Spending ourselves crazy

Last week I plugged Chuck Colson's Breakpoint, and here is his commentary on the recent election in Massachusetts. If you don't have time to read the whole article (in which he makes a great proposal for future safeguarding of excessive federal spending) take a look at his opening paragraph:

"The huge turnout yesterday in Massachusetts expressed citizen alarm that Congress is spending us deeper and deeper into debt, and there's no end in sight. Our government faces future liabilities of at least $53 trillion. This includes entitlements, government pensions, Medicare, and other promises we have made-currently $175,000 for every man, woman, and child in America-and likely to go higher. "

In addition to the financial obligations mentioned in this paragraph are a host of others that don't as often get into the news. In the daily bulletin I get from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Devleopment came this news:

"President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress to expand the $4.35 billion Race to the Top program by $1.35 billion, saying the grant competition has prompted education reforms nationwide. The funding would allow for a third round of grants in which districts, not just states, would apply, and education officials said they hope to indefinitely fund the grants. 'We certainly see this as a key reform and a key investment that we would want to keep funding,' an official said."

This is a reform? Throwing more money into an already ineffective educational system? Billions of dollars that we don't have? No business in the private sector could even consider such wastefulness.

Even if I were not the world's biggest proponent of faith-based education, this would make no sense at all, from a purely economic standpoint. Even if I thought a secular education doing a poor job of teaching pragmatic survival skills ought to be foisted on an entitlement-minded public (and I don't!), this would make no sense in light of our economic crisis. Someone needs to let their elected representatives know (in the same way the voters of Massachusetts just let their wishes be known) that this is indefensible.

I just thought you should know.