Every year, a Senate Republican writes up a “Wastebook”, a report of numerous unnecessary and highly wasteful spending that our government partakes as though we have a limitless supply of money. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been in charge of making this report for a few years now. Here are some of the things that our government chooses to waste our tax money on:
 
     1) $153,000,000 on the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA). 

Spending money on public transport is expected; spending millions upon millions of dollars on a failing system in the hopes of fixing problems by throwing money at it, however, is wasteful. Yet, this is what the government did in 2019 and will likely continue doing for years to come: throw money at problems and hope they magically get resolved. Money can, indeed, help with this problem, but it has to be spent wisely.
 
    2) $300,000 to fund debates and Model U.N. competitions… in Afghanistan. 

Ignoring how much of a miserable joke the actual U.N. is, why would we fund debates and Model U.N. competitions outside of the country? Wouldn’t it make more sense for, oh, I don’t know, AFGHANISTAN to be funding things that happen in their country?
 
And by the way, this is a point I will make more than once in this article, so brace yourselves.
 
    3) $708,466 to fund research involving making Zebrafish addicted to nicotine. 

Literally why? What purpose does this serve? To discover the effects of nicotine on fish? Who does that help? We already know what it does to humans, what information could we gain from doing this research? And why so much of it? What is the money going towards, giving the fish expensive Cuban cigars? Research to figuring out how to light a cigarette underwater? Figuring out if the fish prefer using pipes while reading the morning newspaper?
 
    4) $84,375 purchasing a statue from American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan to place in the U.S. embassy in Mozambique. 

… I don’t even know what to say about this. Ironically, this was in the middle of the government shutdown back in February, back when Leftists were “worried” about how the government was going to pay government workers and help the poor. I don’t know, maybe not paying for a statue made by Bob Dylan might help there, wasteful Washington Establishment.
 
    5) $4,658,865 to study the connection between drinking alcohol and ending up in the ER. 

Alcohol makes people dumb. Dumb people make bad decisions. Dumb people hurt themselves. Dumb people sometimes end up in the ER. Can I get my government grant now?
 
    6) $16,000,000 to improve the quality of schools… in Egypt. 

Like with the Afghanistan point, why does THE U.S. have to pay for this? Shouldn’t the task of funding education in Egypt go to the Muslim Brotherhood, who control the nation? We have our own problems with the quality of our schools. Kids don’t even know WHY WE FOUGHT WORLD WAR II FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! THEY THINK WE DID IT TO GAIN OUR INDEPENDENCE! RASMUSSEN SAYS THAT 42% OF YOUNG PEOPLE SUPPORT SOCIALISM! Obviously, that last one is because of the Marxist professors and curricula that has deeply poisoned our education system, but still. Young Americans are airheads, for the most part, which is the precise reason Pelosi and Democrats want to lower the voting age to 16.
 
    7) $33,921,175 to buy textbooks for students… in Afghanistan. 

One thing I would like to ask is why it is we are still fighting a war there, 18 years after 9/11, when they get such nice, incredibly undeserved treatment from us. Like I said before, shouldn’t this type of stuff fall on the Afghanistan government to take care of? And if someone wants to argue “they’re too poor, they need help”, then why do We the People need to pay with our tax dollars? There are organizations out there that help with funding for school supplies, textbooks included, which are mostly funded by willing donations from people. Why do we have to foot the bill for the education of people who hate us?
 
    8) $22,000,000 to bring Serbian cheese up to international standards. 

Look, I like cheese as much as the next guy. But why in the world are we spending upwards of $20M to help Serbian farmers improve the standard of their cheese? Shouldn’t that fall on the farmers themselves if they hope to compete in the marketplace? Or, if you wish to go the socialist route, at the very least, shouldn’t the Serbian government be in charge of that if government assistance is so necessary? Why are we wasting $22M on cheese many of us will likely never have? I didn’t even know Serbia made their own particular kind of cheese! For all the money going to them, they better be able to compete with Kraft, or else, that is an even bigger waste of money.
 
In total, these things add up to $230,672,881 in unnecessary and highly wasteful spending. And before any liberals want to cry out to me “but Trump is President now! The spending is on him!” keep in mind that Congress has power of the purse, meaning that they decide what the federal budget would be for a particular year. The Washington Establishment rules in Congress, so they get to decide how much of our money to spend each year. If Trump vetoes those budgets, the government shuts down and we get weeks upon weeks of the media yelling that Trump is starving families and that whistleblowers get left out on the streets.
 
Want to know why our national debt is at $23 trillion? Because we are funding for research regarding making fish addicted to nicotine and trying to figure out why drunk people end up in the hospital so much. Things that either are ridiculous to fund or unnecessary, or both. If the idiots in Congress ever get the bright idea to stop wasting money on vanity projects like these, we would be an unstoppable juggernaut in the world, at least financially.
 
And sure, at the end of the day, $230M plus in a multi-trillion dollar federal budget isn’t much, but this only looks at a FEW things that the government unnecessarily wastes money on. This is far from the dumbest things the government funds, but is a small sample of those things.
 
War with Iran, North Korea, China, or Russia would not destroy us. Trade wars with China and Russia would not destroy us. Foreign interference into our elections wouldn’t destroy us. Wasteful spending like this, and particularly, the ramped up wasteful spending that the Left plans to do when they eventually win elections again, such as Medicare for All and GND, is what will destroy us.
 
We can’t continue spending money we don’t have. That’s simply not sustainable.
 
Proverbs 21:20
“Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.”
 
Author: Freddie Marinelli.

Last week, running on the fumes of the massive illegal immigration debate centered around children separated from their “parents”, three Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced a bill calling on the abolishment of ICE. The three Democrats were Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Adriano Espaillat (D-NY).
                                            
However, House Republicans called their bluff and agreed to bring the measure up to the House floor so the Democrats could be on record supporting the abolishment of ICE. And so, the three Democrat representatives said they would vote “no” on the measure if it is brought up to the House floor.
 
For their part, they’re also trying to salvage the little dignity they have left, saying: “We know Speaker Ryan is not serious about passing our ‘Establishing a Humane Immigration Enforcement System Act,’ so members of Congress, advocacy groups, and impacted communities will not engage in this political stunt.”
 
Yeah, it’s not that he’s not serious about such a bill. Whether he is or isn’t is beside the point. The point is that these Democrats wanted to have some good p.r. by seemingly wanting to back the abolishment of ICE but their bluff was called. It’s them who were not serious about the bill, they just wanted some good rep.
 
Of course, this is not entirely surprising. According to polls, only 25% of Americans think ICE should be abolished (which is still too high, if you ask me). If they were to seriously go for such a measure, while it wouldn’t pass anyway since even some Democrats are against the idea, Republican candidates could use those votes in their campaigns to highlight the damage the Democrats could cause were they to win any seats in Congress.
 
Now, here’s the thing: we know this is the direction the Democrat Party is headed. Everyone from Keith Ellison to former PP CEO Cecile Richards is insisting that the future of the Democrat Party lies with people like Ocasio-Cortez, the socialist who defeated Democrat incumbent Joseph Crowley. If open socialism is the Democrat Party’s future, the Democrat Party has no future.
 
Regardless, they believe this is the direction their base wants to go. In this direction lies the destruction of the very fabric of society, as I have said in the past. Abolishing ICE is what socialists like Ocasio-Cortez want and will eventually try to go for, regardless of what the polls say. The only reason these three Democrats even brought up such a bill is because of Ocasio-Cortez’s victory over Crowley. It’s one of the things she’s been looking to do in Congress.
 
But due to this very act of cowardice on the part of the three Democrats, the Party must face the truth: this kind of rhetoric isn’t going to get them far. As it stands, the Democrat Party is too afraid to actually pull the trigger on supporting the abolishment of ICE. The problem is they’ve been in this kind of situation in the past.
 
Democrats used to be against gay marriage until they believed people wanted it. Democrats used to be against illegal immigration until they realized illegals mean free votes. As it stands, the Democrat Party is split on the abolishment of ICE, but they will eventually be unified again, likely against ICE and the country.
 
The only problem for them is that, with the demands the socialists in the Democrat Party are making now, just about any fool can torch them in an election. Let’s review a list I shared with you some articles ago about the demands these socialists are making. These socialists want to abolish ICE, abolish prisons, abolish profits, guaranteed income for everyone, no borders, no deportation of illegals, supposedly free healthcare, supposedly free education, and the complete and utter destruction of the 2nd Amendment, guaranteeing only the government has guns.
 
