On Friday, as President Obama signed a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill into law, the Drudge Report seasonally greeted its readers with the headline "Happy Holidays: USA Debt Now $15,123,841,000,000."  The national debt had actually surpassed $15 trillion in November, a month during which the federal government spent $137.3 billion more than it collected.  For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011, the deficit was $1.3 trillion.  More telling --and troubling-- is that spending in fiscal 2011 totaled $3.6 trillion, up over 90% in one decade. These figures and other measures like them are important.  They are symptoms of the chronic case of statism that ails us.  They are key indicators of a federal government with an ever expanding reach and concentration of power.  The numbers are also mindboggling and their magnitude can be difficult to grasp.  They can consume or sidetrack us.  And by focusing too much on our economic woes we risk missing...(Read Full Post)