It seems so long ago that both Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann were running for president, but it was only 2012. Now both are not even in Congress. Over the years I have seen many good people resign or choose not to run for reelection because they could not effect any meaningful change.

Hopefully the tide is turning and things will improve in Nov.

I wonder what Ayn Rand would think of the state of our society today.

.I miss Ron Paul. His son has been a disappointment. Lately it has seemed like the best members of Congress have been resigning or not running for reelection. We may be seeing Atlas Shrugged actually happening

There is no legitimate reason why the federal government should not have a balanced budget. Deficit financing was intended only for exceptional circumstances where money was needed more quickly than could be raised through ordinary taxation. It was never intended for continuing operations.

There is also no reason why we should have such an immense national debt, which incurs interest which must be paid by US taxpayers. The fact that other countries hold such a large proportion of this debt gives them influence over our foreign policy. If they were to suddenly cash in their bonds, US government would either default or quickly collapse.

Inflation is a back-door tax which ordinary Americans do not understand. Since our currency is no longer backed by gold or anything of substance, government can print as much paper as Congress permits. The more paper in circulation, the less each dollar is worth. Politicians avoid responsibility by blaming business when they must raise prices to cover the increased cost of labor and materials.

All of these techniques are used by politicians to keep taxpayers ignorant of the increasing cost of government and to facilitate their reelections. Taxpayers might not be so eager to embrace new government agencies and programs if they had to pay for them directly. Our Founding Fathers did not impose term limits on elected officials because it never occurred to them that anyone would want to be a professional politician. They viewed government service as a public duty where one would return to normal life after a designated term of service. Term limits might make politicians more concerned with serving the people rather than being primarily motivated to continue their own careers.

Finally, under the guise of helping others, we have given government the power to exhort money from those who earn it and redistribute it to those who do not. This is not charity, this is extortion.