America’s $22 trillion national debt is transforming the land of the free into a dystopian wasteland of citizens who are enslaved to bondholders. (Bond, as in debt instrument, is rooted in the word “bondage,” meaning slavery.)

US National Debt Crosses Another Disastrous Milestone

On February 14, Valentine’s Day, the national debt reached $22.02 trillion, or $67,000 for every man, woman, and child. The accumulated debt reflects politicians’ love for deficit spending: In 2018, the federal government spent nearly $1.2 trillion more than it collected in taxes. (Annual spending totaled $4.4 trillion.)

There’s actually an online petition to sell Montana to Canada for $1 trillion. Things aren’t that desperate yet, but the day of reckoning is approaching. However, politicians don’t care. And that’d shock great men like George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and others if they were alive to witness Washington D.C.’s dysfunction, irrationality, and perhaps high treason.

What’s worse is that the $22 trillion national debt does not include off-balance-sheet liabilities, such as unfunded entitlement programs. For decades the U.S. Congress has deviously applied fuzzy math and accounting gimmicks that obfuscate from the public eye an upcoming fiscal Armageddon. Analysts estimate an extra $70 trillion in obligations that taxpayers will eventually need to pay for. That’s $215,000 (in off-balance-sheet debt) for every man, woman, and child — in addition to national debt.

The next time you vote, just remember there’s no free lunch.

You’d have to be delusional to believe candidates who stump for “free healthcare” or “free childcare” or “free tuition.” Everything has a cost. If current taxpayers don’t pay for it now, future generations will have to. Passing crushing debt to unborn Americans is wrong and immoral.

Congress and President Trump should ratify a constitutional amendment that bans politicians from (falsely) promising free stuff. Such an amendment should criminalize candidates and officials who mislead voters.

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Kicking the Can Down the Road

Unfortunately, there’s no end in sight for the mounting debt.

After politicians are voted into power, they kick the can down the road and pass the national debt to future generations. Unethical politicians get away with it because unborn Americans can’t vote and don’t have a political lobby.

Indeed, cowards and charlatans (in Washington D.C.) are in charge of the United States: a country that is supposed to be home of the brave. Immoral and arrogant officials would be the first people whom the Founding Fathers would face-slap if they were alive today.

Second, the national debt actually needs to be paid for. It’s not academic theory.

Most of the $22 trillion in national debt represents U.S. Treasury bonds held by investors who demand to be paid. The debt also threatens the federal government’s credit rating. (States like Illinois already have junk rating.) This is important because a ratings downgrade would lead to larger interest payments, as investors demand higher interest rates for riskier investments.

Paying Uncle Sam

Let’s be clear: We’re all on the hook for this gigantic $22 trillion liability (and counting), as well as $70 trillion in entitlement obligations (and counting). We’ll soon reach into our wallets come April to pay the Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.), lest we get penalized or even jailed. Thus, politicians’ irresponsibility leads to coercive punishment upon American taxpayers.

The more Washington D.C. spends the more powerful it grows, which perpetuates a dysfunctional cycle. D.C. also gets more tyrannical. George Washington warned future generations not to place too much trust in central authority:

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

Annual interest payment on the national debt reached $371 billion in 2018, according to Congressional Budget Office — $371 billion is payment on the interest alone, and it won’t lower the principal balance.

The Founders Would Give Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Some Well-Deserved Reproach

If the Founding Fathers were alive today, whom might they eject from the federal legislature first (and perhaps even charge with treason)?

How about Bernie Sanders? (Who would have drastically increased government spending.)

Or how about democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) whose proposed “Green New Deal” has been rejected by Republicans and Democrats: It would cost taxpayers between $46 trillion and $81 trillion in addition to current national debt.

Ocasio-Cortez seems to appeal to extremely-low IQ voters — folks you can accurately call complete idiots. Her socialist stance also got Amazon to cancel its plans to move to New York, wiping out 25,000 jobs that would have paid $150,000 each.

The point is that America already owes $22 trillion. Certain politicians are making the problem worse by advocating for even larger deficit spending (which would further increase the debt), as well as by creating a toxic environment for companies (which would reduce jobs and lower tax collections).

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and politicians like Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) don’t understand that attacking people and organizations doesn’t create value. But what do they know? They’ve never run a business in their lives. They get elected by dividing people on race and social class, and by tearing others down.

As John Adams wrote,

When legislature is corrupted, the people are undone.

Americans and their leaders have a moral obligation to educate themselves on the U.S. Constitution, as well as how capitalism works. Failure to do so leads to problems that Americans now face.

According to John Adams,

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.

That means low-IQ voters and politicians who mislead them are a threat to Americans’ financial security.

Obama’s Change (For The Worse)

How about a Founding Fathers face-slap for Barack Obama? He added $8.3 trillion to the national debt — more than all previous presidents combined. Obama removed hope from taxpayers. But don’t dare attack his fiscal policies: You’d be racist.

Thomas Jefferson wrote:

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.

Depending on how much money you make, all your wages from January to April (or even May) might be enough to pay for federal, state and sales taxes, Social Security (a Ponzi scheme), and other government fees. It can be argued that, from January to May, you’re actually a slave. That’s because 100% of your income goes to government agencies and its bondholders. Which means you only make money from June to December. Let that sink in.

How much money do trillions in public debt represent? One-dollar bills stuffed into five (5) six-story buildings would equal $1 trillion. And one-dollar bills stacked 15-feet high, covering the runways of a major airport, would equal $20 trillion.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, CCN.com.

Featured Image from AP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais