Last week the Washington Monument was reopened after being closed for repairs for the past three years. The story of the Washington Monument is one of how American government once limited spending to available revenues.
Building the monument began in 1848, but was stopped six years later at the one-third level when no more funds were available to finish the construction. Construction resumed from 1879 to 1884 when funding was once again available.
The Washington Monument is not the only example of Americans only spending money that they have. The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States as a gift from France in 1876 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our independence. However, the gift did not come with the pedestal which America agreed we would pay for in accepting the gift. It took another 10 years for this to happen as building was postponed until the funds were raised to pay for the construction.
The Washington Monument was not built with borrowed funds. It was built when money was available to pay for it.
The Statue of Liberty was not built with borrowed funds. It was built when money was available to pay for it.
In comparison, for all the 21st century, the U.S. government has caused the national debt to grow from under 6 trillion to over $17 trillion. Compassionate conservative Republicans during George Bush's presidency and big spending Democrats during Barack Obama's presidency have made no serious attempt to control federal spending and rather than require tax payers to cover the cost of overspending, they have borrowed the money from future generations, something that has never been done to such a degree in the previous 200 years of American history.
Unfortunately, the legislators of both parties who have created this damaging debt, were elected by We the People. We get what we vote for. Until people grow up and demand that our leaders not spend money we don't have, nothing will change.
Our best option is to get as many Tea Party candidates elected as possible so we can have representatives who refuse to spend money now that will be paid for our children and grandchildren later.
Until that happens, the Obama Monument will be a hole in the ground deeper than the Washington Monument is tall.
