Are you aware one-third of Idaho’s yearly budget is underwritten by Washington?  A writer at the Wall Street Journal lays it all out in painful detail right here.  The writer says if the federal tap runs dry Idahoans will seriously learn the meaning of self-reliance, although.  Many of the programs funded by a government 21-hundred miles away didn’t likely exist 30 to 40 years ago and the world didn’t come to an end.  Here’s a thought, if Washington suddenly finds itself unable to fill the gap would the state seize federal land and make it profitable?  While a great many states are lined up for Washington’s handouts few have as much land under federal control.  If D.C. stops sending the rent checks then I guess a foreclosure is in order.

Map of Idaho, Courtesy, Wikimedia
Map of Idaho, Courtesy, Wikimedia
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One other point.  A liberal last week commented on-air the road crisis in Idaho could be solved with a federal grant.  Do these grants grow on trees or does the federal government, which produces no products on its own, take the money from hard working taxpayers?  I won’t insult the caller’s intelligence today but you get the picture.  The money Washington sends as a present from Santa Claus is collected from all Americans, including people living in Idaho.  The difference here is it passes through a federal bureaucracy and then a state bureaucracy before any paving even begins.  Wouldn’t we all be better off if we cut out the middleman on the other side of the continent?  I’m pleased to note the writer at the Journal praises Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter for preparing a contingency plan.  Funny, I haven’t read about his effort in any Idaho papers.

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