In my Tuesday post, I discussed how government is addicted to gambling with your money. Today, the focus is on why they are addicted. Americans are naturally optimistic. We live in the most prosperous and free country in the world. Of course our economy has its ups and downs, but when examined over generations, the growth has been continuous. Big spenders take this for granted and don’t recognize that runaway congressional spending and ever-expanding bureaucracy threaten the stability we have known for so long.

Centrally-planned solutions are always the same: throw taxpayer money at the problem and increase the government’s role. Pause to consider every new initiative this year: the tools for launching it never change. These new proposals are so alarming because their cost is unprecedented and their scope is universal. From the economy to healthcare to environment, dire emergencies have been exacerbated and urgency has become the new incentive. But these solutions ignore the long-term consequences that future generations will face. Buy now, pay later…hoping that tomorrow will be more prosperous than today. Hoping our children will pay our bills.

Peggy Noonan’s column in today’s Wall Street Journal examines the lack of caution and blinding idealism that exists in this mindset. We continue to beg and borrow in order to fund new programs that (cross your fingers) will pay off. When that is not enough, taxing people and industries that have been successful in spite of these obstacles becomes the solution. Ms. Noonan suggests this is because our contemporary generations have never seen things go dark. “They came of age during the great abundance, circa 1980-2008 (or 1950-2008, take your pick), and they don't have the habit of worry” she says. “[The Left] talk about their ‘concerns’—they're big on that word. But they're not really concerned. They think America is the goose that lays the golden egg. Why not? She laid it in their laps. She laid it in grandpa’s lap.”

Plan for the worst; hope for the best. Washington is only concerned with the second part.

Write to tdoheny@afphq.org