Following on the heels of massive stimulus and bailout plans, Congress has voted to give the government an 8.7% spending increase. Last fall, the Democratic Leadership in Congress approved a government budget for only half of the year (the government’s fiscal year runs from October through September), hoping that Barack Obama would be elected and that he would be more open to increasing annual government spending. For the Congressional Democrats, this bet paid off.

With only a half-year’s budget approved, the federal government is set to run out of money this month unless a budget for the remainder of the year is passed by Congress (which just happened) and subsequently approved by the president (which he will sign soon). Given the tax and spend history of the Democratic Party, it is no surprise that government spending is increasing much more than inflation and much more than can be justified in an economic environment where everyone else is tightening their belt.

Conservatives, by definition, advocate for less government, because the cost of bureaucracy is a heavy burden on the people and this burden directly limits their prosperity. So, it is no surprise that conservatives find such spending increases both unwarranted and harmful to the people of this country.

By its very nature, taxation is coercive: the government demands money from its constituents under the threat of force – you don’t pay and you are fined and sent to jail. Few would argue that this is an abuse of government power. In fact, it is a necessary evil for any functioning nation. That said, those wielding this power have a moral obligation to be wise and prudent stewards of government revenues (money taken from the pockets of fellow citizens). Unfortunately, too many elected officials have come to believe that all money belongs to the government and that the government should decide how much the citizenry really needs.

To be fair though, not all the blame can be laid at the feet of the Democrats. Under President Bush, spending also increased imprudently. Many pundits gave Congressional Republicans a bye, assuming they had voted for the spending out of a political obligation to support the leader of their party. Theoretically then, the shameful increases in government spending could be blamed on Bush – until this week anyway. Republicans offered little resistance to the spending increases and, more offensively, joined whole hog in pork spending (pun intended).

Included in the Omnibus Spending Bill (the official name for the government budget), were 9,287 pork projects at a cost of nearly $13 billion. As a reminder, pork (also known as earmarks) is a congressional tool used to fund pet programs and projects while protecting funding allocations for serious scrutiny. Most of the time, earmarks are used to reward supporters and improve an official’s odds of reelection. However, knowing how offensive the citizenry finds this practice, both Obama and McCain campaigned on eliminating such practices.

While the nature of earmarks limit scrutiny, reports indicate that 60% of the earmarks in this half-year budget are attributable to democrats and 40% are attributable to republicans. Indeed, 6 of the top 10 pork spenders are Republicans. Given the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in Congress, both parties appear to be equally guilty in fleecing the American People. Once again, Congress demonstrates that preservation of power and privilege trumps their concern for their country.

Following is a very brief sample of this bill’s pork spending:

• $332,500 to build a school sidewalk in Franklin, Texas
• $225,000 for Everybody Wins!
• $200,000 for a tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, California
• $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming
• $237,500 for theater renovation in Merced, California
• $1,049,000 to combat Mormon Crickets in Utah
• $238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii

For a larger sampling, please visit Heritage.org.

For me, the most important lesson is that there are far fewer authentic conservatives among congressional Republicans than many people thought. Increasingly, it seems that the “Republicrats” run Congress. Whether Republican or Democrat, members of Congress are all about what is in it for them and have precious few principles that they both espouse and adhere to. The silver lining, though, is that we have a much better idea about which self-proclaimed conservative Republicans are imposters. For these, their constituencies deserve better and should elect truly conservative candidates during the next round of congressional primaries.