Theory 2 Action Podcast
Theory 2 Action Podcast
MM#389--Washingtons Way: Spend Money Like a Drunken Sailor
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Can Washington's financial habits be compared to a child's reckless spending spree?
Join us on this MOJO Minute as we unpack the shocking reality of a $35 trillion deficit and expose the alarming pattern of governmental waste. We tackle the pressing need for transparency and accountability in federal spending, advocating for visionary leaders like Elon Musk to bring discipline to the budgeting process. Our lively discussion draws on the metaphor of a parent curbing a child's excessive spending, as we explore transformative steps to foster responsible governance rooted in Judeo-Christian values and literary wisdom.
Travel back in time with us as we explore the historical expansion of the American administrative state with a book that details this monstrosity, American Leviathan by Ned Ryun. From the early waves of progressivism to the transformative New Deal and the ambitious Great Society, we shine a light on how legislative power has been ceded to unelected bureaucrats. This shift has led to unchecked spending and waste, with agencies like the EPA and OSHA epitomizing this shift. We liken the urgent need for reform to cutting up a credit card after realizing the financial toll it has taken. Our episode is a call to action, urging accountability and reform to ensure a flourishing future.
Key Points from this Episode:
• Exploration of parallels between parental oversight and government accountability
• Discussion of the dramatic reactions from Washington regarding spending
• Analysis of the historical shift to bureaucratic governance
• Insights from *American Leviathan* on the rise of the administrative state
• Examination of how inadequately allocated funds contribute to national deficits
• Focus on specific departments, including Education and Defense
• Call to action for citizens to demand transparency and accountability from representatives
**With a fresh new schedule, we're excited to continue this journey with our dedicated community on Wednesdays and Saturdays.**
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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, david Kaiser.
Speaker 2:Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. Over the past two weeks, we have seen the whining, the gnashing of teeth and, frankly, the over-the-top drama from Washington Democrats, from the propaganda press and all the moving parts of this massive American Leviathan you know, that giant sea monster from the Old Testament. It's like they're all having a collective meltdown, screaming into the microphones night after night, protesting outside federal buildings and generally acting like upset penchant eight-year-olds. And why? What's all the fuss about? Because the American people are finally peeling back the layers to figure out where all the tax money has gone, where we've actually handed it out to, and that's going to be our topic for today. But before we dive into Washington's wasteful spending, we've got a quick update for you. Washington's wasteful spending we've got a quick update for you.
Speaker 2:Since day one, we have been publishing our podcast episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we've stuck to that schedule for over three and a half years now some 500 plus episodes, to be exact. And first off, a huge thank you to all of you for sticking with us and supporting this podcast. We've built a small but very loyal, super loyal, amazing community here, and none of this would be possible without you. So here's the big news. Starting next week, we are moving to a new schedule. From now on, episodes will drop on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Now why the change? Honestly, because it's all about creating better content for you and expanding into more platforms and mediums to grow our support network. The podcast industry is evolving and we're going to evolve and adapt with it to keep up and to continue to grow. We're also working on some beta projects, pretty exciting beta projects we're going to share with you soon. But for now, mark your calendars. New episodes are going to be out every Wednesday and Saturday, like we've talked about. And again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts here at the Mojo Academy for your incredible support. You guys show up every week, you listen and you're a huge part of this growing effort to bring theory to action and to live a flourishing life. A flourishing life, when expanded upon, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian worldview and the wisdom of both modern and classic books. Your loyalty does not go unnoticed and we appreciate you more than you know.
Speaker 2:All right, now let's get back to this Washington wasteful spending and, like I was saying before, the American people are finally starting to dig in, find out where is all this money gone. This is incredible and it's like peeling back the layers of an onion to figure out what happened. Now, it's not rocket science, it's not complicated, it's basic common sense. It's like a parent trying to figure out how their kid blew all their allowance. And here's the deal. Washington has been spending money recklessly for decades like drunken sailors, and finally, finally, someone said we're not going to do that anymore. President Donald Trump, using his executive authority, said enough is enough. He proposed appointing someone like Elon Musk to take a hard look at the federal books. What's the idea? Make every department show exactly where the money was spent. What's in your account, mr Administrator, mr Bureaucrat, mrs Bureaucrat, where and what did you spend the money on and how does it match where the money actually ended up?
