grasp at funds for various projects.  We encourage them and reward them for their “success”.  Winning one of these grants is looked upon as a feather in the cap of the applicant.  But what we need to focus on is that these grants will cripple us with increased state taxes even while they take away our power to make our own decisions about what we want to do with them.  It’s a Socialist’s paradise and we hand it to them every time we take the money.  Banks that took TARP money learned this the hard way.  Let’s learn from their experience. 

Sally Morris is a member of Americans for Constitutional Government