Shootin' it Straight - Dollars and Sense

 If I ask the common citizen if they knew specifically where their hard-earned tax dollars were being spent locally, most wouldn't have a clue. On a local level, we should be able to see clearly where every dollar is spent but even that is at times murky. On a state level, we can't follow the paper trail at apprentice levels. Spending is buried among paperwork, feel-good bills, and pet projects. On a national level, all hope is lost. Our tax dollars are funneled to everything from spotted Australian toad studies to jailhouse gender reassignment. Our say in where tax money is spent is seemingly negligent. The system warrants a massive overhaul. 

 Education and understanding should be the building blocks. Although it's elementary-level political economics, we must make a renewed effort to make it understood that government on any level does not exist without our hard-earned dollars. The government produces no goods or services that are for profit. They exist only to be a service to the citizens who created it. We wouldn't tolerate a marriage where multiple thousands of dollars go missing on a regular basis with no explanation of their whereabouts. There would be finger-pointing and angry questions tossed around. Justifiably so. Our elected leaders do far worse, and we shrug it off as business as usual. Every dollar wasted and unnecessarily spent is taking food off your table. Leaders are spending your money like drunken sailors while you struggle to pay the utility bills. We should hold them accountable, and that starts by demanding clear-cut records of where your hijacked dollars are used. Any person with a dose of common sense and patience should be able to view spreadsheets following the coin from start to finish. Names should be attached to every dollar spent so accountability is plain to see. Anyone who doesn't favor that has a play in the hidden agenda. 

 We've been lulled into the routine of being robbed of 35% of our income with very little accountability of how it's used. The ultimate goal is a small focused government that spends our dollars with the frugality we deserve. The two part plan should start with transparency. Each dollar spent should have a list of names attached to it and that dollar should be traceable from Washington to its final destination. Once this task is accomplished, we then have the option to keep or scrap said tax recipient. It's almost a laughable low standard to ask of our nation's leaders. To simply ask to have clear knowledge of where our dollars are used is the bare minimum of what we are owed. We've fell asleep at the wheel. It's high time to keep more of our own money to do with as we choose. The people truly hold the power and the sooner we wake up to that fact the better off we are.