unPHILtered by Phil Robertson

Author:Phil Robertson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Howard Books

9

GOVERNMENT

Fix No. 9: Make the U.S. Government Smaller

Do you know what the United States government and lottery winners have in common? Neither one of them got their money by working for it, both rejoice when the cash pours in, and then both squander it about as fast as they receive it. I’ve noticed over the years that it’s a lot easier to spend somebody else’s money than your own because you didn’t have to work for it. My boys never had any problems spending my money when they were young. You should try to squeeze a dollar out of them nowadays!

How many stories have we heard or read about lottery winners who strike it big in Powerball or Mega Millions, winning millions of dollars instantly by nothing but dumb luck, only to squander their money on luxurious mansions, extravagant sports cars, and vacations around the world? The money consumes them, and they fall into a life of despair, plagued by sex, drugs, alcohol, and divorce. They’re some of the saddest stories you’ll ever read because they were ruined by their own greed and, worse, the greed of their families and friends. As the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi famously said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not for every man’s greed.” Boy, wasn’t he right?

In 1988, William “Bud” Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania Lottery. His brother, of all people, hired a hit man to try to kill him, and Post squandered his fortune in only a few short years. He was living off Social Security when he died in 2006. Billie Bob Harrell Jr. won $31 million in the Texas Lotto in 1997. He divorced his wife and committed suicide less than two years later. Harrell told his financial adviser shortly before his death that winning the lottery was “the worst thing that ever happened to” him. Evelyn Adams, who had the unbelievable fortune of winning the New Jersey Lottery twice, in 1985 and 1986, for a total of $5.4 million, gave away her money and lost the rest gambling in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She was broke and living in a trailer by 2001. I guess what they say is right—money can’t buy happiness. But it sure can cause misery.

In many ways, the U.S. government is like a lotto winner who won big—really, really big. The federal government doesn’t actually earn its money—it only takes it from you and me—and it has so many methods at its disposal to blow it through fiscal irresponsibility. And like many of the now-broke lottery winners, government officials always seem to say it’s someone else’s fault when things go wrong. Lottery winners often blame their kinfolk or friends when things go south, and it’s always convenient for our politicians to point their fingers at someone else—usually somebody from the other political party—as the reason for their pitiful stewardship.

The U.S. government, as we know it today, is grossly bloated, inefficient, and ineffective at its current size. In 2013, the federal government spent $3.

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