In that previous article, I made the case for why these are all terrible ideas (not that it’s not obvious to sane people) and any candidate can use those arguments to destroy these points. Like I said in that article, abolishing ICE means more crime, more drugs, more guns pouring into the country that will land in the hands of criminals and, least of all, more illegal immigrants coming into the country.
 
The only people who would deny these facts are those who should be considered insane. Which is why I say the Democrat Party has no future if people like Ocasio-Cortez are the future.
 
Now, don’t get me wrong. The Democrats have wanted a lot of the things they’ve recently been campaigning on for ages. The difference is that they used to lie about what they wanted (don’t misunderstand, they still do in some cases). In the past, in order to get what they wanted, they had to lie about what they wanted.
 
If Obama had been entirely honest about Obamacare, how likely would it have been to pass? Containing death panels, mandating people to get it or pay a fee and knowing it would increase premiums twice-fold, no one in their right mind would be okay with having Obamacare if they knew about these things.
 
If Obama had been entirely honest about the Iran Nuke Deal, how likely would it have been viewed as a good thing by the American people and the media? Sending billions upon billions of dollars to an enemy who constantly calls for our deaths in order to help them build the most dangerous weapons known to man? No one in their right mind would say “sign me up!”
 
But now, with certain things, the Democrats are abandoning any semblance of subtlety. They are, for once, honest with their words. They are looking to do what they say they want to do. Why? Because the emergence of Trump, as well as his sustained popularity, have driven the Left insane. They see Trump as a radical and think their best chance is to fight fire with fire.
 
They see Trump as far-right, so they believe they must go far-left. The problem is that it’s messing with the formula in a dangerous way. They are exposing themselves as socialists. And while half the Millennial generation may be with them (God knows why), most of America is still sour on the idea of turning into a socialist/communist nation.
 
We need only see Venezuela, North Korea, China, the Soviet Union, and Europe to see how terrible socialism is. Socialism has amounted to the deaths of hundreds of millions of people and counting. It’s almost too easy to destroy any socialist argument.
 
Now, I understand that many people vote with their hearts and not their brains. Looking at today’s political climate of Leftist whack-jobs attacking Trump supporters, those people are not very likely to listen to reason when it comes to socialism. But the thing about living life with such unreasonableness is that it can’t last forever.
 
At one point or another, people are faced with reality and will accept the truth. I’ve used this example before, but I think it’s a good one, so I will restate it.
 
Picture yourself driving down the road, coming up to an intersection. You see that you have a red light and there’s a big truck about to cross the intersection. Living unreasonably, you theorize that the truck is not actually there, despite all evidence against your theory, and drive through the intersection.
 
That’s living without reason. But eventually, reason always returns to you, and it can return the easy way or the hard way.
 
Translating this into political terms, people will realize the horrors of socialism the easy way or the hard way.
 
The good news is we don’t need to risk learning this the hard way. We have real-world examples that speak against socialism, including simple logic. The other good news is that the people who want full-on communism and socialism and the things written in the aforementioned list are in the minority.
 
We saw, during the 2016 presidential election, many former Democrat voters voting for Trump because they were disillusioned with the job Obama did and thought Hillary would be more of the same. Recently, we’ve been seeing a quiet movement (which has only been quiet because the MSM wouldn’t dare cover it, as it goes against their narrative) called the “Walk Away” movement in which people expressed their disappointment with the Democrat Party going farther and farther to the Left that they can’t even recognize the Party anymore.
 
The vast majority of America does not want socialism. It’s for these very reasons that I say the Democrat Party has no future if Ocasio-Cortez is their future. And some Democrats are smart enough to know that.
 
For the many, MANY dumb things Schumer and Pelosi say, they are actually pretty smart. They have to be in order to survive calls of stepping down. For as Leftist as they are, they still remain somewhat sane and reasonable – particularly compared with Warren, Sanders (although he’s also smart enough, seemingly, to be against abolishing ICE) and the crazy lady I’ve been talking about throughout this article. They represent a Democrat Party that is still not completely screwed. And I think they know that in order to return to power, they need to continue lying about what they want.
 
So there will be a sort of civil war in the Democrat Party in the near future. That much is for sure.
 
But returning to the three Democrats “looking” to abolish ICE, it’s quite clear that this was nothing but a political stunt. They want their voters to think they want to go through with abolishing ICE but never had any actual intentions on voting on the measure. Their bluff was expertly called and they were left obliterated.
 
