Recession of the State: Renaissance of the Libertarian Right

As long as there was plenty of money, nobody really cared how Government spent it.

If city managers were paying themselves exorbitant six-figure salaries, if part-time councilmembers took CEO pay, no one cared, as long as everyone got paid, as long as the trash was picked up every week and the bad guys got locked up.

If the head of charities and state relief agencies received huge paychecks with benefits, no one cared, because there was enough of whatever to hand out to everybody.

If school personnel were compensated far out of proportion to the work they did, it didn't matter, as long as there were enough teachers for the right number of students.

If public workers strong-armed state legislators for a generous pensions and benefits, it made little difference, for the taxpayers themselves else was so busy throwing around their own easy money.

Then struck the Great Recession. The Day of Reckoning has Come. For the nation to survive, it will require the transition to the Recession of the State.

The secret is out: State Governments never had to begin with the kind of money that they were throwing around. All the wealth has gone *POOF!* in a haze of hazardous borrowing, unmerited credit, and short-term long-term loans come due.

Now cash-strapped states and municipalities do not have the resources to fund basic services.
From municipalities to the Federal Governments, the people demand to know: "Where's the money? Show us the money!"

Now the people care about six-figure salaries for do-nothing jobs. We care about $400hammers, rampant medicare fraud, bridges to nowhere, unsustainable pension and health benefits obligations. We ask why the money that was meant for right and reasonable purposes was never spent in the right way. The people are challenging the frivolous, arbitrary, and undocumented expenditures of their state and local institutions. The Great Recession has impelled us to the Recession of the State.

The Recession of the State has lead to local recovery. City dwellers are getting active when before they had never bothered to vote in local elections. TEA Party rallies across the country have thrown out tax-and-spend legislators for prudent politicians who will heed the demand for economical government that leaves the tax-payer alone.

The Recession of the State has also induced educational reform. With school districts bankrupt from doling out undeserved benefits, they must make fiscally prudent policy decisions. Parents will no longer stand for subsidizing a system which on the surface had fooled them for so long, deceived their children into an empty education.

Fiscal responsibility, lesser government, individual accountability, and an end to the ubiquitous nanny state . .

The Recession of the State is the Renaissance of the Libertarian Right!