Witnessing waste in government spending is infuriating. It means money was unnecessarily, forcibly taken from a Texas family. When you use force to remove someone’s property the level of responsibility on spending those dollars rises significantly. But as conservatives, we must ask ourselves if we are practicing what we preach. Are we living within our means?
It’s well known that the debt obsession does not stop at the federal, state and local government levels. It has been ingrained all the way down to the family and individual. College debt, credit card debt and payment plans for everyday items is now the norm.
It’s important for those of us who often criticize waste and abuse in spending at a government level to take a look into our own household budgets, examine whether the priorities of our spending habits mirror the priorities of your life, and work to align those as much as possible.
It angers me when I witness waste and abuse in government spending, and it’s rampant. It’s frustrating that so many politicians in both parties accept this spending as par for the course.
Jordan Peterson accurately sums up how we are to approach these larger societal problems in his book 12 Rules for Life. Rule 6 is “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world”. Peterson points out that people find it easy to spend their days criticizing the imperfection in the world around them, but often fail to put in order, those things which are within their complete control.
If you’re a conservative activist, a conservative Republican operative or a conservative elected official, it’s time to take evaluate the only finances that are in your control.
If haven’t taken ownership of your finances I would recommend signing up with a free personal capital account, subscribing to the ChooseFI podcast and going over the last 3 months of your expenses. Take time to understand what you’re spending your money on, and what that says about your true priorities.