Scott Tibbs
Submitted to the USA Today, 11-26-2001
Back to opinion page.
No welfare for politicians
In 1996, welfare reform became law, with the hope that the system would become a hand up, not a hand out. Welfare reform on the federal level followed years of innovative reforms by the states. But now many politicians, hiding behind the guise of "clean" elections and "campaign finance reform", want to put themselves on the welfare rolls so they can have their re-election campaigns paid for with money forcibly confiscated from the people.
It is disappointing that the USA Today would endorse such a foolhardy plan, as it did in a November 26 editorial. God forbid that politicians would have to get their campaign funds by working hard to get the support of citizens that agree with their views instead of accepting a handout from Big Brother. And as the "opposing view" pointed out, the notion that campaign coffers are overflowing with money is a myth.
It's bad enough that politicians already use tax dollars as an indirect campaign subsidy with pork-barrel projects. Let's not make the situation worse by creating a political welfare state.