{"id":12137,"date":"2024-08-15T19:13:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T19:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=12137"},"modified":"2024-08-15T21:58:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T21:58:51","slug":"more-evidence-we-need-to-shut-off-the-federal-spigot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=12137","title":{"rendered":"More evidence we need to shut off the federal spigot"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/more-evidence-we-need-to-shut-off-the-federal-spigot\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Bamboozled \u2018no\u2019 voters just made a bad situation permanently worse<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bombarded with false assertions from big-spending liberals, many Wisconsin independents and conservatives were hoodwinked this week into voting against the two constitutional amendments that together would have given legislators shared responsibility with the governor over big buckets of federal spending.<\/p>\n

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In a primary with more than 1.2 million voters, 57% voted \u201cno\u201d on both amendments \u2014 a veritable landslide in a purple state usually open to constitutional change.<\/p>\n

Perhaps not surprisingly, the percentage of voters penciling in \u201cno\u201d was over 70% in Milwaukee County and over 80% in Dane County \u2014 the stalwart liberal strongholds in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just liberals and progressives in favor of unrestrained and unexamined spending \u2014 or misspending \u2014 who voted \u201cno.\u201d A majority of voters in 21 counties that went for Republican Tim Michels in the last gubernatorial election voted \u201cno\u201d as well.<\/p>\n

Lies and\/or ignorant falsehoods were rampant. Opponents of the amendments falsely claimed victims of tornadoes<\/a> would not be able to quickly get FEMA money, for instance, and pretended the amendments would somehow inexplicably eliminate checks and balances.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u201d supporters spent millions and it worked. Proponents of a \u201cyes\u201d vote, including the Badger Institute, didn\u2019t have anywhere near that sort of money. What we saw as basic good governance, a step toward accountability and basic democratic principles, was turned into a partisan issue by the left, which then launched a misleading but effective political campaign.<\/p>\n

Some will say that\u2019s all water under the federally funded bridge. What\u2019s done is done, and it would take years to get similar amendments back on another ballot. The governor, this one and all who follow, regardless of party, will be able to continue to spend huge pots of federal money at will and without the approval of the Legislature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If, that is, there continues to be huge pots of federal money.<\/p>\n

The lack of oversight and accountability that will result from the \u201cno\u201d vote is one more indication that the party has to end at some point. We have $35 trillion of federal government debt in this country, and a chunk of it results from how money flows to the states in a way that would make the founding fathers blanch.<\/p>\n

As we pointed out in our book,<\/em> \u201cFederal Grant$tanding<\/a>,\u201d there is so much federal money floating around that it\u2019s almost impossible nowadays to know where the federal government ends and our state government begins.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like many states, Wisconsin typically gets more than 30% of its budgeted revenue from the federal government. And it gets billions more in so-called \u201cemergency\u201d or one-time spending that was the subject of the two constitutional amendments proposed to voters.<\/p>\n

A Badger Institute analysis in 2018 concluded there are more than 10,000 federal employees \u2014 people paid with federal tax dollars \u2014 disguised as state employees in Wisconsin alone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe takeover of state government by politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.,\u201d we wrote back then, \u201chas moved so relentlessly and swiftly forward in recent decades that it is often difficult to tell the difference between the two \u2014 even for government employees themselves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Numerous \u201cstate employees\u201d had no idea, we found, that they were actually paid with federal dollars that often come with mandates and directives and strings attached.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

State officials love the money, of course, because it\u2019s seen as \u201cfree.\u201d There\u2019s already far too little oversight or accountability even when legislators have a say through the budget process \u2014 and now voters, knowingly or not, have codified a practice that is even worse. The governor of this state, they confirmed, can spend huge chunks of federal money with absolute carte blanche. Voters will likely have little idea how it is spent. Much will likely be spent on things politicians in Washington never intended and may never even know about.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Government only works when it is close to the people, and government is only close to the people when our representatives and senators have a say over spending.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Too often, they don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bamboozled by the left, \u201cno\u201d voters just made a bad situation permanently worse.<\/p>\n

Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute. Permission to reprint is granted as long as the author and Badger Institute are properly cited.<\/em><\/p>\n

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