Streamlining government would save us big money

Dave Fair, Las Vegas

Friday, May 14, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

We’re informed that the Rural Electrification Administration was created this month 75 years ago. It is a fact that all of rural America has been electrified for many decades.

Similarly, the U.S. Geological Survey was created early in the 20th century to map the United States. That mapping was also completed many decades ago.

One would think that a federal agency created for specific work would be disbanded once its work was done. Additionally, there are countless federal bureaucracies that, like the REA and USGS, have completed their missions but are maintained by special interests willing to bribe politicians with contributions and votes, and by threatening to actively oppose said politicians if they don’t get their way.

We need another commission, like the Military Base Closing Commission, that has the power to give Congress a list of facilities that need closing. Congress must then give an up-or-down vote on the entire list.

This has worked admirably in getting rid of needless facilities that would otherwise be protected by parochial interests. We also need rules in both branches of Congress that ban individual members from inserting “earmarks” in appropriation bills.

On top of those and many other responsible cost-cutting measures, we must elect representatives with the courage to attack wildly inflating entitlement programs, especially the unsupportable Obamacare.