During the ongoing budget battle, Harry Reid, the leader of the Democrat Party, whined that the draconian cuts recommended by the Republican controlled house would cause the ending of a federally funded Cowboy Poetry Contest in Nevada.  Heavy sigh here, and then a decision about where to start.  Let us start with the concept of draconian.  One, we as a nation are out of money.  Even if we took Michael Moore’s solution of out right government sponsored thievery, not withstanding his impassioned but totally of the hinges pleas to consider it justified, there just isn’t enough out there to steal from the, “rich,” to continue paying for free goodies for huge swaths of the population.  (Personally, I have a feeling that the, “rich,” as defined by Moore stops at exactly one person on the list above Moore’s personal wad of cash.)  Those of us in the private sector have been spending the money we can afford to, and deciding to limit our outflows to what ever cash we had coming in.  That is how responsible adults budget.  Congress Critters on the other hand have zero attention to pay to trite little things like funding limitations.  They spend what they wish based on political favors, vote buying, and campaign promises, and then worry about where or how to make up the resulting shortfall later.  The gamble of course is that they will be long out of office before anyone notices that we, the taxpayers were royally screwed.  So, when the bill finally comes due, as it has this year, those who are having fun still spending feel like they are entitled to continue the party.  After all, why should Harry Reid show any kind of responsibility when we never made Ted Kennedy take any.  It’s Harry’s turn gosh darn it, and he wants Cowboys to write Poetry in the Nevada Desert.  He wants you and me to pay for it.

To put the term draconian in context, our proposed outflows from the already bankrupt federal coffers is $16,430,000,000,000.  $1,600,000,000,000 of that is money we will be short and subsequently will have to borrow.  The House’s proposed cuts, which in my very humble opinion do not go far enough, are about $61,000,000,000.  The draconian cuts represent three tenths of 1% of the total budget.  If you had a hundred bucks in your hand, We would be asking you to shop around for enough of a bargain to save about 30 cents.  That is exactly what Harry Reid and the President find themselves unable to do.  How much of this are we supposed to take?  At some point we need face and deal with reality.  Putting aside for the moment that these guys are busy spending our national economic productivity like it defacto belongs to them, but clearly those proceeds carry no more value than monopoly money. 

Every time Americans say knock it off already, (for those who were wondering, this is the entirety of the Tea Party Message,) we are assured that vital services like Police, and Fire will not be able to continue.  That somehow, the vital services are eating away at our national wealth and there really is nothing else to cut.  So, in that sense I must thank Harry for reminding us all how that entire line of baloney has been a huge lie perpetrated against us for years.  A Cowboy Poetry writing festival now counts as a vital service.  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see every cowboy write poetry if that floats their boat.  They enjoy the protections of the First Amendment.  They have a right to enjoy the finer arts such as poetry and music and sculpture, and performance art, and what ever else people think constitutes art.  I will clarify my feelings this way though, like Percy Shelly, Lord Byron, and Robert Burns, let them get other jobs, like cowboying, and pay for their poetic endeavors themselves.  If the masses like their poetry, let them purchase it on the open market, and don’t force us Ohio Residents to pay for it.  The money Harry Reid steals form us, just as deserving folk here in Ohio would be better served supporting and creating jobs through the free market system as than they would being burned in the Nevada Sun.  I am sure that even the least rugged cowboy would be able to protect my vision of that lonesome cow poke driving a heard of cattle across the plain, so that I might enjoy a hamburger at the greasiest of fast food palaces, would be just as capable of using a pen and paper to scribble a few lines of fantastic description just as well, if he did not have fair food and a midway in a small town in Harry Reid’s home state.  In case that ain’t true, here is my entry for next year’s gala event:

Ode to a tumbleweed  –
There’s a sucker born every minute, and Harry Reid courts their vote.

Crossposted at Musings of a Mad Conservative.