Pork Barrel Polka

First off, a bit of advice to Pikeville College President Paul Patton: Resist the temptation to rename the school either Pikeville University or the University of Pikeville. That leaves you with PU or UP. Feel free to make up your own jokes.



Now on to more germane matters. Mark Twain once said he’d want to be in Kentucky should the world come to an end; our state is always 20 years behind the times. I don’t know what this was based on, but our last election may be evidence that this is no longer a truism. We did elect Rand Paul to the United States Senate.



Sen. Paul-and we can only assume this is general knowledge-is a member of the Grand Old Tea Party (GOTP), and he and his GOTP cronies are intent on changing the way thing are done In our nation’s capital, by drastically reducing federal spending. To prove this, he has introduced a bill that would cut $500 billion from the federal budget in one year, the details of which can be found at http://newsroomamerica.com/story/96124.html.



Of course, Paul will have to move more that mountains to get this done; his colleagues from Kentucky in Congress are known for their abilities to bring home the bacon. The Senior Senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, regularly touts his ability to enrich Kentucky at the federal government’s expense when seeking re-election. And when our own Member of Congress, Hal Rogers, was named as Chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a loud chorus of “the King of Pork” was heard all across the nation.



But getting Kentucky’s delegation to the United States Congress in line with the GOTP’s way of thinking is the easy part of the quest Sen. Paul has taken on himself; he must also change the mindset of the Commonwealth. Kentucky, like a lot of the so-called red states, is literally addicted to federal spending, so much so that the abrupt change envisioned by Sen. Paul could wreak havoc in the Bluegrass state.



Kentucky gets back a good deal more by way of federal money than it pays in in federal taxes. For every dollar Kentuckians pay into the federal coffers, the state gets back $1.51. Federally-funded projects everywhere bear witness to this largess. The cut-through project that literally changed the face of Pikeville and the new four-lane highways that have already been completed, such as U S 23 and 119, or which are still under construction, such as U S 460, are but two examples of how federal spending has bettered the lives of Kentuckians.



Local fire departments have also been the beneficiaries of federal spending. For example, Letcher County recently got a $100,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to purchase a new pumper. So guess which federal department would see its budget cut by nearly one third under Sen. Paul’s proposed bill? You got it, the USDA.



Federal spending at this level is on the endangered list now. No, it isn’t likely that Sen. Paul’s draconian cuts will ever be enacted, but cuts are coming. To what extent, who can say? But there is one thing for sure, if Kentucky has to give up its extra 51 cents, we’re all gonna have to learn to live with a lot less.