Speaker 2:It's the same thing every parent has done at some point with their own kid. Picture this the kid, the parent, rather the parent, gives the money to kid, rather, gives their kid the money, or, more likely, these days it's probably a credit card, but the kid spends it all and then comes back asking for more. We were all kids once we know how the game is played and the parent, understandably confused, looks quizzically at the kid and says Hold on, I gave you a bunch of money already. What happened to it? The kid gives some half-baked excuse and then continues to plead for more money and the parent, knowing the story probably isn't adding up, eventually decides it's time to get to the bottom of things. And that's exactly what is happening with our federal government. And, honestly, every parent out there can relate to this. You've been there, maybe not at this scale, but the arguments are the same the whining, the excuses. It's all too familiar.
Speaker 2:Eventually, most responsible parents cut up the credit card and start tightening the reins because the spending has gotten out of control. And it's like when your kid doesn't just go and buy one new dress at the mall, they buy five. Or when they just don't get one pair of new basketball shoes, they get a pair for every day of the week. So then you start to dig a little deeper and realize oh my Lord, they also bought enough food at the mall to feed an army. And when you begin to ask around, because the kid isn't going to cough up what actually happened, you find out that they've been feeding the whole neighborhood. And when you finally confront the kid, he or she says I just wanted to be nice so I thought I'd buy food for everybody. Does that sound familiar, parents? Yep, that's Washington in a nutshell. That's how we've ended up with a $35 trillion, with a T dollar deficit. Folks, it's been Washington's way for over 100 years and now it's time to call them out and figure it out, as every parent has asked their kid at some point what the hell happened to all the money I gave you. And that's collectively what the American people are saying to Washington Washington, your way is up, washington, your way is up. And with that we're going to dive into our first pull quote that's going to lay out this whole history. Go on to the book.
Speaker 2:Underlying the history of the American government for most of the 20th century is a dynamic that is little discussed the slow, exorbitant transfer of legitimate governance of this nation from the duly elected members of Congress to the unelected bureaucrats of the administrative state, to unelected bureaucrats' edicts and statutes instead of laws passed by we, the people representatives. This process, sadly, was many times of the legislative branch's own choosing. Over the course of the 20th century until today, congress has devolved from actually governing as the people's representatives to managing or overseeing the administrative state's actual governance of the country. Congress now barely provides or enforces any real oversight, in many ways defending administrative state actors and behaving more as the tax collectors or the middleman for the state. And that's the real problem, right, there, isn't it? For far too long, congress has completely advocated its responsibility. It's like they handed over the credit card to the crazy uncle and just stopped paying attention. They went to look the other way. No oversight, no accountability. But now the American people are catching on and they're seeing the whole game for what it really is.
Speaker 2:And that quote comes to us from an amazing book called American Leviathan by Ned Ryan. It's all about the birth of the administrative state in progressive authoritarianism. Ned, by the way, is the founder and CEO of American Majority and Voter Gravity American Majority and Voter Gravity. He's also the son of former Congressman Olympian and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, jim Ryan. It's pretty impressive, right? Ned has written a couple of books, a couple of other books that we're definitely going to dive into soon, because American Leviathan is an absolute must-read Now. Those books, those other books, are Restoring Our Republic, the Making of the Republic and how we Reclaim it Before it's Too Late, and the Adversaries, a story of Boston and Bunker Hill, and if there anything like this current book, we're in for a treat. Now back to American Leviathan. Check out these two incredible quotes coming up. It's the perfect backstory to how we ended up here. So let's pack it, unpack it, go on to the book.
Speaker 2:After the first wave of the progressives from 1895 to 1920, the growth of the administrative state slowed. There were still agencies and departments added, but the administrations of Coolidge and Hoover didn't continue the wholesale regime change style of Wilson and the other progressive statists. You might even say there was a pause in the revolution. But with the 1932 election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the nephew of Theodore Roosevelt, that revolution was renewed and the administrative state began another major, rapid era of expansion. After taking office in 1933, president Roosevelt's second wave of the progressive statism accelerated rapidly as he swiftly delivered on his promises made on the campaign trail, using the Great Depression as the excuse to expand the state. Never let a crisis go to waste. Roosevelt initiated a series of all-encompassing projects and agencies that progressive statists have always wanted and termed it the New Deal. These programs included the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, which created jobs for unemployed people, to build parks, trails and roads across the nation, and the Works Progress Administration, the WPA, which was the largest of the organizations created under the umbrella of the New Deal.
