Taking Pork off the Menu

I read with increasing amusement at the "scandal" over homeland security funds here in New Jersey being funneled almost exclusively to Democratic districts. The reason for my amusement? The fact that it’s news. Is ANYONE surprised that the Dems funnel funds to themselves?

Why the media outrage? Perhaps because the money allegedly served "homeland security" purposes? Perhaps the implication that only Democrats need – or deserve – protection from terrorist threats? Perhaps the fact that the Dems seemed embarrassed that they treated this money in precisely the same manner as they treated every other governmental program: as pork?

Let’s be clear: TAKING MONEY FROM REPUBLICANS AND GIVING IT TO DEMOCRATS IS WHAT DEMOCRATS DO. Always have done, always will do. Democrats see government as nothing more than a vast engine to take money from people who don’t vote for them and give it to people who do, while taking out a percentage to fatten their own wallets. They’re sometimes proficient at masquerading that fact, but the results speak for themselves.

Every time a school opens in an Abbott district, the three Democratic legislators will be there congratulating themselves on how much money they brought to the district, paid for by people they don’t represent in Morris County. Consider the fraudulent talking points on the budget, about how it provided something like $12 billion in property tax relief. Right. If you live in Newark or Camden, and might otherwise have to pay for all the goodies showered upon you, you’ve received "property tax relief". But not if you live anywhere else. And CERTAINLY not if you live somewhere with the temerity to vote for Republicans.

Now, admittedly, the Dems are not alone in playing the pork barrel game. The most recent transportation bill passed by Congress constitutes an egregious example of bi-partisan piggery. But the GOP is usually content to let everyone play. Kean and Whitman poured substantially more money into Dem districts than into GOP districts, because they believed (usually incorrectly, but that’s another matter) that it was the right thing to do. The Dems, being unencumbered by principles or restrained by old fashioned concepts like shame or honesty, don’t even bother with the fig leaf of bi-partisanship. To them, government simply means feeding your own; it probably amuses the Dems no end that the GOP chooses not to reciprocate when they win.

But it’s folly simply to point out the that Democrats are acting like Democrats always do, without proposing a solution. The mistake Kean and Whitman – especially the latter – made when they won power and controlled the Legislature, lay in failing to enact fundamental, structural reform which would have prevented this from happening again.

The solution to the problem of pork spending lies in adopting a constitutional provision insisting upon kosher diet rules. Simply put, pork would be off the menu. The State would be barred from giving any municipality any money whatsoever. No municipal buildings, senior centers, bike paths, fire trucks, etc., unless the town is willing to pay the freight itself.

Consider:

"The Legislature shall expend no funds whatsoever on account of any local or county responsibility; all expenditures by the Legislature shall be for state purposes. No State funds may be transferred to any municipality or County, or any agency or subdivision thereof."

Problem solved. No legislator would be constitutionally permitted to "bring home the bacon"; pork is simply off the menu.

Outrage, properly channeled, can work wonders. The Dems treated "homeland security" funds in exactly the same manner as they treat the budget generally: a method of rewarding their friends. Doing so with funds assertedly earmarked for societal preservation leaves a bad odor. Perhaps, their crassness will produce real reform.

But if their response to this latest outrage mirros their response on ethics, election reform, and the like, don’t hold your breath.