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Introduction

There is a great deal of talk in America today about things which the government does which infringes on our personal liberties and even takes away some of our freedoms. There is concern over the NSA doing wire tapping on people's phones, there are those who think that making abortion illegal takes away our freedom, some people believe that certain laws take away their freedom. This article will discuss the real loss of freedom in the United States, the payment of taxes.

Now, before anyone starts to come to the conclusion that I am writing this article from the prospective of someone who believes that all taxes are evil and that we should not pay any, let me assure you that that is not the case. Some of the taxes we pay in this Country are very much needed and very appropriate. These would include the following plus other needed programs:

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Taxes for Highways

Taxes for Schools

Taxes to pay for the basics of government operation

Taxes to pay financial assistance to those who are disabled

Taxes to fund our military

Taxes to fund government research programs, such as NASA

Unfortunately, a great deal of the money that is taken from the everyday working American and sent either to the federal or the state government is being spent on wasteful programs which should not exist.

Pork Barrel Project-The Biggest Waste of them All

One of the principal forms of wasteful spending which occurs at the federal level of government is what is known as earmarks or pork barrel projects. According to Wikipedia, the definition of an earmark or a pork barrel project is a form of government spending which is intended to benefit the constituents of a politician in return for their political support, either in the form of campaign contributions or in the form of votes. In reading this definition it is easy to see how money can end up going to fund very frivolous projects.

The organization, Citizens against Government Waste, compile an annual list of pork barrel projects. For the 2005 fiscal year there were 13,997 projects which were added to the 13 appropriations bills. The total tax dollars spent on these projects totaled $27.3 billion dollars.

Let's look at that number another way. The estimated population in the United States in 2006 is 298,444,215. That 27.3 billion dollars cost every person who lives in the United States, $91.47 during 2005. If you were to only calculate this based on the number of people who actually pay taxes, that dollar amount for every tax payer would go up substantially.

One other thing to keep in mind about pork barrel projects is that no one in Washington DC seams to care about the incredible amounts of money which are being wasted. The CAGW reports that pork barrel spending has increased by 49.5 percent in the last 2 years.

Examples of Pork Barrel Projects

To really understand the degree of waste which occurs with pork barrel spending you have to look at the individual projects and see what the money is actually being spent on. Below I have listed some of the projects which were funded in fiscal year 2005. This is a very small list and simply shows the trends for these types of projects. Again this information comes from the government watchdog group, Citizens against Government Waste. It would be advisable for everyone to take a look at the full list which is available on the internet. It is startling to see what money is being spent on.

$3,270,000 for the Capital Visitor's Center

$100,000 for the Tiger Wood's Foundation

$75,000 for Onondaga County, for the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame

$1,790,000 for berry research in Alaska

$1,108,000 for alternative salmon products

$334,000 for e-commerce research

$2,300,000 for animal waste research in bowling green
$3,973,000 for shrimp aquaculture research. The original grant for this research was to have been completed in 1987. A total of $61 million dollars has been spent on this research since 1985.
$1,850,000 spent on viticulture, or wine industry, research.
$469,000 to the National Wild Turkey Foundation

Conclusion

It is time for us as citizens to start to realize the tremendous waste which is occurring within our government. This type of spending is completely out of control. These types of projects, before they are ever approved, should be very carefully scrutinized to make sure that they will actually benefit anyone. If they are simply being approved to make a congressman's or senator's constituent's happy, then they should not be approved.

I believe that these types of programs result from the culture which exists in Washington where politicians get elected and instead of trying to actually benefit anyone they are more concerned with benefiting themselves which generally means they are primarily focused on doing anything they can to get reelected. It is time for a change.