Just the other day I was reflecting upon our national history, juxtaposed against current events, and wondered why a country born out of a revolt against oppressive taxes is so willing to so passively accept such tyranny today. Then it occurred to me: the colonists back then were not reaping the benefits of countless feel good social programs from Mother England.

Fast forward to today. On a recent Fox News segment, President Obama named a commission, headed by former Clinton Administration official Erskine Bowles and former US Senator Alan Simpson to figure out how to fund government programs by 2015.
 
In a subsequent interview, Simpson cited costly social programs such as Social Security and Medicare as the chief culprits to our budget woes.

If our Chief Executive is serious about fiscal responsibility, he might try perusing the Constitution once in a while, and if he were to actually try adhering to it, he would not need to form a commission to do his job for him, nor wait for 2015 for the obvious answer to this growing financial disaster.

Article 1, Section 8 clearly and concisely articulates what federal government functions the Congress will fund. The Tenth Amendment states that anything not mentioned in the Constitution is a power of the people, or the states, not the federal bureaucracy. It is ironic that such programs, which the Congress deems as "non-discretionary funding" are actually unconstitutional as well.

The problem, however, is that like the Wall Street fat cats, corporate and bank CEOs , and inept, if not corrupt politicians whom we so often like to blame, much of the blame for this long evolving and unsustainable boondoggle also equally falls upon us, the fat, dumb and happy electorate, ignorant, if not apathetic to how our government is supposed to function while incessantly on the quest for the purely mythical and ever-elusive "free lunch."

Like in basic physics, actions create reactions. Thus, open palms beget slapped hands.

Doug Wrenn

Mr. Wrenn's Magic City Column