I’ve always been a reader. The truth is, whether it has been diligently studying history or law or theology, or just relaxing on a cold and wintry day like today, I love a good book.

Since entering this race, of course, my reading list has changed considerably. I’ve switched from sermons to stump speeches, and so economics has replaced theology at the top of my list.

Now I know economics sounds boring to most people. But it doesn’t have to be. And I’m currently reading a book that is anything but boring. Henry Hazlitt’s 1946 work, Economics in One Lesson, is actually quite fascinating. And for a book written over 50 years ago, it’s also quite timely.

Can I share just a quote or two to show you what I mean?

Hazlitt writes, “There is no more persistent and influential faith in the world today than the faith in government spending. Everywhere government spending is presented as a panacea for all our economic ills. Is private industry partially stagnant? We can fix it all by government spending. Is there unemployment? … All that is necessary is for the government to spend enough to make up the ‘deficiency.’”

Bear in mind that Hazlitt is writing all of this in 1946, even before our country began the trend of runaway spending that has resulted in budget deficits in all but five years since 1962 and has left us $9,300,000,000,000 in debt.

In retrospect, Hazlitt proved prophetic. We should keep that in mind when we consider his next words: “Here I am afraid that we shall have to be dogmatic, and point out that such pleasant dreams in the past have always been shattered by national insolvency or a runaway inflation. Here we shall have to say simply that all government expenditures must eventually be paid out of the proceeds of taxation; that inflation itself is merely a form, and a particularly vicious form, of taxation.”

Reigning in government spending simply has to be a top priority for our next Congressman from the 5th District. Please consider that as you compare the platforms of other candidates to the message I am bringing: government is still too big, tax rates are still too high, and we must stop spending ourselves into ruin.