The Historic Whaling and Trading Partners program, ($45 million in savings
over five years), and the Denali Commission ($35 million over five years)
are two other programs recently added to the CAGW's list.
The Historic Whaling and Trading Partners program, says the CAGW, is charged
with developing "culturally-based educational activities, internships,
apprentice programs, and exchanges to assist Alaska Natives, native
Hawaiians, children and families living in Massachusetts, and certain Indian
tribes in Mississippi. Projects in 2006 include the New Bedford Whaling
Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum, both in Massachusetts, the Alaska
Native Heritage Center, and the Bishop Museum in Hawaii." This is pork and
in any case ought not to be a federal responsibility.
The Denali Commission, established in 1998 during Republican control of
Congress, is, according to the CAGW, "a federal partnership with Alaska to
provide utilities, infrastructure, and economic support to poor rural
communities." Whatever perceived benefits that might have come from this
program, the commission duplicates several programs in the Labor Department,
"including those related to the Workforce Investment Act, from which
Alaskans received $10.6 million in 2006." Who favors paying twice for the
same program?
Democrats love it when Republicans focus only on cutting taxes, because it
cedes to them the "fairness issue." Focusing on waste, fraud and abuse,
which admittedly some Republicans have been guilty of in the recent past,
could restore the GOP to its previous position as guardian of our pockets
and purses against the overreaching hand and insatiable appetite of
government. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, government never thinks it spends
too little or taxes too much.
British Labour is way ahead of America in its plans to grow their
government. Republican presidential candidates had better start speaking to
America about the dangers in following their lead.