The Hypocrisy of It All

One would think that the so-called deficit-conscious congressmen and senators who voted against the recovery bill, the stimulus package and are now attacking the Obama budget would be out front in opposing the continued construction of the C-17 transport planes we don't need. Strangely enough, some of these same congressmen are already trying to slip billions of dollars of pork-barrel weapons projects like the C-17 into the supplemental budget request for Iraq and Afghanistan. (NYT,5/5/09).

The Secretary of Defense asked that the C-17s be cut from the budget. And the Air Force doesn't want these billion-dollar planes which will sit idle on the tarmack. So why are these congressmen, who are opposed to bills promoting healthcare, education, and jobs, so gung-ho to spend all this money on planes that no one wants? The only people who still want these planes are the contractors who make a ton of money building them--and, of course, the congressmen who receive large contributions from these guys.

One might argue that, even though the planes are not needed, many people are going to be employed building them. So, they are a "make-work" project. Our country has done that before, but if we are going down the "make-work" route, why not invest in projects that will benefit all citizens--project like rebuilding the infrastructure and creating " green" energy--the very thing these same people voted against in the Obama Stimulus Package.

The difference, it seems,  is that the C-17 generates large amounts of money for the few who have invested heavily in influencing congress, while the Obama Stimulus Package would generate funds for the general public.  But, no. We can't speak of the helping the "general public" or doing something for the "common good," because these same congressmen have decreed that such talk amounts to the damned and  dreaded "socialism."

They, of course, presume we will not recognize their hypocrisy.