In today's Doonesbury comic strip, Gary Trudeau has some fun with the fact that many of the states that received gobs of money from the big tobacco settlement -- the one that was supposed to provide funds for states to run anti-smoking campaigns, educate young people about smoking, and the like -- are not spending it for that purpose, but for other ordinary budget items.
I say "fact" above. Of course just because it's in Doonesbury doesn't mean it's true, but I have little doubt that it is.
The same tendency to cadge any available funds, even those earmarked for other purposes, for immediate needs infects local, state, and national government. (For example, a funny thing happened on the way to the bank with the Social Security "trust fund." And it happened almost from the first deposit they were supposed to make.)
The problem seems self-perpetuating. Absent clear laws or rules of procedure to prevent it, can we count on our elected leaders to correct things? Not if what they've accomplished on campaign reform is any indication. So no. Politicians, no matter what their party, seemingly can't resist these little experiments in fungibility. Addicts can't cure themselves.
Perhaps there is no fix. Wouldn't it be an interesting spectacle, though, if the tobacco companies themselves, or perhaps a group of anti-smoking organizations, were to sue over this misspending?
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