Speaker 2:Okay, so back in the Wilson administration is when we saw the birth of what some have now called the American Leviathan, a massive, almost unstoppable government machine. Now, fun fact here the term Leviathan comes from scripture, referring to the sea monster defeated by Yahweh. But in the 1600s bid 1600s to be exact philosopher Thomas Hobbes used it to describe a political state with a sprawling bureaucracy capable of solving every problem for its people. Hobbes wrote this during the English Civil War and argued for absolute power under the king or the sovereign. Now, how did the American founders think about this? Well, they weren't having any of this. They outright rejected the idea of an all-powerful state or king. But they did like one concept from Hobbes the social contract. They built our government around natural rights and the consent of the governed but not divine right. That was pretty revolutionary stuff. For the time, considering kingship was still seen as God-given in almost everywhere else around the world.
Speaker 2:Now, fast forward to today and it seems like we've forgotten about the whole consent of the governed concept at all. Let's go back to the book and in the face of this massive transfer of power. What we have now, as the people's representatives, done over the decades as the administrative state has grown in size, spending and scope, for the most part, in reality, despite Republicans wailing about big government and national debt. All the other platitudes have come and go. But both parties have helped fund and transfer power to the state and have accepted the premise that the unconstitutional administrative state and its unelected bureaucrats are somehow legitimate inside of a constitutional Republican form of government.
Speaker 2:The beginning of the end of true representative government began with the first wave of progressive statism from 1895 to 1920, like we said before, or in that the entire proposition that an unelected, educated elite should be guiding the country was accepted and it built out from there. It continued with the second wave, fdr's New Deal era from 1932 to 1945, and then continued with the third wave of LBJ's Great Society from 63 to 69. Over those decades the transition of power and governing took place as elected legislators slowly, but many times willingly, handed over their duties and obligations to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. And here's our nugget of wisdom accountable bureaucrats, and here's our nugget of wisdom. Some might resent that, but it is the truth. Every piece of empirical data shows this. Our representatives in government have advocated their roles as the stewards and guardians of the American people's money and interest. Now they simply act as middlemen, allocating taxpayer money from the people to fund the state, to advance the state.
Speaker 2:Ken Masugi argues convincingly in another book, the Unmasking of the Administrative State, that after LBJ's great society, congress lost the will to legislate and became facilitators of the administrative state. Let me repeat that again After LBJ's Great Society, congress lost the will to legislate and became facilitators of the administrative state. If one were to ask what was the real pivot point for Congress's surrender to the idea of an administrative state, the answer would be, according to John Marina, between the years of 1968 and 1978, in that decade quote Congress passed more regulatory legislation than it had done in the whole prior history of the nation. It created new agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to administrator those laws. It required the wholesale delegation of lawmaking power to those newly created administrative and regulatory bodies whose authority was dependent on technical or rational knowledge. And there you have it.
Speaker 2:Over the last 100 years, the administrative state has ballooned with little oversight or accountability. And here's where things get dicey. Massive spending, fraud and waste are everywhere. We've only had to look at one federal department so far as Doge does its digging, and the amount of money just in that one department thrown away is staggering. Money just in that one department thrown away is staggering. It's like looking at just one month of the credit card bill and realizing it's a disaster. Imagine what we're going to find once we go through month after month, year after year of those charges.
Speaker 2:And here's the bottom line in our takeaway key nugget of wisdom Our representatives in government haven't been doing their job. Both parties More Democrats than Republicans, certainly, but both parties are to blame. Both parties have handed over their responsibilities and it's now up to us to hold their feet to the fire and clean up this mess once and for all. Think of it like the parent telling the kid we're going to get to the bottom of this and we're cutting up the credit card. That's what we need to do. We need to dig deep and figure out where all the money has gone and fix it.
Speaker 2:So in today's Mojo Minute, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The wasteful spending should shock us all and, honestly, that's why there's so much whining and wailing and gnashing of teeth right now because the Washington way is finally being exposed. Hopefully President Trump and others can keep pushing for real accountability. And if we're going to fix this whole thing, here's a few places we need to start. The Department of Education what's going on there? Since 1979, they've taken a lot of money and our kids have only gotten dumber year after year after year.
Speaker 2:Another place to look let's pull the rock out and see what scrambles from beneath it. At the National Institute of Health, especially under Drs Fauci and Birx, there's bound to be some questionable spending there, I'm sure. Just look for that line item that says EcoHealth Alliance. Or maybe you're going to have to find Dr Fauci's codebook of what he actually put the transactions under. And certainly at the Department of Defense. I'm all for a strong defense, but spending $10,000 for a toilet seat cover? Come on. If we want to save this Republican, tackle our massive debt, we need to rein in government spending. It's time to cut up the kid's credit card and start working through the statements. And that's just step one. Stick around. Next week we're going to dig even deeper into this mess Now, but until then let's pray for those in Washington who are trying to do the right thing and, as always, let's keep fighting the good fight.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.