However, as quiet as this measure was, if things go the way I think they will, there will be another similar measure that will be as loud as any bill could be. Here’s hoping and praying these socialists are soundly defeated and sent home with their tail between their legs.
 
Proverbs 29:12
“If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.”

​Ever since the Obama administration, many people often have heard the term “redistribution of wealth”. What Democrats want out of that is to take money from the rich to give to the poor. In reality, they’re stealing money from people that have worked hard and smart to earn it, give it to programs that help keep the poor poor, and keep the rest for themselves. I, however, have a proposition that will help many more people and without having to steal money from people that have worked hard to earn that money.
 
What I’m proposing is that we take some money congressmen make and redistribute it to the military to increase the wages of soldiers. Let’s look at some numbers, just to see what they each roughly make in a year.
 
According to nolabels.org, “The Average Joe of Congress gets paid $174,000 a year.” That number changes, of course, depending on what role a congressman has. The Speaker of the House is paid $223,500 a year, while majority and minority leaders are paid $193,400 a year. It’s very lucrative to have a career in politics, particularly in Congress.
 
According to work.chron.com, soldiers of varying rank are paid varying wages. That’s to be expected. But according to the website, “Enlisted soldiers in the Army have ranks from E-1 to E-9. In 2014, the initial monthly pay for the lowest rank (E-1), is $1,531.50 a month. Although, E-1s with less than 4 months of experience earn $1,416.30”. These are the newbies. The guys that don’t have much military experience. These ranks aren’t expected to earn much, but let’s look at the numbers per year. 1531.50 x 12 = 18,378. The soldiers in E-1 that have more than 4 moths of experience earn only $18,378 a year. Soldiers with less than 4 months of experience earn $16,995.60 a year.
 
Again, these are the lowest ranks, so it’s expected that they wouldn’t make as much as higher-ups, but those are just sad-looking numbers. Let’s go back to that website, shall we? It says that “The highest enlisted rank (E-9) earns $4,836.90 a month with over 10 years of experience, rising to $7,509.60 with more than 40 years of experience.” Going back to my calculator now. 4836.90 x 12 = 58,042.80. A solider with 10 years of experience earns only $58,042.80 a year! And 7509.60 x 12 = 90,115.2. A soldier with 40 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE ONLY MAKES JUST NORTH OF $90,000 A YEAR!
 
These people are all fighting to protect our country from foreign enemies and the most these people can HOPE to make on average is $90,000 a year. Meanwhile, socialists that wish to fundamentally destroy the country make FAR MORE THAN DOUBLE THAT AMOUNT!
 
But I offer a simple and fair solution. I propose that these congressmen “pay their fair share” and give some of their money to the people who have the GUTS to protect this country. After all, we’re looking for income equality, are we not? We want fairness and equality for all people, right? After all, aren’t congressmen paid with tax payer’s dollars? And for what? To get in the way of Trump and keep this country from being made great again?
 
They are paid with tax payer dollars. They are basically taking tax payer’s money to be a nuisance. Police and firefighters are paid with tax payer dollars as well, but at least they are being productive. Police help communities stay safe, and firefighters fight blazing infernos in houses and apartment buildings and help rescue people that are trapped in those buildings. Congressmen (at least the ones that don’t support Trump) simply stand in the president’s way. In the American people’s way. And yet, they are paid nearly $200,000 a year to be thorns on patriot’s sides.
 
Of course, I’m completely aware of the fact that no one in Congress will go for this sort of thing. Whenever any sort of policy affects them, they aren’t very willing to support it. After all, they were all exempt from Obamacare. Why would they be if it was such a great bill? Oh yeah, it’s because it was nothing short of a dumpster fire. Democrat Congressmen would never willingly give their money to military soldiers if it meant that they get paid less.
 
After all, anyone can be tempted to succumb to greed. Not just Democrats, even Republicans can succumb to greed as well. Anyone who isn’t legitimately close to God can succumb to greed. Because greedy people don’t worship God, they worship money. They do everything in the name of money, and for the gain of money.
 
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying money is evil. I’m saying the worship of money is evil. If you spend your entire life chasing money and put money at the top of your priority (like Warren Buffet), that’s a waste of a life. Remember, you can’t take your money with you to heaven. If you prioritize making money, you’re prioritizing the wrong thing.
 
Again, making money isn’t bad. But making money your biggest priority is. Because then, you’re putting money ahead of God. THAT is where greed stems.
 
Matthew 6:24
“’No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money'.”