Sure, there are some shooting wars in the Middle East.  We are trying to stop the pillaging of our economy by the Chinese.  And our political system sees the two parties fighting over what seems to be trivial.  The politicians do not want you to think their fights are trivial.  They want to obscure that what they are really fighting over and trying to hide is the total power grab by the Federal Government.  It may be boring, but I think it is incredibly important to look at just how much of our money, we the people, the federal government is grabbing.  It is probably the root of our wealth problem.  And a closer look shows that more taxes is not the solution.
Okay here are some facts.  I am going to be completely arbitrary and look at the Federal Budget the year I was born and compare to the present.  I will slice it and dice it several ways so that those that like comparing apples to apples are happy.  No fancy changes or squinty eye views.  These numbers do not need to be massaged to make my point.
                          Federal Spending            Adjusted for inflation             Federal Spending                                           in 1958                         to 2018 dollars                         in 2018
 
Dollars                        $74.9 Billion               $650.2 Billion                         $3.62 Trillion
 
Per person                   $414.30                     $3,596.48                               $11,158.80
 
Budget as % of GDP  15.5%                          15.5%                                      17.5%
 
Deficit                            $3.315 Billion           $28.78 Billion                         $785.31 Billion
 
There are several other ways to look at these numbers, but the ‘story’ remains the same.  The Federal government is controlling more and more of the people’s money.  With that control comes power. And it is my perspective that the money and power is what drives the elected officials and the bureaucracy to fight like heck to remain in control.
 
Even today with the unprecedented expanding economy, the Federal spending is not being lowered.  The resulting deficits are not shrinking.  And Congress is doing nothing to address the spending or deficit issue.  Instead they find issues to distract and obstruct attention. 
 
Just a little perspective, if Congress would just return to a budget that represents 15.5% of the Gross Domestic Product, it would lower spending by over $400 billion.  This is not a presidential issue. Congress controls the budget.  And they do not want or desire to limit their control.  My perspective is both political parties are guilty of this motivation.  It is time to consider genuine alternatives to the existing political parties.
 
At the very least, the next time someone in Congress starts throwing around a few billion dollars as waste, ask them what they are going to do about the over $400 billion congress has appropriated from the people.