Where your taxdollars go

I recently discovered a disturbing fact: sometimes, our tax dollars are used for absolutely absurd reasons.

It’s actually not a recent discover, nor is it surprising. But I will say that it is disturbing, and undoubtedly absurd.

An example of what – or perhaps who – I’m talking about is none other than Newt Gingrich, who recently paid a visit to Western New York during the conclusion of his downward spiraling campaign in an effort to clench the Republican nomination for the U.S. Presidency.

By the time Gingrich made it to Western New York, it was pretty clear to most in the nation that, including Newt Gingrich, that Mitt Romney was most likely to secure the nomination. But that didn’t stop Gingrich from continuing with his endeavor – he wanted to prove a point.

Fair enough, everybody deserves a fair shot at an election. But my issue with Gingrich staying in the race to prove that point is this:

It cost $70,000 per day for Newt Gingrich to be escorted by U.S. Secret Service agents. And that $70,000 everyday came out of our pockets, whether we supported his candidacy or not, whether we agreed or disagreed with the point he was trying to make.

It just seems unfair, but it is like anything else that happens with our tax dollars – we have no control over it. Decisions will be made with or without our consent – usually without – and for those decisions that are made, we pay for it, figuratively and literally speaking.

Yes, Newt Gingrich, and any other person so recognized in the public eye – especially one running for the U.S. presidency, the highest level of public office you can achieve – should probably travel with some form of protection. After all, when you’re headlining the news day in and day out, you’re bound to make enemies, and sometimes, enemies are bound to be dangerously radical. And we all know that Newt Gingrich, like most other politicians of high stature, has been at the bulk of controversy a time or two, so it is clear that there is a level of inevitability when it comes to making enemies.

I do believe that anyone in his position should probably travel with bodyguards, but $70,000 everyday to be protected by Secret Service agents seems more than uneconomical, it seems downright dramatic.

But the guy wanted to prove a point. And some other people wanted him to prove it, too.

And we, the taxpayers, had to pay out of our pockets so he could prove his point.

He wasn’t going down without a fight, but I feel as though taxpayers are the ones who really fought his battle. A discouraging thought comes across every now and then – that almost helpless contemplation of whether or not people have any control over what happens to their hard-earned money in the eyes of the government at any level – city, county, state, federal. But it’s the way of the nation, where all men are created equal, but not really. Some have the ability to use $70,000 of other people’s money to prove a point.

It’s probably a good thing that Newt Gingrich wasn’t the nominee; a president shouldn’t waste his people’s money over narcissistically and stubbornly proving a point.

But it’s inevitable – it seems like they all do it in one way, shape, or form. It is politics, after all.