Can’t address budget deficit until we address moral deficit
I have fought for fiscal issues, and we must continue to fight together to see them through. But there is not a single fiscal problem, not a single thing on which we are wasting our dollars in this country today that will be resolved
if we let our character be destroyed. We will never balance the budget, and we will never capture the problem of the deficit if we do not balance our hearts, if we do not tackle the moral deficit that is destroying our families, corrupting our children.
Source: United We Stand America Conference, p.350
Aug 12, 1995
More $ for defense, NASA, parks; less for Ag, educ, arts
Keyes supports the following spending levels:
Greatly Increase Funding
Defense
Slightly Increase Funding
NASA
National Parks
Scientific research
Maintain Funding Status
Law enforcement
Medical
research
Slightly Decrease Funding
Transportation and Highway Infrastructure
Greatly Decrease Funding
Agricultural programs
Arts funding
Education
Environmental programs
International aid
Welfare
Source: Vote-Smart.org 2000 NPAT
Jan 13, 2000
Enforce spending limits to balance the budget
Keyes’ priorities for spending any anticipated federal budget surplus:
Defense - Highest Priority
Education - Not a Priority
Federal debt reduction - Medium Priority
Medicare - Medium Priority
Social Security - Medium
Priority
Tax cuts - High Priority
Keyes supports enforcing the spending limits agreed to in 1997 by the President and Congress to balance the budget
Source: Vote-Smart.org 2000 NPAT
Jan 13, 2000
Amend the Constitution to limit borrowing and spending.
We must take away the government’s credit card. With limits on both tax revenue and borrowing, the Federal government would finally be forced to get serious about spending cuts. That’s why a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution,
with barriers to both borrowing and spending, is the best way to secure budget discipline.
Source: www.keyes2000.org/issues/taxandspend.html 1/7/99
Jan 7, 1999
Seeing people merely as consumers is bad for moral fiber
People are beginning to trace the sources of America’s social and economic ills to the sad disrepair of our society’s moral infrastructure. Liberals are talking about welfare reform that encourages the work ethic instead of undermining it. Economic
conservatives are acknowledging the role that moral discipline plays in wealth creation.
In both cases, the key insight comes from seeing people as producers, rather than passive consumers. When economic activity seduces people into seeing
themselves primarily in the latter role, it’s just as bad for moral fiber as rampant welfare dependency.
Where consumption is the law and the prophets, self-discipline is heresy. The mass consumption economy needs full-fledged earners with
desires untrammeled by any limiting sense of obligation to others. It thrives on people who acquire the skills to earn, but who remain emotionally single and self-centered.
Source: Our Character, Our Future, p. 24-5
May 2, 1996
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