Quick! Hop a plane and fly to Washington! The Congress is about to rip you off for another two cents on every packet of Kool-Aid you buy!
Think I’m crazy? I’ll have to plead no contest on that one. But what’s even crazier is the way our Congress again and again does the bidding of special interests at your expense. Perhaps saving two cents on Kool-Aid isn’t that important to you. But subsidies our Congress gives the sugar industry cost the taxpayers $1.4 billion every year. The top 100 sugar farms each rake in over $1 million in benefits.
And of course, it doesn’t stop with sugar. Many other products receive subsidies which benefit a few special interests in Washington at the expense of the average taxpayer. If you were to grow peanuts in your back yard and sell them, you could be arrested. As Rep. Mark Sanford, a leader of term-limited members of Congress, points out, “No one in my district would say that that makes sense. Such programs survive only because special interests support them, and because career politicians need the support of the special interests. The only way to solve this problem is to change a representative’s perspective something term limits do very well.”
Okay, so maybe you don’t want to hop a plane for Washington and lobby your congressman for that two cents. But what kind of person do you want to represent you in Congress? A citizen legislator committed to coming back home? Or a career politician ready to cut yet another deal with the special interests so he or she can stay in Washington forever? Your choice.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.