Because so many members of Congress have drunk deeply from the big-spending troughs of Washington—especially after many of them campaigned as fiscal hawks—we think it’s time for them to step forward, confess their failures and get right with the U.S. Constitution. In an effort to help them mend their big-spending ways, we offer this “12-Step Plan for Congressional Spendaholics.”
- I admit that I have become powerless over spending taxpayers’ money—and so my political promises have become meaningless.
- I have come to believe that only a power greater than myself—the U.S. Constitution, and maybe voter rebellion—can restore me to sanity.
- I have made a decision to turn my life over to the guidance of sound economic and fiscal principles.
- I have made a searching and fearless moral inventory of my failure to keep my campaign promises to control spending—and didn’t much like what I found.
- I am admitting to the voters the exact nature of my profligacy.
- I am entirely ready to have fidelity to the Constitution remove all these defects of character.
- I humbly ask the voters to forgive my big-spending ways.
- I have made a list of all the citizens I have harmed and disappointed—and is it ever long!
- I will make amends to the voters by opposing budget-busting legislation and earmarks.
- I will continue to take personal inventory of myself and my voting record and when tempted, quickly read the Constitution.
- I will improve my contact with the voters, seeking their opinions and insight.
- Having received a political awakening as a result of these steps, I will carry this message to my congressional colleagues and practice these principles in all my political affairs.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am trying to recover. So if you see me being tempted by big-spending legislation: Help me—STOP ME—before I spend again.