A Nation of Thieves

By Joseph Ashby

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) stumbled on a profound truth in a recent interview with Bloomberg News. Bloomberg’s report on the interview states in part:

New York Senator Charles Schumer defended the special Medicaid payments that Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska obtained for his state before agreeing to support health-care legislation, saying all states got something in the measure.

[Snip]

“Every state got something,” Schumer said.

In trying to justify Nelson’s special deal, Schumer actually demonstrates the natural conclusion of such deals. In the end no one gets special treatment.

What does Nelson’s $100 million in Medicaid savings matter when Nebraskans are helping to pay Mary Landreu’s (D-LA) $300 million, John Kerry’s (D-MA) $500 million, Bernie Sander’s (I-VT) $600 million or dozens of other earmarks?

Thieves are only successful if they have someone else’s legitimate work to draw on. Once we become an entire nation of thieves, there is no one left to steal from.

The real beneficiary of the Great Senate Vote Auction of 2009 is not Nebraska, Louisiana, Massachusetts or any other state, but rather the government that uses this fiscal misdirection to empower itself.