President Jefferson

The National Debt

February 26, 2019

Dear President Jefferson,

During the last election cycle, polls showed that the American people had many concerns. The gamut ran from Health Care, Gun Control, Climate Change, Immigration, Distribution of Wealth and the Economy. One aspect of the economy which is usually glossed over by today’s politicians is $22 Trillion Dollars. That’s right you heard me correctly President Jefferson, $22 Trillion Dollars. You probably never heard a number like that and to tell you the truth I have no idea how many zeros that is. You might be asking, “What is $22 trillion dollars?” well Mr. President that is our national debt, a topic which you wrote quite extensively about and one I feel should be the most important issue facing us today, since it will definitely effect our future in the long run like no other issue.

There were two thoughts you had on this topic which struck a chord with me. One which our politicians today seem to worry little about but in my opinion is one of the most important ones that they should be addressing. The second thought which I will mention later was your idea for remedying this problem.

First you once said:

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

Today’s politicians instead of living within their means with our money, like most of the citizenry does, just continue to borrow to make ends meet. Part of the problem is that annual budgets are no longer submitted, and they keep funding the government with Continuing Resolutions.  When a budget is submitted, they are usually rendered useless because the federal government can no longer live within their parameters and there are overruns which lead to government borrowing. These politicians show little concern about this borrowing because money is made readily available to them with no immediate consequences. If debt ceilings are met, they simply raise the ceiling and the levels of money they can borrow.  They have what has become known as a” kick the can down the road” attitude burdening future generations with their mistakes and outrageous spending. It seems that none are really concerned with this borrowing as they just keep doing so while offering up more benefits which we really cannot afford.

Your second thought on this matter was just after the Revolutionary War. The United States had a lot of debt and Article I, Section 8, Clause 2 of the Constitution grants to the United States Congress the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States.

President Jefferson, you realized that it was necessary at that time but you also had a remedy to avoid future problems and that was for amending this part of the Constitution. Allow me to remind you of your quote:

“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution, I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government: I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.”

You were willing to remove the previously mentioned Article 1, Section 8 Clause 2 from the Constitution. One would have to ask are we now well beyond the point where this would be possible, and if not, should it be something that should be considered? Imagine having to force the Federal Government to live within a budget which would help eliminate government waste, bureaucratic bloat and probably the creeping of government interference into our lives.

Once again, your wisdom and foresight should be heeded in helping our present-day politicians to resolve today’s issues.

I will be writing to you again in the future regarding this topic. Thank you for your time.

 

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco