Compound
Interest
Charlie Earl
When does
24.2 equal ten? Well…it is 2.42 times larger, so how can the two values be
equal? It is the magic of compounding. If you had spent $10 for an item in
1982, and the price of that item compounded at 3% per year until today, that
same item would cost you $24.20. The item I’m referring to is actually the
relative cost of smaller government as envisioned by members and leaders of the
Republican Party. Democrats have consistently sought to break the fiscal bank
by initiating and funding worthless programs and policies….let’s say something
along the line of a 4% compounded annual increase. Republicans on the other
hand….being the self-proclaimed, self-appointed party of smaller government and
fiscal responsibility have compromised us into the current morass. It’s true
that on a relative scale of “responsibility,” the GOP has proven to be slightly
less damaging than the Democrats, but it is an issue of time not dollars. In
other words….the Republican strategy has stretched out the time for our fiscal
collapse, whereas the Democrat/progressive/socialist mob would have gotten us
there more quickly.
Government
at all levels is bigger and more costly. Our liberty and rights have been
dramatically diminished thus violating the laws of God and men (the
Constitution). Both parties have been complicit in this nefarious path. Both
parties have been instrumental in our slide into a bankrupt police state. Both
parties and their willing stooges have conspired to destroy the American dream
for this generation and all future ones. Both parties shall be condemned at the
Final Judgment. However…..parties are comprised of people and “parties” will
not stand before the Throne of God. People will. Individual persons will. When
a party is dead, it has no moment of accountability similar to that of its
individual members. Who will answer? Who will pay?
Yes, I
admit, that like some of you I was vapidly somnolent while waiting for my
guardian elephants to pull our fiscal and freedom chestnuts out of the raging
inferno. The massive blaze was large enough, however, that I saw the light. The
Democrats’ driving mantra of “the ends justify the means” uses corrupt and
immoral means to achieve nefarious and suicidal ends. The “big lie” is the
primary tool in the Democrat box of underhanded devices. The GOP, on the other
hand, engages in the “little lie” with alarming frequency. Republicans lie to
themselves and each other while ignoring the reality of the Party’s march
toward oppressive huge government. The party leaders enable the Democrats’
schemes and share the benefits of increased power and influence. Meanwhile….the
slower-growth compound interest of deficits, debt and despotism is engulfing
all of us.
Despite its
lack of a national footprint, the Libertarian Party, too, shares in the sepsis
of our national identity. By focusing on tangential issues such as the
legalization or decriminalizing of pot, the prospect of gay marriage and other
such constitutionally irrelevant issues, the LP has successfully marginalized
itself outside the body politic. The aforementioned topics may be personally
important to some Americans, but they are insignificant when measured against
the overriding dismantling of our constitutional government and the fiscal
devastation that currently faces us. The party has been around for more than
thirty years, but because of a failure to promote the purity of personal
liberty and the sanity of fiscal responsibility, it has become the resting
place for every crackpot who has a personal bitch with the government and the
other parties. Libertarians, it you wish to be one of the big ones, you must advance
the big ideas and allow the people to ascertain how liberty and fiscal
responsibility affect them personally. The LP problem is that its appeal has
been based on too simple interest.
Compounding
is the problem, and our difficulties have been compounded and made more complex
because we allowed it, we encouraged it and now we are unable to prevent it.
“There ought to be a law” has replaced “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness” as our pre-eminent national identity. We screwed up, and I fear that
reclaiming our heritage may be the costliest fight in our history. When our
Founders declared our independence, the government was an ocean away with other
problems on its plate. Today… now…the offending government is in our house. I’m
exhausted and fed up with political parties that debate the nonsensical and the
marginal. I’m sick of citizens who are distracted by the shiny objects of minor
disagreement when there are just two issues: individual liberty and
constitutional government. Nothing else matters because if those two principles
continue to be abused, we are doomed.
Charlie Earl
