Just read a funny article.

I read a blog on The Clarion Ledger's website talking about Hillary Clinton's idea for health care. It's a cute idea, insurance for everyone, affordable health care for everyone. The thing is, it involves more government spending and planning... um, what has the government done so far that it hasn't screwed up?

The answer to insuring the uninsured is NOT more government spending, and I cannot stress this enough. The answer to insuring the uninsured is WAY LESS government spending, and way more of our paychecks going into our pockets.

I read an article in last month's Reader's Digest about veterans bilking the VA for various ailments they attribute to their time spent in service. One guy gets something like $300 a month for hemorrhoids he got from sitting for hours in a tank in Korea, when last I checked, a tube of Preparation H was less than $10. Unless he's slathering around 30 tubes of goo on his pooper every month, I see no reason for him to be getting that much money. Another guy gets a few thousand a year because he contracted the syph from a prostitute during basic training. That's a few thousand of your tax dollars because Captain Syph needed R&R during basic. I actually know someone who's collecting money (don't know how much) because he hurt his knee playing Frisbee while in the service. That's gotta feel good to your wallet.

After reading the above-referenced blog, I decided to look at a few instances of government waste. I came across this article. I know it's old, but I'm sure the numbers have only gotten larger. From the article:

The federal government cannot account for $24.5 billion spent in 2003.
The federal government spends $23 billion annually on special interest pork projects such as grants to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or funds to combat teenage “goth” culture in Blue Springs, Missouri.
Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 for admission to entertainment events, $48,250 for gambling, $69,300 for cruises, and $73,950 for exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.
The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets, and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable.
The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually to not farm their land.
The Department of Agriculture spends $12 billion to $30 billion annually on farm subsidies, the vast majority of which go to agribusinesses and farmers averaging $135,000 in annual income.
The Medicare program pays as much as eight times the cost that other federal agencies pay for the same drugs and medical supplies.

Now that's a few billion dollars I'm sure that the uninsured people of America would like to have back in their pockets so they can afford insurance, no? I actually did the math, and if this ridiculousness was all ended, that's nearly $2000 back into the pockets of the uninsured (approximately 80 billion dollars divided by the approximately 46 million uninsured, assuming we're only giving the wasted money back to uninsured people and not everyone that paid their taxes). And that's only from the stuff I listed here - there's so much more unbelievable government waste that it'd blow your mind. Look up how many Congressmen are sitting in prison collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in pensions.

People, please stop looking to the government to solve all of your problems. The government is the cause of several of your problems, I assure you. Tell them to stop being stupid, give you your money back, and start taking care of yourselves.

Vote for Ron Paul. I had to throw that in there. :)