When I began this column back in 1995 in my hometown newspaper, the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway, Arkansas, I made a commitment to my readers that I would never get involved in partisan politics. To be sure, I have been true to this commitment all these years. And I have also learned that my readers are some of the most intelligent individuals in our nation. I do not plan on violating my commitment, but today I do wish to talk about something that is very important that can be related to politics, and I will leave it up to your best judgement as to which political candidates you wish to support in the upcoming election.
The title of my column today is, “THERE IS NO ‘FREE’ LUNCH.” However, there are free lunches for some people, and when this happens, other people must pay for them. You might know that our great nation, the United States of America, is in serious financial trouble. At the present time our national debt is around $35 trillion, and that is with a capital “T”, and you know that a trillion is a thousand billion. God knows that we can’t sustain this kind of debt and certainly we can’t afford for it to go any higher.
The truth is, almost all of us will be gone but our children will be stuck with the bill. They will be the ones who will have to pay this debt, if it’s ever to be paid at all. You probably also know that all the great civilizations that have fallen in the past have been because of “internal” problems, and not because they were conquered by another nation or a group of nations. What I resent, and you probably do too, is that far too many politicians have used the national treasury to “buy” votes. When a politician promises a group of people, or a state, that they will do something for them just to get their vote in the upcoming election, they are in essence buying votes.
When practiced over a period of years, the result is that this causes terrible inflation for the rest of us. The definition for inflation is “too many dollars chasing too few goods.” When we print and circulate billions of dollars, or trillions of dollars, without a corresponding increase in production, or items produced, it causes the price to go up on each one of them. If you have gone to the grocery store in the past three or four years and found the price on most of the items has greatly increased in price, you get the picture. I buy most of the groceries for our home and I have personally experienced this, so it really hits home for me.
Over the past several years I have also observed that when inflation occurs, it is usually accompanied by rising crime and other related problems. It is sad to say but we have also created a “welfare” state, as the number of people who are getting a monthly check, other than Social Security, from the government are about to outnumber the rest of us. My simple prayer is that we will all consider what is best for America when we vote and do our best to educate others.
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(Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. For a personalized copy of “Keep Your Fork” send $25, which includes postage and handling and tax, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)