Why all the government largesse all of a sudden?

You may or may not have noticed all the money coming back in dribs and drabs and deluges. Maybe you received your first "relief" check from the state. And you may have said: "Yay, I needed this."

But have you thought about where that money comes from?

If you have, then you probably don't need to read the rest of this editorial.

However, if you're just happy you got the money and thought it was "free" money, perhaps you need to think a bit harder about it.

If you shop for personal items; if you shop for clothes; if you shop for larger items like appliances and vehicles, you pay tax on those purchases.

The word tax to most of us, if not a dirty word, is not a pleasant word.

You do realize that those funds to pay taxes come directly out of your pockets, your and my pockets, don't you? They are supposed to pay for services by your local, state and federal governments.

But think a little bit harder about where those monies go. Think about the huge bureaucracies at every level of government. Do we really need all those departments, all those agencies and all those folks sucking up our money and often doing little work to "earn" that money?

When you get those little relief checks, put that money into the perspective of how much money you pay out each month in taxes. Could you have put those taxes to better use yourself?

Why is Congress trying to pass more spending bills to give us OUR money back, especially as the country's debt stands at more than $30.5 trillion? Where is the money to pay for that coming from? Yep, your and my and our grandchildren's pockets. Because today, that debt is $91,779 for every single person in the United States of America.

Why are our governor and lieutenant governor running around the state promoting "infrastructure" projects? Why now?

It's obvious to me, why now. It's July, almost August. In a bit more than three months, an election will take place.

All these sweet-talking politicians of both parties are showing us how "generous" they are, when all they are doing is putting OUR money to work doing things that often have been planned for years, but, "oh, look, we need to get elected or re-elected, so we better put this money to work"—to do what it should have been used for years ago.

I call them bribes for votes. And I'm not falling for it. You shouldn't either. Think about who you vote for and why you choose to vote for that person.