Our Spending Addiction

I'm travelin' down the road
I'm flurtin' with disaster
I've got the pedal on the floor
My life is runnin' faster
--Molly Hatchet

Rand Paul once again demonstrates wisdom all too rare on Capitol Hill. Empires ultimately fail because statesmen become addicted to spending. Because that spending always outstrips income, the difference must be borrowed. Economies are consequently crushed under the massive debt burden that empires accrue.

Paul observes that addiction to spending and debt infects both parties in the U.S. Democrats and Republicans mutually agree to fund each other's profligate ways.

The $21 trillion (and counting) question is what stops the pathology? We know that addicts rarely kick their habit without intervention. The most logical source of intervention would be US voters who remove Washington politicians who don't stop spending. Unfortunately, most voters have become dependent on government largess in one way or another. As such, voters act more like enablers rather than as an interventionary force.

Lacking interventionary will power, the country is permitting our spending addiction to escalate toward an inevitable crash of epic proportions.