Raising the Debt Ceiling is Nothing but Government Theft

 Growing up, I was taught that if I took something that didn't belong to me or I didn't earn, it was called "theft." That is what thieves do; they take things that don't belong to them with no intention of returning them. Some thieves might rationalize, "Oh, I'm just borrowing this; I'll return it someday." But they never do. What Congress is doing, in raising the "debt ceiling" for the umpteenth time, is nothing short of pure theft. They can say they are "borrowing" and will "pay it back someday." But they aren't; they can't and never will; they are stealing from you, me, and generations now and long into the future.

Permit me to give a simple example, and please refrain from arguing with details. It's just an example. Suppose my monthly income is $3,000, but I spend $5,000 monthly. After two years, I will be almost $50,000 in debt. What to do? "Ah," I say, "I will borrow the money." So, I borrow $100,000 to meet all my obligations. Now I am $150,000 in debt. I continue to spend $5,000 on my $3,000 income, and in two years, I am now about $200,000 in debt. What to do? "Ah," I say, "I will borrow the money to meet my obligations." So, I borrowed another $300,000. Now I am about $500,000 in debt. And I do this ad infinitum. And, of course, eventually, being unable to pay back the money that I "borrowed," I defaulted and filed for bankruptcy. I have done nothing but steal the money that was loaned to me. That is precisely what it was—theft. I took something that did not belong to me and used it for selfish purposes with no ability or intention of ever paying it back. Call it what it is—theft from somebody who trusted me to return what I borrowed from them. By the way, my name in this example is Sam Congress.

Obviously, my example does not conform to perfect reality, but you get the point. Congress spends and spends and spends until it is almost out of money and then "borrows" trillions more, claiming that someday it will pay it all back. What will the debt ceiling be now--$35 36 trillion? If they took every dime of every American living right now (not just "the rich"), they couldn't pay half that debt. So obviously, they are now "borrowing" (stealing because they will never pay it back) from our children, grandchildren, and beyond. They take the money now. They spend it on what THEY want to (useless wars around the world, etc.), and lie—flat out lie—to us and tell us that "someday it will be paid back." Some day. Kick the can down the road. After all, the current members are dead and gone. Let the next generation deal with the problem.

Incidentally, we know Congress is lying because they call this new theft "The Fiscal Responsibility Act." I guess thieves think they are being "fiscally responsible," too. At least they are paying for their drugs.

Given the nature of the American electorate over the past few generations, do we expect the next generation of voters to be smarter than we have been and hold Congress accountable to pay back the money it "borrowed"? Of course, most of us reading this will be dead, too, so it won't be our problem, either. Instead, we will be known to history as an utterly irresponsible generation for believing the lies our current Congress tells us. We know they are lying to us, and let them get away with it, anyway. How are we any better than they?

Kevin McCarthy should have said one thing: "NO!!! We are not raising the debt limit one-thin dime! Not only will we quit spending more money than we take in, but we are setting aside a substantial amount each month to pay the people we have previously borrowed from. No increase in the debt limit!"

That is what he should have said. That is what you and I must do. I can only spend more money every month than I receive; I can get away with it occasionally, in case of emergency, but I can only do that for a while. I must have more income than outgo. I can't continue to live off borrowed money. So I pay back borrowed money—or I default and file for bankruptcy. The latter might occasionally be unavoidable, but it is certainly the direction the American government is heading, and, in this case, is utterly inexcusable. These unconscionable thieves are making no serious effort to pay back what they are stealing from you, me, our children, grandchildren, ad infinitum. They never will. Let the next President and Speaker of the House deal with it. Or the one following them. Or the next. Until it all comes crashing down and destroys the American Republic.

Let me end this by quoting historian Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler from about 250 years ago: "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse [money] from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."

You don't end debt with more debt.