Red-State Teat-Sucking Rendered Invisible. Conservatives Howl Tyranny.
In response to this graphic in my reprised post from yesterday:
Commenter rjs points us to this depressing Economist post — the government data source for this graphic has gone dark, part of the Obama administration’s cost-cutting measures.
The real irony I discover, though, is to find right-wingers at The Heritage Foundation screaming about the Obama administration’s hypocrisy and opacity for cutting that budget item (which they would undoubtedly label “redundant” and “wasteful” if it hadn’t been cut).
With the Obama Administration outspending all prior Administrations while adding to the astronomical federal debt, the fact that taxpayers can no longer rely on access to where and how their money is being spent at the county and city level is disquieting. So far, Administration officials have been able to brush the lack of transparency under the rug. For the good of the country, that needs to change. Citizens should demand to know what is happening to their tax dollars once they are sucked up by the federal government’s vacuum cleaner.
Indeed — including which states, exactly, are doing the sucking.
Another example:
The Transparently Hypocritical Barack Obama | RedState
You just can’t make this shit up.
Cross-posted at Asymptosis.
“Citizens should demand to know what is happening to their tax dollars once they are sucked up by the federal government’s vacuum cleaner.”
First, that information is readily available in the Federal budget and in appropriations bills. (You might need a search engine, though. ;))
Second, citizens are responsible, through their votes for their representatives, and through their freedom of speech on issues, for government spending. If they do not know what their representatives are doing, then ask them.
Third, the free press has a role in informing citizens about what their gov’t is doing. If they are not doing their job of discovering and publishing those facts, complain to them.
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Aside. Did whoever wrote that line take middle school civics?
Sorry, that’s an overreaction. I guess I was in rant mode. The highlighted text is offensive, but transparency is a good thing.