If elected, I promise ...

Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger. I don't pretend to be a political guru and I don't like to argue politics for two reasons: 1.) Nobody wins an argument and one or both sides end up getting mad at one another; 2.) I don't have command of the facts enough to put up a good fight.

I try to study the positions of all the candidates and vote for those with whom I most agree.

But that's difficult because most of what you hear coming out of their mouths (on the national level especially) is convoluted babble, at least to my ears.

"When I'm elected president, I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that," they all say.

Poppycock.

They might TRY to do this or that, but unless Congress agrees with the proposal, it will die an early death.

I wish one of them would promise to put an end to wasteful, foolish spending or die trying. I'm talking about all these pork projects like the 'Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska or the government-funded projects Sen. Robert Byrd has secured for West Virginia. Or the Homeland Security grants to places like, well, right here in Cherokee County. Why should the U.S Department of Homeland Security buy a fire truck for a rural volunteer fire department in this little corner of South Carolina? How is that going to help stop a terrorist attack? Huh? Explain that one to me.

Not that our fire departments don't need or deserve the best equipment available, but the federal government has no business paying for it.

And if they're buying $100,000 fire trucks for us, can you imagine how much is being spent everywhere else, in every little county, community or town in the land?

Why can't a candidate stand up and challenge that kind of spending? Or the museum projects, grants for meaningless research and the thousands of other ways our tax dollars are wasted?

Is it because the government has gotten so large and out of control that no one can slow it down?

Or is it just that the waste is seemingly such a small piece of the pie that no one wants to rock the boat?

I, for one, would feel a whole lot better if I knew the money I sent to Washington was being spent wisely.

I know the president is limited as to what can or cannot be done about this and all of the other problems we have, but here's what I'd like to hear a candidate, any candidate, say:

"If elected, I promise to address the nation each week and list all spending deemed to be wasteful by a nonpartisan taxpayer's watchdog group. I will name the elected officials behind the spending and invite them to join me in these national addresses to explain themselves."

Can't you see it now.

The President; "Senator Byrd, you are responsible for $10 million being spent on the Robert Byrd Memorial Footpath in Anytown, West Virginia. Can you explain to those Americans watching why you pushed for this?"

Sen. Byrd: "Because I have been in the Senate for a long time and have the power to do so. Besides, my constituents need this footpath and they asked me to help them out."

And that, my fellow Americans, is the root of our troubles.

We all love it when the money flows our way and so we keep putting the rascals back in office. That's why they keep sending the pork home - so you'll vote for them next time.

Recently, a county in Florida was awarded $10 million for a highway project not even on their priority list. It wasn't on the secondary list. In fact, the project had not even been considered. When the check arrived, it came with the stipulation that the money be used for the unnecessary project or not at all.

These good, honest folks in Florida sent the money back to Washington, saying it was a waste.

The project in question just happened to be adjacent to a large tract of land owned by a big campaign contributor to the senator responsible for the grant.

Until we all stand up and demand responsible spending, it will get worse.

So who among those seeking to become our next president do I support?

I voted Saturday in the S.C. Republican Presidential Primary for Fred Thompson, but he dropped out of the race Tuesday.

Now I'll have to support someone else, but who? I thought Fred was the most conservative of all those running, but the real reason I voted for him is that someone told me he is six feet, five inches tall.

Plus, I liked him on "Law & Order."