Where is the Value? »
The president of the United States of America makes $400,000 per year. According to the National Taxpayers Union, the presidential pension is worth $2.62 to $7.29 million. The massive amount of travel undertaken by a serving president is surely worth thousands, if not millions. The free room and board is the same. Even if you add it all up, you're talking maybe $10 million for a single term of service.
Sure, the hours stink, so there probably ought to be a bonus of some sort - time-and-a-half, maybe. Even at double time, you're only talking $20 million for being president. So why is it that people will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to become president?
The answer is remarkably simple. It isn't their money. If Dubya had to write a check for the whole $175 million of his 2004 campaign, he wouldn't do it because it's just not worth it. Health insurance is expensive, but that sort of cabbage can buy a hospital.
Now don't get me wrong - I don't care if you want to spend your money on electing someone to the office of president. Really, I don't. But what I really don't get is why you would want to do it. Why would you want to spend a collective $175 million to elect the next president?
Is he going to make your fears subside with the elimination of worldwide terrorism? No. Is he going to give you any of that money back so you feel it was a good investment? No. Is he going to try and enact legislation to keep everyone dependent on government? Perhaps, but I don't see the value in that. What is it that makes it worthwhile?
The only goal of those interested in true liberty should be the systematic dismantling of the massive government leviathan. For decades, the federal government didn't have a regular bank account, which they now possess through the withholding of taxes. A governement that worked for the people wouldn't consistently eat up the income of those people in the quest to get even larger.
Rather than throwing all this money at an increasingly bloated and inept government, wouldn't it be better to have it in your pocket? To make a choice to be something other than a pawn in this sort of game? I don't know about you, but I sure could stand to keep my chunk of that $175 million, and that's exactly what I hope to do.
