The Real Cost of Progressivism

Students -- Wake up! You are not immune from the travails of the U.S. economy or the policies of the government. If you're angry about budget cuts to public education, wait until you see what happens with Medicare and Social Security. By the time you are eligible for these programs, they will either be bankrupt or a shadow of their current selves.

There are consequences to the progressive agenda. And it's about time you started learning about them. Progressivism is just a euphemism for "creeping socialism", for greater government involvement in the economic affairs of this country as well as many of its social benefits such as education, healthcare, social security, unemployment compensation, welfare and food stamps. All of these "entitlements" cost money. They have to be paid for either from tax receipts or borrowings.

Taxes should be designed to pay the current costs of operating the government. Borrowings should only be used to fund long-term benefits lasting beyond one tax year. In that way, the cost of the benefit will be spread over its useful life and the taxpayers of today and in the future will all contribute because all of them benefit.

What is going on in the current economic crisis is that costs continue to be incurred that can't be paid from current income (i.e., tax receipts). So, instead of deferring or cutting non-essential expenses, the government continues to borrow more money from foreign sources knowing full well that the current generation is not going to have to repay the bill and associated interest. That cost will be borne by future generations who received no benefit from such cost and will ultimately bankrupt this country once the interest on the national debt makes it impossible to continue borrowing or fund current governmental expenses.

So, dear students, remember that if you are inclined to fight against cuts to education which directly affect you now, you should be equally inclined to do so against those programs and expenditures that you will be forced to pay for in the future without any benefit to you. That is the consequence of progressivism in a nutshell.